HELPING PEOPLE GROW
The Glasshouse is a social enterprise offering second chances through horticultural training to women based in UK prisons. We harness the power of botanics to make work and living spaces greener, healthier and more inviting. Plants are proven to improve mental and physical wellbeing, increase creativity and concentration and remove toxins from the air.
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The Glasshouse is a Social Enterprise that provides indoor plants to London office space. We offer plant installations, plant maintenance, corporate gifting service sending beautiful, impactful plants directly as well as holiday tree decorating and well-being workshops.
As a Social Enterprise, our plants are nurtured by women in prison working to transform their lives through stable employment and training for a horticultural qualification. The Glasshouse provides an intensive training and resettlement programme that includes months of education and work experience working in the corporate environment. The women we recruit and work with are dedicated, driven and grateful for a second chance. What they achieve through hard work and determination is positive and inspiring.
We currently work with companies including Pearson, Big Society Capital, MFS Investment Management, The Conduit, Lloyds Foundation and C. Hoare Bank.
Prospero World (UK registered charity number 1163952) receives charitable donations in support of our work through its fiscal sponsorship programme, and receives tax efficient donations from UK donors on our behalf.
The Glasshouse at Chelsea Flower Show — 2024 & 2025
At The Glasshouse, our mission is to transform lives through horticulture, training and employment for women in or leaving prison. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show has given us a unique platform to share that story with the world — and we are proud to have been awarded Gold Medals in both 2024 and 2025.
2024 – The Glasshouse Effect — Gold Medal Winner
In 2024 we made our Chelsea debut with The Glasshouse Effect. We recreated the original glasshouse at HMP East Sutton Park, where our journey began. The garden featured houseplants grown and nurtured by women in our programme, each one accompanied by symbolic objects representing their hopes and dreams for the future.
This moving display was recognised with a Gold Medal and a perfect score from the judges — a powerful acknowledgement of the creativity and resilience of the women we work with.
2025 – The Glasshouse Garden — Gold Medal Winner
In 2025 we returned with our first full show garden, designed by the award-winning Jo Thompson. At its heart stood a translucent elliptical pavilion, crafted from recycled acrylic with pivoting petal-like screens. A stone rill wound its way through the garden, arriving at a still reflecting pool — a journey of movement, reflection, and renewal.
The planting celebrated “strong beauty”: roses in deep magenta and crimson tones, softened with peaches and apricots, layered with foxgloves, astrantia, geum, iris, and copper beech domes. The effect was both bold and restorative, symbolising the resilience and growth that horticulture makes possible.
This garden too was awarded a Gold Medal, cementing The Glasshouse’s place at Chelsea as a voice for transformation through nature.
Legacy
Our 2025 garden will live on beyond Chelsea. It is being relocated to HMP Downview in Surrey, where it will become a lasting sanctuary for women in prison — supporting their training, offering a space for reflection, and keeping hope alive.
For us, Chelsea is not just a flower show; it is a chance to show what is possible when nature and nurture come together.
