Welcome to The Commons!
The Commons is a co-designed community space within the Community Garden at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
The installation is full of creations from the local community, including mosaics, flags and colourfully painted stones.
We warmly invite you to explore The Commons, a space to rest, play and connect with nature. Scroll down for more information, what’s on and the story of how The Commons came about.
We would love to tell you the story of The Commons so far, but first, we need to share how to find the space. If you want to jump straight to the story, click here.
Where is The Commons?
The Commons is in the community gardens at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, Grove Lane, Smethwick, B66 2QT.
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Access & Photo Guides
Getting to The Commons
Travel information and a journey planner for getting to MMUH is hosted on the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust website: https://www.swbh.nhs.uk/our-new-hospital/how-to-get-to-midland-metropolitan-university-hospital/
The nearest carpark is the main visitor carpark accessible from Grove Lane. The closest train station is Smethwick Rolfe Street.
Step-free access from Grove Street
There is ramped access from Grove Street that is right next to The Commons. Once at the top of the ramp there is a dropped-curb crossing. Follow the circular path to the right and cross over the road before you reach the bus stops. This route is also marked on the map above.
Step-free access from Grove Lane (main road)
For step free access from Grove Lane, you will need to cross over the pedestrian crossing before the building site and McDonalds, turn left towards The Commons and continue on the footpath that joins with the step-free route from the Grove Street ramp.
Toilets and Facilities
The closest toilets are in the main foyer of the hospital where there are male, female and disabled toilets. There is a disabled toilet and a Changing Places – both are accessed by Radar key.
Food and Drink
The closest food and drink available is at Greggs and Crumbles Sandwich Bar and Coffee Shop which are by the entrance to the hospital. There is also a restaurant on Level 5 of the hospital.
What to expect at The Commons
The Commons is a community outdoor space next to a busy hospital. When you are in The Commons, you may hear traffic from the main road, conversations from people at The Commons and accessing the hospital, noise from the building site next to the hospital and wildlife. Within The Commons, the wheel-chair accessible paths are spacious, there are plenty of places to sit or rest, and there is a space for shelter. Please let us know how we can support access to The Commons and help you feel welcome by emailing hello@wearespectra.co.uk
The Story of The Commons So Far…
A place to rest, play, and connect
Enjoy a visit to The Commons this summer! Explore the garden, rest surrounded by nature or come along to one of our free events.
“We walk over to the garden every day, he (little boy) loves
jumping around on the logs and seeing what’s growing.”
Tod Jones Introducing Poppy: June 2026
Poppy Becke is a freelance ceramic artist who is telling the story of The Commons. After working with the local community, she is creating a piece of ceramic work to tell the story of how people engage with the garden and growing.
Poppy Becke A Year at The Commons: April 2026
Spring marked a year of being artists-in-residence at The Commons! We had a busy season of events, including the big Spring tidy, planting sunflowers, weeding and preparing the garden for the Summer months.
Light Garden: October 2025
Our Lantern Celebration lit up the pathways at Midland Metropolitan Univerisity Hospital with a parade of cheerful faces, glowing lanterns and the rippling sounds of a gong. Tyrone, who has been on our shadow programme, took the lead in designing the event which involved members of the hospital community, Spectra’s Core Company and SAFS.
A Twist Of Fete: April 2025
Thank you to everyone who visited The Commons for our summer garden party, ‘A Twist Of Fete’!
We had a great time celebrating the start of our two-year residency at the community garden with lots of games, laughter and incredible performances by our Core Company.
As the weather grows warmer, the plants are growing, flowers are blooming, and wildlife are making their homes here. The garden is always open and free to explore, so please come along for a space to relax, reflect and connect with nature.
Tod Jones Launching The Commons: April 2025
From the 8th April 2025, The Commons will be open alongside The People’s Gallery at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
Come and explore the community co-designed garden space. Why not then head inside to the gallery, featuring art made by the local community.
Planting, Workshops and Final Touches: January – March 2025
In 2025, the story of The Commons continues. On-site, the team are planting, building paths and putting the final touches on the community garden space. Off-site workshops are taking place to co-create artwork for the gallery at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
Winter @ The Commons: December 2024
The site was put to bed for the winter. The fences were up a little while longer as we put the finishing touches on the space.
