Session overview

Despite the growing evidence of how access to nature boosts resident wellbeing, biodiversity and community resilience, many housing neighbourhoods still offer little more than mown grass and limited wildlife habitat. In this webinar we explore how housing providers can shift maintenance practices, activate green space and improve tenant access to nature — without increasing budgets.

Drawing on real, practical pilots from First Choice Homes Oldham and insight from the National Trust, this interactive session will look at low-cost, high-impact approaches to nature recovery on estates. We’ll cover things like natural meadow creation, smarter grass management, community land stewardship and resident engagement in greening activities. As this work is ongoing, we’ll also be inviting DIN members joining this session to share initiatives they have delivered on their estates and any learnings from these.

Key takeaways

• Why nature in urban estates matters: For biodiversity, wellbeing, health and community cohesion.
• Organisational strategies and maintenance regimes: How to reframe them to deliver biodiversity and access to nature without extra spend.
• Early learnings from First Choice Homes Oldham’s pilot sites: Practical lessons on baseline measurement, resident engagement, ‘No Mow May’, natural meadow creation and processes to enable community management of land.
• Future thinking: Opportunities in green waste, SuDS, fence removal and operational training for grounds teams.
• Sky Gardening Challenge: how balcony/window box greening can support wellbeing and community pride.

Our Speakers

• David Wrigley, Head of Neighbourhood Care, First Choice Homes Oldham

David Wrigley is the Head of Neighbourhood Care, their internal estate services team, with over forty years’ experience of social housing, twenty of which has been at a senior level. Since working across estate services teams in Greater Manchester David has been keen to explore options which can improve the appearance of open spaces, revise traditional specifications, work with our communities and develop the skills and experience of mature teams.

• Howard Bristol, Project Manager, National Trust

With a background including research and development, public engagement, and a passion for nature, Howard Bristol has been leading on innovation projects within the National Trust’s Urban Team, piloting scalable and replicable models for connecting and sustaining people’s access to nature through management and participation.

• Jenna Brooks, Project Officer, National Trust

Jenna Brooks is a Project Officer within the National Trust’s Greater Manchester Urban Team, where she supports the delivery of initiatives that connect urban communities with nature. With a background in addressing unequal access to nature, beauty and history, Jenna’s work centres on removing barriers in accessing high‑quality green spaces and creating meaningful opportunities for people to develop lasting connections with the natural world.

Who should attend

• Directors of estates, asset management and sustainability leads
• Resident engagement and community development leads
• Innovation, wellbeing and environmental strategy teams

This event is free as part of your DIN membership.