HRH The Princess Royal opens Horatio's Garden
Horatio's Garden in Sheffield is the charity's eighth garden to be created for a spinal injury unit since 2012.
The Princess Royal opened Horatio’s Garden at the Princess Royal Spinal Injuries Centre in Sheffield.
Horatio’s Garden, which creates landscaped gardens for NHS spinal injury centres, provides restorative spaces for patients and their families to enjoy, following the research of Horatio Chapple which recognised the need for respite away from the hospital environment.
Princess Anne attended the opening ceremony of the gardens, which is at the second largest NHS spinal injury centre. The garden was designed by Harris Bugg Studio who won best in show in 2023 at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show.
Desco delivered the MEP services for the charity’s eighth project. Some of the key design features include an accessible multi-height water feature inspired by Sheffield’s industrial landscape, which used historic cutlery casts for the design. There is also layered and sensory planting to allow interaction for patients in beds or wheelchairs.
The garden, which was created on a former car park and includes four distinct structures: a garden room, a greenhouse, an office/shed and a pod, gives staff, volunteers and visiting artists a space to lead gardening and creative activities for patients spending long periods of time in the hospital.
Photos courtesy of Gleeds Photography