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As I began gathering information and speaking with staff across the organisation, I heard about projects, programmes, consultancy roles, and - most importantly - people’s lived experience of the work. Conversations turned quickly to the realities: funding pressures, short-term programmes, long-term community need and the constant challenge of making change that actually lasts. What emerged wasn’t a single, neat answer, or even a shared definition of “what works,” but something more honest and more difficult: a set of tensions that don’t resolve easily.

The responsibility of holding such a broad range of capabilities and expectations is immense. The fact that Groundwork is asked to deliver everything from environmental education to landscape design, community engagement to sustainability consultancy, is no small thing. And it became clear to me early on that many of the challenges the organisation faces, particularly around funding and legacy, are not of its own making.

From the outside, Groundwork already stands out as an extraordinary example of what can be achieved when environmental action and social justice are brought together. The scale and diversity of projects across the federation are genuinely impressive. So, inevitably, a broader question took shape.

What did Groundwork need next, and how could this project support that journey?

At first, the answers felt abstract. The early evidence pointed towards an organisation at an inflection point, one that has grown beyond being purely project-led and is now being asked to articulate, evidence and advocate for how it works, not just what it delivers. The ambition of the project I’m working on - developing a federation-wide model of community engagement - centres on what we’ve begun to call guided co-production: working with communities, not for them, in ways that are relational, sustainable and rooted in place.

All of that made sense on paper.

But it wasn’t until a beautifully sunny day in Norwich that it really clicked.

The team unloading materials

The entire East team came together to mark 40 years of Groundwork, not in a pub or conference room, but in the grounds of a primary school in desperate need of a garden overhaul. More than 40 staff, from across teams and roles, rolled up their sleeves for what can only be described as a classic garden “changing rooms.” It was, quite simply, amazing.

I was met with broad smiles and genuine curiosity about my role in the research project, some people even thanked me for being involved, which caught me off guard. Until that moment, much of my work had lived in documents, interviews and synthesis. That day was my first chance to step fully into the work, to experience community engagement not as a concept but as a practice.

Naturally, I got stuck in. We worked in rotating teams, each tackling different sections of the garden, bringing fresh energy to every task. At one point I became a little over-enthusiastic, dragging large logs to the boundary before realising they were meant to become seating. That small mistake sparked an improvisation, using offcuts, twigs and compost-heap finds to build a low, woven fence that gently separated a quiet, reflective area from the vegetable-growing space. It felt oddly fitting.

By the end of the day, the transformation was striking. Raised beds, new structures, imaginative features, including a witch’s cauldron, had turned a tired space into something full of possibility. I found myself wondering how the children would use it, what stories and routines might grow there alongside the plants.

Standing back, muddy, tired and sore, it finally became clear. This was the answer I’d been circling around for months.

Groundwork isn’t just a collection of projects or a set of outcomes. It is a way of working: skilled, organised, relational and deeply committed to empowering communities. What the research is beginning to show, and what that day made visible, is that the real value lies not only in what is delivered, but in how people come together to deliver it.

In the end, it really was easier to see it done than said.

Dr Qudra Goodall is KTP associate, working between Groundwork and the University of East Anglia

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