SpraySaint's new nature mural on Morley Court

There is a new piece of street art to spot in Plymouth city centre, and it is hard to miss. A large-scale, nature-themed mural has been unveiled on the wall of Morley Court, a residential development in the West End, and it has turned a stretch of concrete that used to collect graffiti into something people actually stop to look at.

The work is the doing of Jordan Lauder, a Bude-based graffiti artist who goes by the name SpraySaint. Originally from Essex, Lauder took three and a half days to paint the piece, which fills the wall with a stag, rabbits, a squirrel, butterflies and a fox set against a forest background. It was commissioned by Plymouth Community Homes, the city's largest social housing landlord, which manages more than 16,000 homes and provides accommodation for over 35,000 people across Plymouth and the surrounding areas.

The choice of subject was deliberate. Lauder said his intention was to bring a touch of nature into a built-up area, and he pointed out that the wall had previously been tagged with graffiti time and again. Sarah Chidgey, a housing officer at Plymouth Community Homes, explained that the vibrant, nature-filled design was chosen partly because it should help cut down on graffiti, and she described Lauder as a local creative who had delivered something residents would love. The reaction has been positive, with people stopping to take photos at the nearby bus stop.

For anyone who knows the West End, the location makes a certain kind of sense. Morley Court is a residential development that grew over a couple of decades, starting with a block of shops and flats facing Cornwall Street in the 1960s, with more residential accommodation following alongside Market Way and Western Approach about ten years later. The central building is a two-storey reinforced concrete structure, rectangular in shape and covering roughly 790 square metres, set on a site that slopes steeply downwards from north to south. Below, the lower ground floor holds motor garages to the south, while the upper ground floor is an open-air car park with stainless steel security cages entered from the north. Above all that sits a community roof terrace covering the entire footprint of the building, with three link bridges running north, west and south to the surrounding flats, external steps from road level in the northwest corner, a small single-storey garden room for toilets, storage and informal meetings, and a raised lawn on the east side. The original design and the community consultation back in 2012 were the work of the Eden Project's Resilient Communities Team.

This is not Lauder's first run-in with a graffiti-prone wall. He was also commissioned by the Lady Eve Vintage shop in Helston to paint a mural there, which he did for free to help promote his work. That piece took in the spirit of Flora Day, a special part of Helston, and the shop's owners, Bee Pellow and Jan Williams, have run the business since it opened two years ago during lockdown. Lauder said the reaction there came from both the younger and older generations, with everyone he spoke to saying more of it was needed. He noted that Cornwall is generally untouched when it comes to street art, and that it can brighten an area, draw people in and help both local businesses and up-and-coming artists.