Broomhill Gardens Hub was conceived as a walled garden and community hub, designed to support mental health, wellbeing and social connection within a richly planted, restorative environment in Greenock.

Drawing inspiration from the town’s historic terraced parks and green spaces, the project reimagines this landscape tradition in a contemporary form. A green roof and densely planted central courtyard are framed by a deeply textured brick enclosure, creating a sheltered garden that is both inward‑looking and quietly visible through the surrounding tree canopy and rooftop planting. Together, these elements form a new green destination for the wider community.

Entrances to the building are experienced as landscaped thresholds, with carefully designed anterooms that gently mediate the transition from street to garden. These spaces support orientation, calm and reassurance, easing arrival and creating a clear sense of retreat and refuge.

The accommodation includes a walled garden designed to support people with cognitive impairments, alongside a community hall and café, seminar and meeting spaces, rooftop garden, offices, education rooms, workshops, greenhouses, and dedicated accommodation for In‑Work staff and volunteers. Interior layouts, materiality and spatial sequencing were carefully considered to support clarity, comfort and ease of use across a diverse range of users.

Owned and operated by a local horticulture‑led social enterprise, the hub brings together community use, training and commercial activity. Access to the community facilities and gardens is open and unrestricted, while In‑Work—a subsidiary social enterprise of Inverclyde Association for Mental Health (IAMH)—uses the growing spaces for commercial horticulture, café operation and skills‑based training programmes. This mix of public, educational and enterprise uses underpins the long‑term sustainability of the hub.

Broomhill Gardens Hub has been recognised by the Alzheimer’s Society as one of the few examples of a dementia‑friendly public building in the UK, demonstrating how inclusive, landscape‑led interiors can support dignity, independence and mental health within the public realm.

Client

Inverclyde Association for Mental Health

Location

Greenock

Photography

Keith Hunter