Writtle College has been crowned the 2015 ‘Young Gardeners of the Year’ after being awarded Best in Show and a Gold Medal by David Domoney and Alan Tichmash at this year's Young Gardeners of the Years Awards.

The announcement was made in line with the launch of the Ideal Home Show sponsored by Anglian Home Improvements, running for it's 107th year and returning to its original home at Olympia, London.

The annual awards, which are organised by TV gardener David Domoney, offer students a great opportunity to showcase their work and celebrate the best of sustainable British gardening.

The competition, now in its fifth year, has given over 300 students the opportunity to create show gardens before they even leave the college gates.

Each college was given a 5.5m x 4m plot to both plan and design a unique and sustainable garden to inspire city dwellers, showing what can be achieved in urban locations.

This year judges were looking for gardens that demonstrated innovative ways to re-use rainwater to reflect their commitment to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), and actively encouraged diversity of design and clever use of water harvesting in the garden.

The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community set clear guidelines based on organic and sustainable principles that the charity has championed for so long.

The annual competition, in association with the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, celebrates young ‘green’ talent and whittled down entries from six of the UK’s leading horticultural colleges who then went head-to-head to create a show stopping sustainable garden that was seen by a quarter of a million visitors at the Ideal Home Show.

A panel led by TV gardener David Domoney, Julia Goodwin, editor of House Beautiful magazine, Alan Titchmarsh, Carol Paris, Chief Executive of the Horticultural Trade Association and Simon Sadinsky from The Prince's Foundation for Building Community judged this year's show gardens. 

Writtle College's garden was designed as a green space that reduces dependence on mains water and air pollution, with specific planting to filter and clean the air in an urban environment.

The garden had a woodland feel with clean lines and slick materials.

Simon Sadinsky, The Prince's Foundation's Education Manager, said: "This year we added an additional element to the competition, and challenged our young gardeners to come up with creative ways to ensure rainwater can drain away naturally and there is no excess build up of water – which is exactly what SUDS are all about!

"I'm delighted to say that once again, our young gardeners did not disappoint, and this year the bar has been raised even higher.

"Our entrants showed just what you can create in a small plot of land amongst urban spaces and demonstrated simple and innovative ways of reusing rainwater, and this year's winner Writtle College exceeded our expectations in both of these areas."

David Domoney, organiser of the competition, said: "As always, it's been a privilege to be so involved in this competition that allows young landscapers and designers to showcase their work for the first time.

"The careful planning, hard work and effort that goes into each of the show gardens is truly inspiring, and Writtle College's garden highlighted to the public just what can be achieved in such a small urban space."