Providing housing to homeless and vulnerable.

Following training on the National Environment Research Council Environment Young Eentrepreneur Scheme, we went about developing and launching an innovative gardening product. Seedball was set up to help fund the purchase of Maya Reserves. We wanted something super ethical, accessible, and that could really help UK conservation.Our gardens cover an area that is more than all of our national nature reserves combined (about 270,000 hectares), so we wanted to start there. At the same time we know lots of people are put off gardening, because of the perceived time, expense and effort it requires. Wildflowers seemed the perfect solution! Once established they are pretty much no maintenance, but they can be difficult grow from seed. Seedball makes growing easier ! All you need to do is throw, and watch them grow. Each marble sized ball contains about a hundred seeds, so in the spirit of survival of the fittest, the best plants will grow.Each mix has species suited to shade, sun, damp and dry conditions, so no matter where you throw you should get growth. There’s no need to become an expert as you are letting nature choose the best wildflower to grow in that spot.We're a growing team and stocked in over 150 shops and garden centres including The National Trust and Kew Gardens.

Collingwood Properties brings empty and unloved properties back into use, we have a strong focus on providing social housing in the NE of England. We have previously worked to provide houses for professionals in North London (predominantly working closely with London Universities to provide for staff accommodation needs). Unsurprisingly all of our property has an eco edge. Our aim is to provide outstanding service and to create and provide solutions that make people and the planet happier.

Project Maya is an environmental community interest company established by myself and other conservation scientists to found a global network of permaculture nature reserves run by the community and in the interest of the local community across the globe. Maya Reserves are a radically different approach to nature reserves, as they are a holistic place for both people and nature to be together in harmony. Our approach is based on best practice research and inspired by my own research into public participation in conservationTo build up the capital we need to buy reserves, we launched our multi award winning wildflower gardening product – ‘Seedball”. Seedball is a gardening product aimed to raise the number of people growing wildflowers in their gardens as a way of increasing habitats for our bees, butterflies and other wildlife. We also run the Maya Academy, teaching courses on permaculture, sustainability and knowledge exchange/increasing impact of research (now spin out company Fast Track Impact) and run a number of super environmental/wildflower campaigns often in collaboration with other social enterprises, non profits and charities such as RSPB, Plantlife, Friends of the Earth, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Climate Revolution and Ecotricity. We also have teamed up with major thought leaders and celebs such as Vivienne Westwood, Simon King OBE, Stephen Moss, Helen Browning OBE, Dale Vince OBE, Marian Spain and Gordon Sebright.