Growing space
For the purposes of the Home Quality Mark (HQM), growing space can be considered to be any one or more of the following:
- Food planters.
- Private gardens.
- Allotments.
- Community gardens or community orchards.
- Roof top growing space.
- Raised beds dedicated for growing food (this is a particularly useful approach where the soil conditions are poor as they can be artificially filled with good quality soil).
- Greenhouses or polytunnels.
This space could be provided in private gardens, balconies or roof terraces.
Where growing space is not provided in a garden bed, facilities to enable food growing (i.e. planters or equivalent) must be in place at handover and must be fixed in place (i.e. a free-standing planter would not be accepted).
Where communal growing space is provided it must be:
- Located within 500m of the entrance from all homes on site.
- Have clear ownership arrangements.
- A clearly-designated growing space, for example use of planting or fencing around the perimeter, or in the case of communal areas contain signage.
- Ideally south facing and not in an area that is heavily shaded.
- Contain suitable soil conditions and depths.
- Sheltered from the wind on the perimeter, for example trees, hedges or other boundary protection.
- Designed to be accessible to all users, for example through the provision of raised beds.
- Located near a rain water collection system, such as a rainwater butt.
Ref Home Quality Mark One, Technical Manual SD239, England, Scotland & Wales, published by BRE in 2018.
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