Digging and Planting: October – December 2024
An intrepid team of 11 builders were out in all weathers, including the snow, digging, weeding, shovelling, measuring, installing posts, sculptures and curvy planters, crafting benches from slices of trees, playfully arranging stumps, building a spiral shaped meeting area, and starting to plant.
Co-creating items for the community space: July – November 2024
“The next step was to once again begin making, to revisit the places we’d been, to show the designs and where their contributions sat in it and to start creating things for the garden.” – Ruby, Community Lead
Designing The Commons: 2024
Using the ideas, creations and imaginings of the community, we entered a period of designing, reflecting and further planning with our artistic team and partners.
Co-designing with the community: Feb – June 2024
“Myself and the rest of the team spent the next few months visiting libraries, community groups, day centres, museums, paediatric wards, and more. Everywhere we went we were asking questions and making as we did.” – Ruby, Community Lead
The Apothecary Garden
The Apothecary Garden is a long raised garden bed inside The Commons. It has been planned and designed in response to research done with the community and the specifics of the space to create a healing, restorative space which celebrates plants and their healing properties.
Visitors to the garden have shared amazing stories of growing, gardening, herbalism, and plant usage. If you have a story you’d like to share, contact Ruby at ruby@wearespectra.co.uk
“The (thistle) is beautiful, it makes me think of my grandfather, he would grow it around the house to protect us from snakes, plus camels love it. Everything is different here, but it’s good to see plants that are the same”
Our Latest Blog Posts on The Commons
Co-Designing The Commons
Words by Ruby Lewis, Community Lead My name’s Ruby, I’m an artist who works for Spectra! I joined the Spectra team as their Community Lead at the start of a very exciting process – co-designing with the community a new space to rest, play, sit, move, talk, listen, and be in and it was going…
Spectra transform green space with outdoor community installation at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital
‘The Commons’, a new community garden installation, has been built by Spectra, a Sandwell-based neurodiverse creative collective. The multi-arts organisation, which works to lift the capacity of learning disabled people to influence change, has transformed the community garden of the brand new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) into a place of rest, play and nature…
An apothecary garden: Resilience, close looking and the seed bank
Words and illustrations by Ruby Lewis, Community Lead
Seed banks exist in soil. They can lie dormant for years, waiting for the right opportunity, to be exposed to light, for moisture to reach them, for the right conditions to arrive.
Documenting The Commons: Baking in Access From The Very Beginning
Words by Hayley Guest, Creative LeadFeatured image by Tod Jones *Fade from black* The film opens on a shot of a garden. In the foreground, an intricately decorated wooden sign reads ‘Welcome to The Commons’, and behind this there are areas of lush green grass, light gravel paths, juvenile trees and curved wooden planters. In…
What Comes Out After Dark In The Garden?
In this podcast, Ty and Ruby discuss: A transcription of this conversation can be found below Photos from Lighting Up The Garden Audio transcription Ruby: Hello! My name is Ruby, I am an artist here at Spectra and the Community Lead, and I’m here today with Ty. Tyrone: Hello, my name is Tyrone Williams, I…
We are grateful for funding from Severn Trent Community Fund and our partners Your City and Metropolitan Hospitals Charity, core funding from Arts Council England, and support from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust. The workshops involved in the co-design process, Wild Possibilities, were also funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.
Creative Team
Kate DeRight
Hayley Guest
Ruby Lewis
Louise Worrall
Rachel Wells
Helen Kelly
Sabrina Nolan Jaques
Robin Jax
Tyrone Williams
Isaac Boothman
Paul Carroll
Ebrahim Nazier
Grischa Daniel
Ruben Worth
Ashley Walker
Jane English
Edward Cartwright
Office Team
Eman Bhatti
Maisy Neale
Debbie Hollingsworth
Filmmaker
Robert Alexander
Audio Description
Karren Visser
Thanks to our community partners and participants from:
South Asian Family Services
Brushstrokes Men’s Group
Murray Hall Community Trust
Sandwell Libraries and Museums service
OASIS Foundry Academy
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust Paediatric Ward
Bearwood Community Hub
Spectra Adult Community Company
Special Thanks to
Amy Campbell
Johnny Shah
Sandra Taylor
Eddie Edmead
Ian Oliver
Lucy Wilson
ASAN Wood Saints
The Birch Boys
Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust
Larry Jones
Fullbrook Nursery
