LAW firm Shoosmiths and its Manchester office have transformed the kitchen garden of the Trafford Ecology Park, as part of its latest corporate volunteering efforts.

Five Shoosmiths employees, alongside 13 business and charity contacts of the firm, including Lloyds Bank, CBRE, Derwent Estates and Euro Garages, spearheaded a volunteering day to transform the green space hidden in the industrial area of Trafford Park – maintained by local charity Groundwork Greater Manchester.

Following years of manufacturing activity in Europe’s largest industrial estate impacting Trafford Park’s natural environment, Shoosmiths, alongside some of its key contacts, cleared overgrown areas to create a kitchen garden. The space will be utilised by the park’s visitors and employees as an area where they can learn about food growing and sustainable food production.

Post the day, plans are in place to reconvene the group of volunteers later in the year to discuss more productive collaboration across the business and charity sectors.

Robert Nieri, charity lawyer at Shoosmiths and head of the Manchester office’s charity committee, commented: “A huge thank you to the volunteers, who took the time to come together to transform an unused area of the nature reserve to create a better environment for workers in Trafford Park – in doing so creating a real haven.

“The purpose of the day was to first and foremost help maintain this beautiful space, but to do so in the company of likeminded people from other organisations, to talk about environmental, social and governance considerations and to forge closer collaboration between businesses and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, for mutual benefit.”

Stephanie Wyatt, marketing and sales manager at Groundwork Greater Manchester, added: “It was fantastic to see so many new faces at the Ecology Park and hear from businesses who are committed to making sustainability improvements. The new kitchen garden that volunteers built will provide Groundwork with the opportunity to engage more people with the topic of sustainable food production and consumption, plus we’re excited to see what we can grow here! We’re extremely grateful to Shoosmiths for arranging the event and hope it inspires more businesses to volunteer and connect with nature.”