Trees & Teamwork - Urban Tree Planting Corporate Team Building Days

Creating Tomorrow’s Forests has launched a new service offering a corporate tree planting experience in partnership with local councils and landowners to create micro forests in urban settings. The Trees & Teamwork initiative channels business funding provided by team building days into creating fast-growing diverse forests that provide a host of ecosystem services benefits. These dense forests increase biodiversity, store carbon, minimise flooding, mitigate for drought, and reduce air and noise pollution, all while enhancing green spaces for local residents, and enabling participants to reconnect with nature. Businesses benefit from a novel and truly immersive educational team building day out that will boost employee physical and mental wellbeing, as well as helping to meet sustainability goals by creating a living natural legacy.

Why is planting urban trees important?

The percentage of people living in urban areas is increasing and estimated to reach almost 70% by 2050, making our towns and cities critically important for our health and wellbeing. Our urban areas need to be able to provide us with clean air, effective drought management, comfortable temperatures, and green spaces where we can relax and reconnect with nature. The pressure on urban green spaces to provide these ecosystem services is only going to increase with the rising temperatures and erratic weather patterns associated with climate change. Heatwaves are already sweeping the globe, and government estimates predict that heat related deaths in the UK could surpass 10,000 annually by 2050.

Improving green and blue spaces can help increase the resilience of urban spaces through planting trees, cleaning up waterways, or diversifying grassy areas for example. The benefits of expanding and improving green spaces can be seen in reduced air temperatures, as habitat such as botanical gardens and wetlands can reduce ambient temperatures by as much as 5 degrees. In addition to having a positive effect on temperatures, trees reduce air pollution and also noise pollution, two of the most important issues affecting the quality of life and health of urban residents. Trees also reduce both the impact and risks of flooding and can also mitigate for the effects of drought by holding water in the soil.

Access to green and blue spaces is critical to the mental health of residents, and there is evidence to show that the ecological quality of the spaces matters as higher biodiversity has an even greater impact. So by improving existing green spaces through additional tree planting, creating wildflower meadows, reedbeds or rain gardens, the effects such as improved social cohesion and reduced crime can be amplified. The ecosystem services benefits provided by each additional tree can be calculated as £1,850 per tree over 5-10 years based on data from the Woodland Trust, KaarbonTech, and the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Planting trees in urban parks and green spaces is challenging, however, with space at an absolute premium in cities, poor quality and compacted soil, and higher temperatures and drought as a result of climate change. Innovative techniques such as the Miyawaki Method can help in maximising the impact of urban forests, as trees are planted very closely together to create dense micro forests. The trees grow up to ten times quicker in Miyawaki plantations, establishing a small functioning forest in 20 years as opposed to hundreds of years. Biodiversity has been found to be 18 times higher in Miyawaki plantations, and air temperatures have been found to be up to six degrees cooler, which combined with the faster growth sequestering carbon faster, means that they are packing a substantial ecological impact into a small space.

Trees & Teamwork corporate teambuilding days

Creating Tomorrow’s Forests has developed a new initiative to drive tree planting in urban spaces, by providing unique corporate tree planting days that will fund the creation of micro forests. We offer the opportunity to bring employees to enjoy an educational and immersive team building day of hands-on tree planting in urban areas. Businesses will be able to bring teams of up to 40 people to plant their own dedicated micro forest, bringing a host of ecological, environmental, and social benefits to local communities. The forests will continue to grow and thrive after planting and funding partners can help us track and manage their maintenance for years afterwards, truly investing in the trees as a living legacy for the business.

Investing businesses will benefit not only from the tree planting experience day itself but also from funding the planting of new trees to meet ESG and sustainability goals. The new trees will store carbon, helping to mitigate for carbon emissions, and they will increase biodiversity, helping to improve business impact on nature. The trees will also reduce air and noise pollution, helping businesses to reach clean air and social impact targets, and they will improve water management, helping businesses to mitigate for their water footprint and usage. In addition to the employee and sustainability benefits of the Trees & Teamwork urban tree planting project, businesses will benefit from onsite signage specifying their contribution to the micro forests, and also a detailed social media campaign, including bespoke images and videos of the team building day.

Our Trees & Teamwork days are divided into three tiers based on the number of employee participants in the planting day and the quantity of trees to be planted. We can also accommodate bespoke projects outside of these guidelines, please contact us for details. The schedule of our corporate tree planting days is designed in conjunction with participants, ensuring that you achieve the best possible outcomes from your experience. It is a unique opportunity to forge deeper team connections whilst achieving a tangible positive impact for nature and society.

The structure of a typical day would be:

• Welcome to site including safety briefing
• Introduction to the project giving ecological and social context
• Demonstration of how to plant a tree from our expert staff
• Supervised tree planting experience
• Light snacks and refreshments
• Educational site walk
• Alternative bespoke activities include mindfulness sessions, community engagement, hands-on nature experiences can be included

Post-planting activities include:

·   Shared social media posts across all platforms

·   Production of video interviews with participants and CTF staff

·   High quality photos and videos taken during the day

·   Social media videos of the event

·   Optional additional bespoke promotional video (additional charge)

Benefits for businesses

• Team building tree planting experience with full instruction
• Additional educational and mindfulness activities
• Onsite business advertising
• Joint marketing in press and on social media channels
• Video of tree planting experience
• ROI of up to £7,200 per employee over 5-10 years based on improved employee retention, and increased productivity

Benefits for the environment

• Reduction in air and noise pollution
• Reduction in air temperatures
• Increase in biodiversity
• Increase in carbon storage
• Improved mitigation for flooding and drought
• Estimated ecosystem services value of each tree of £1,850 over 5-10 years

Completed projects

Westminster

·       Number of trees: 5675

·       Planted area:  1260 sq m

·       Project focus: Pollution and biodiversity      

Partners

·       Westminster City Council  

·       Ruth Wilmott Associates

·       Wilmott Dixon     

·       MOL (Europe & Africa)

Wellingborough

·       Number of trees: 750

·       Planted area:  160 sq m

·       Project focus: Tree cover

Partners

·       North Northamptonshire  Council

·       Local schools

·       Hindu Climate Action Group