The story of the GLAS @ TU Dublin community garden

GLAS @ TU Dublin community garden

Over the past year, the garden welcomed more than 2,000 visits and hosted over 200 events, from school sessions and public workshops to volunteering days and biodiversity projects

Horticulture

26 March 2026

On a half-acre of land at Technological University Dublin’s Blanchardstown campus, students, local residents, schools and community groups come together to learn practical sustainability skills, connect with nature and build a stronger community.

GLAS @ TU Dublin community garden delivered by GAP Ireland in partnership with Fingal County Council and TU Dublin has become a welcoming hub for environmental learning, wellbeing and social inclusion in Dublin 15.

The garden is a place to grow vegetables but also a hands-on classroom for organic gardening, composting, biodiversity, water management and regenerative practices. In the GLAS community garden abstract ideas of sustainability are turned into lived experiences.

Visitors and volunteers learn not only how to sow and harvest, but how to nurture soil, foster biodiversity, reduce waste and care for the planet. In doing so, GLAS contributes to broader environmental goals while grounding climate action in everyday community life.

The garden reflects a simple but powerful ethos: climate action and wellbeing flourish when people come together, sharing knowledge and stories. For the people of Dublin 15, it is a rare space to connect, be part of a caring community, and discover that even small, everyday actions can have a big impact.

When the agreement was reached, in late 2022, to start the GLAS @ TU Dublin community garden, it was little more than a bare half-acre of underused campus land.

Over the past three years volunteers and partner organisations transformed the site with fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, pollinatorfriendly flowers, and raised beds, turning once empty soil into a thriving, biodiverse environment. Accessible paths, compost bays and seating areas were added, making the garden welcoming for children, adults with disabilities, local residents, students, and corporate volunteers alike.

In 2025, the garden continued to grow as a place of learning, connection and hope, showing that when people come together, they can care for nature and neighbourhoods.

Over the past year the growth continued with over 2,400 volunteers, more than 200 events, and the creation of a biodiversity pond and all-weather spaces. The garden now demonstrates in practice how small, consistent actions can restore soil, support pollinators, and foster social connection.

The Blanchardstown garden now serves as a blueprint for what community gardens could be: accessible, inclusive, educational and deeply connected to local realities. It stands as evidence that grassroots projects can deliver measurable, positive change.

Read more: Taplin’s Fields community garden