Growing Sudley Signage

Interpretation signs made from salavaged benches

The installation of interpretation boards and new site signage marks one of the one of the final phases of a transformative, long-term collaboration with Growing Sudley CIC, a social enterprise that provides health and wellbeing through nature. These elements complete a multi-year project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to sensitively restore and reimagine the Growing Sudley site, including its derelict changing rooms and neighbouring walled garden.

The signage tells the story of the site’s evolution, from its origins as an animal husbandry building on the Sudley House estate, to its conversion into sports changing rooms in the 1970s, and now the building and garden’s new use as a community hub for health, wellbeing, and learning in nature.  It shares findings from a community-led heritage project and documents the green transformation of the building, which includes natural materials like hempcrete insulation and lime render.

Three outdoor informational display boards with historical and heritage information, supported by a bench and wire cages filled with rocks, set against a green, leafy background and clear blue sky.
Sign explaining hempcrete as an insulation material, with icons indicating no toxicity, no pests, and no mold, and a photo of construction in progress.

The displays reuse original changing room benches salvaged from the building before the renovation. Their steel frames were cleaned, repainted, and anchored in place with stone gabions, now supporting new panels that tell the story of the building and the growing therapeutic garden. These accessible interventions are designed to be read by building visitors and park walkers alike, inviting connection with the site's layered history.

Harrison Stringfellow designed all the graphic elements for the interpretation panels, including layout, typography, illustration and content structure. We worked closely with the Growing Sudley team and local researchers to distil complex historical narratives into accessible and engaging visual content that we hope will help explain some of the 12-year journey of Growing Sudley so far!

Empty, worn-out locker room with peeling paint, a wooden bench, and hooks on the wall.
An empty changing room with a bench, a brick wall, and an orange sign on a blue door labeled 'Changing Room 2'.

Photos of the existing changing rooms benches that were salavaged and the metal repainted to match the building’s windows

Information board titled 'Healing Power of Nature' with images of botanical tiles, illustrations of people, and healing plants such as chamomile, nettle, St. John's Wort, dandelion, and echinacea, located outdoors on a grassy area with trees in the background.
A small, modern beige building with narrow vertical windows, surrounded by greenery and trees under a clear blue sky. There are informational signs on benches next to the building.
An informational infographic for Growing Sudley community project featuring a colorful illustration of a bird, flowers, and a house with a sprout on the roof. The text discusses the project's collaboration with local architects and community involvement in creating a therapeutic garden and reimagined buildings with images of garden buildings and community members participating.
Infographic titled 'History Detectives' detailing the restoration of the Sudley estate, with illustrations and historical photos. It mentions a 2023 grant, a team uncovering the estate's past, the first records from 1884 showing property details and farm buildings from the 1890s, photos of farm fields from the 1890s and 1930s, Emma Holt inheriting and bequeathing the estate in 1944, handwritten notes from 1959, and a black and white photo of Charles Forre's Sudley Orchards in the 1960s.
An informational poster about heritage craft botanical tiles featuring photos of people creating ceramic tiles with botanical designs, a workshop setting in a garden, and a community celebration with various craft activities. The poster includes text describing the project, credits to Liverpool Hope University, and colorful floral and palette icons.
Infographic panel displaying the history of a shipyard in Sudley Heritage from the 1970s to 2019, including photos of the old shipyard building, a graffiti-covered building, and a diagram of a social development concept.
A timeline poster displayed outdoors on a park information board, detailing community projects and events from 2012 to 2025, with icons and images illustrating each milestone.
Close-up of a wire basket filled with rocks, supported by a green-painted metal frame with a wooden top, outdoors next to a concrete sidewalk and a wall with some greenery.

“Harrison Stringfellow did such an amazing job making the signs visual, simple and beautiful despite needing to get across a lot of information”
Growing Sudley

An outdoor display board on a metal table with rocks inside the frame, under a bright blue sky with trees in the background. The board contains three posters discussing biodiversity, heritage craft, and healing power of nature.
An infographic about permaculture and community gardening. It features illustrations of people gardening, a sun, a birdhouse, and gardening tools. The text discusses core values like community, social ethics, and environmental care, as well as collaborating with permaculture practitioners and architects to develop sustainable, regenerative gardens that benefit people and the planet.
A diagram illustrating the process of creating hemp-based concrete from planting hemp to building construction, highlighting stages from planting, harvesting, processing into hemp shiv, mixing with hydraulic lime and water, and installing in a building that continues to sequester carbon.
Infographic titled 'Low Carbon Design' with sections on natural low embodied carbon materials, waste reduction, renewable technologies, importance of low embodied carbon, and UK's CO2 emissions. Features icons of a house with leaves, leaves, a power plug, a person with a helmet, and a pie chart showing 19% operational carbon and 25% UK's CO2 emissions.
An infographic titled 'Refurbishment Design Principles' explaining building refurbishment concepts, featuring sections on 'Retrofit' and 'Fabric-First' strategies. It includes illustrations of a building, plants, a factory, a wind turbine, solar panels, and a 'Net-Zero' flag, emphasizing energy efficiency and environmental impact.

Related Projects

Growing Sudley Walled Garden

Engagement journey with social enterprise

The Changing Rooms, Growing Sudley

Community sustainable retrofit of derelict building

Growing Sudley Community Open Day

Community celebration for changing rooms