Greener Hawick

Our Mission Statement
‘To improve community wellbeing in Hawick through the acquisition of derelict land and buildings which, rejuvenated using techniques focused on climate change mitigation will form a property portfolio dedicated to the sustainability of the Hawick community.’

Background:
A Greener Hawick is a community body born out of the Transition Town movement in 2008. It has undertaken a number of successful projects in the fields of renewable energy and climate change mitigation. The acceleration of the climate emergency caused a rethink of strategy which led to a decision in October 2019 to focus on active and sustainable climate change mitigation.

We are now positioned to take full advantage of opportunities presented by the Land Reform Acts having used the pandemic lockdown periods to build a firm foundation for future growth. We have undertaken a great deal of local research into how we can successfully demonstrate by example how community action can improve biodiversity and combat climate change in a sustainable manner by bringing vacant and derelict land and buildings back into use and increasing the availability of growing land.

While our approach to securing properties will remain flexible it will be our first choice to acquire properties into the ownership of our organisation as that secures community control for the future. By owning our own buildings and land we can gradually make the community more self-sufficient and our organisation less dependent on grant aid. Our strategy is to consider long term benefit before seeking short term gain. This has increased the challenge of improving our capacity and developing skills to develop projects which deliver tangible community benefit.