In 1995 the library on St Martins’ estate closed after serving the local community for 33 years. A group of local residents came together to ensure the building stayed in community use. This led t High Trees Community Development Trust being founded in 1998. High Trees has grown monumentally since then into the charity that we are today, changing lives through diverse and far-reaching services. 

Now 27 years old, High Trees completed a major refurbishment of their Learning Centre in 2022 which until then had had no major work done since it opened – now known as the High Trees Hub, our range of adult services are run from this building, with two state of the art training rooms (including an IT suite), two specialist employment support pods and an internet café open for community use.

Since 2012 High Trees have also run the Tulse Hill Adventure Playground and summer 2025 sees a complete rebuild of the outdoor play equipment, ensuring that the playground will continue to be a place children can play, learn and thrive for years to come.

The ‘Scouts Hut’ – another building on St Martin’s Estate, runs free courses 6 days a week, as well as one-on-one sessions for those seeking employment support and providing low cost space for local residents to use in the evenings.

With High Trees growth has come an increasing focus on supporting other VCS organisations in Lambeth, be this through the partnerships and networks we lead or direct capacity building support for other charities and residents groups in the borough – information about all our current work can be found on our website.