A community-led pocket forest beside Hammersmith Grove has taken the top honour in Transport for London’s annual In Bloom contest, after staff and local volunteers transformed an overlooked corner of a service control centre into a thriving Tiny Forest.
The team at Hammersmith Grove Service Control Centre beat entries from across the capital to win the Dennis Sanger Best in Show award, the competition’s highest prize. Around 60 stations, offices and depots took part in this year’s contest, which encourages TfL staff to brighten up their surroundings with gardens, planters and green displays.
Judges were won over by the way the Hammersmith Grove team put this year’s theme — volunteers — at the very heart of their design. The project drew the wider community into planting and tending the Tiny Forest, and the garden was extended from outdoors into the workplace itself, bringing greenery into the daily working environment.
A celebration of volunteering
This year’s In Bloom competition centred on volunteers, marking the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer, and once again celebrated the creative horticultural efforts of staff across the network.
Mete Coban, deputy mayor for environment and energy, said: “TfL’s In Bloom competition is a fantastic example of how we can bring nature to even the smallest spaces.”
“From flower gardens to fruit and veg, it’s brilliant to see TfL staff turning stations and transport offices into little pockets of greenery for everyone to enjoy,” he added. “The Mayor and I want to congratulate the winners, and thank everyone who took part, for their efforts to help build a better, greener London for everyone.”
Winners across the network
The Volunteer award was shared by High Barnet Train Crew Accommodation and Kensington Olympia station. At High Barnet the team donated plants, organised bake sales, hosted pizza nights and ran a sunflower growing competition to get everyone involved, while Kensington Olympia designed a bespoke planter inspired by the UN Year of Volunteering.
Acton Town station and Ruislip depot jointly won the Environment award for the creative reuse of old objects in their garden designs. Other category winners included Barbican station, which took home the Sandra Wilkes Community award, and Morden station, winner of the Fruits and Vegetables category.
South Tottenham station won Cultivated Gardens (station), Edgware Road took Indoor Gardens, and Tower Millennium pier claimed the John Knight award for best tubs, hanging baskets and window boxes. Susan O’Connor won the Art in Bloom category for her depiction of Arnos Grove.
Greener milestones for TfL
Ann Gavaghan, customer experience manager at TfL, said she was delighted the competition continues to draw enthusiasm from colleagues and customers across the transport network, celebrating those who create green spaces while recognising the environmental and mental health benefits those spaces bring.
The awards arrive as TfL marks a string of environmental milestones. As of September 2026 it operates 3,000 zero-emission buses — the largest such fleet in western Europe — wildflower verges across TfL land have grown to 520,000 square metres, and its Sustainable Drainage Systems catchment area now covers more than 112,000 square metres, supporting pollinators, biodiversity and climate resilience. The progress follows TfL’s updated environment plan, with more than 70 actions on carbon, air and nature.
The Hammersmith Grove Tiny Forest win shows what a small plot and a big community effort can achieve. It is the latest good-news story for the area, where a £247,788 lottery grant is restoring a rare 1861 organ in a school chapel — proof that even the busiest working corners of the capital can bloom with a little care, creativity and teamwork.
