Pro Landscaper November 2017

Concept to Delivery

November 2017

DESIGN, BUILD, AND MAINTAIN

Let’s Hear it From GREENCUBE GARDEN & LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Winter wonders

PEABODY REGENERATING THAMESMEAD

ADDING INTEREST IN THE COLDER MONTHS

30 UNDER 30

Winners announced

Contemporary chic KARENA BATSTONE DESIGN COVER final.indd 7

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WELCOME

Concept to Delivery DESIGN, BUILD, AND MAINTAIN

November 2017 | Volume 7, Issue 11

November 2017

Let’s Hear it From

GREENCUBE GAR DEN & LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Welcome to November 2017

PEABODY

REGENERATING THAMESMEAD

Winter wonders ADDING INTEREST IN THE COLDER MONTHS

30 UNDER 30

Winners announced

Welcome to the November issue of Pro Landscaper. We hope to be welcoming all our readers to FutureScape in just a couple of weeks’ time, and if you haven’t been to the event before, please do consider it – we liken the day to a reallife issue of Pro Landscaper, bringing the whole of the landscape industry together as a community.

Pre-registration is still open at www.futurescapeevent.com and you can also book your seat at any of the seminars, panel sessions and industry debates – we promise you will come away with a head buzzing full of ideas and strategies for improving your business.

30 Under 30’s class of

Eljays44 Ltd 3 Churchill Court, 112 The Street, Rustington, West Sussex BN16 3DA Tel: 01903 777 570 EDITORIAL Editorial Director – Lisa Wilkinson lisa.wilkinson@eljays44.com Tel: 01903 777 579

2017 has now been announced. The standard was so high the decision was made all the more difficult – this only goes to show that even at a young age we have so many people in the industry achieving above and beyond expectations. Well done everyone and we look forward to the presentation at FutureScape.

We caught up with Jamie Butterworth recently to learn about his new position at London Stone, a very interesting concept which will no doubt interest many of you, see page 12 for our report.

The development of Thamesmead is 50 years old this year and when built in the sixties it was known as ‘the town of the future’. Sadly there were some problems, but since being acquired by the Peabody association in 2014, there is now a £1bn regeneration programme

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Contemporary ch ic KARENA BATSTONE DESIGN

COVER final.indd

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in place, and it will be interesting to follow this extensive scheme over the next decade. Find out what plans are in store in our feature on page 40.

Finally, Janine Pattison shares her passion for ‘mud’ on page 58 in our regular ‘Why I #lovehorticulture’ feature and it was great to delve into the work, inspiration, travel and personal tastes of Andrew Wilson on this month’s Life/Style pages (60-61).

Of course, there is so much more in this issue, so get reading!

See you at FutureScape.

@jimeljays

@lisaeljays

Design – Kara Thomas, Mandy Armstrong Pro Landscaper is proud to be an affiliate member of BALI

Printed by Pensord Press Ltd, Gwent, UK Published by ©Eljays44 Ltd – Connecting Horticulture Pro Landscaper’s content is available for licensing overseas. Contact jamie.wilkinson@ eljays44.com Pro Landscaper is published 12 times per year by Eljays44 Ltd. The 2017 subscription price is £95.

Subscription records are maintained at Eljays44 Ltd, 3 Churchill Court, 112 The Street, Rustington, West Sussex BN16 3DA, UK. Articles and information contained in this publication are the copyright of Eljays44 Ltd and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publishers. The publishers cannot accept responsibility for loss of, or damage to, uncommissioned photographs or manuscripts.

Whilst every effort has been made to maintain the integrity of our advertisers, we accept no responsibility for any problem, complaints, or subsequent litigation arising from readers’ responses to advertisements in the magazine. We also wish to emphasise that views expressed by editorial contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers. Reproduction of any part of this magazine is strictly forbidden.

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Professional Landscapers

Pro Landscaper is proud to be an associate member of The APL

MANAGEMENT Managing Director Jim Wilkinson Director Lisa Wilkinson Business Development Manager Jamie Wilkinson

Cover image ©Rebecca Bernstein

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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CONTENTS

November 2017 INFORM

8

Agenda Should it be the garden designer’s or the landscape contractor’s responsibility to buy the plants for a project?

10

21

News Our monthly roundup of industry news

12

Hard Landscaping Meets Horticulture Jamie Butterworth joins London Stone

17

Association News

Concept to Delivery

The latest updates from efig, SGD, BALI, RHS, APL and Parks Alliance

21

November 2017

DESIGN, BUILD, AND MAINTAIN

Let’s Hear it From

xx

GREENCUBE GARDEN & LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Winter wonders

Let’s Hear it From Mandy Buckland of Greencube Garden and Landscape Design

24 Company Profile Country Grounds Maintenance

PEABODY REGENERATING THAMESMEAD

ADDING INTEREST IN THE COLDER MONTHS

30 UNDER 30

Winners announced

Contemporary chic

26 Landscape Architect’s Journal

KARENA BATSTONE DESIGN

Planit-IE COVER final.indd 7

28 View from the Top Tim Howell on how a safe workplace can help to attract new employees

30 Breaking New Ground Technology is no good without cooperation, says Angus Lindsay

31

37 The Calm After the Storm

52

40 Thamesmead Regeneration

Back in Business An Eighties business park gets a contemporary revamp

Pro Landscaper takes a trip to Mid and East Antrim

56 Cutting a Rug Advice from Anji Connell on choosing and caring for outdoor rugs

Peabody’s plans to overhaul the South London housing estate

Asset or Liability Andrew Wilson discusses why garden redevelopment is so often the poor relation of home redevelopment

32 Joined-Up Thinking It’s good to get out of your usual circle every so often, says David T Binks

34 You’re Hired Adam White calls on employers to support the creation of a landscaping apprenticeship

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Contents so far.indd 4

INSPIRE

45 Stepping Up Clean lines and grey tones inject a sense of chic into the garden of a Georgian property

48 Make a Splash A swimming pool is the focal point for a multilevel back garden transformation

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CONTENTS

96

Save the Trees Noel Kingsbury is concerned about the increasing threat of tree disease

98

Earth Cycle Pro Landscaper visits the soil and compost business

EDUCATE

102 Helping You Make A Profit

Sam Hassall looks at the process of putting together a quote

104 Waste Not, Want Not The process of recycling materials is Sean Butler’s focus this month

105 A Word on Winter Robert Webber dispenses tips on winter lighting

106 Natural Paving The Talasey Group brings six brands under one umbrella

108 Go and See

48

The stands to check out at this year’s FutureScape

110 Silent City Reporting on the third Silent City conference, exploring the innovations taking landscaping into the future

NURTURE

58 #LoveHorticulture

87

60 Life/Style

88

We look at some of the products that will be on show at FutureScape

64 Garden Buildings A selection of outdoor rooms

90

69 30 Under 30 This year’s winners

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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Winter Wonders Andy McIndoe selects plants for adding interest to a winter garden

92

Feeling Festive Ian Drummond on why cyclamens are due a return to popularity

66 Play Equipment Projects from around the UK

Designer Plants A fragrant, Mediterranean planting scheme from Laura Anstiss

Find out what makes Andrew Wilson tick

62 Traditional Planters

Nurture News A roundup of news from the UK’s growing sector

Janine Pattison tells us about the impact of horticulture on wellbeing

95

Keep on the Grass Winter is when grasses come into their own, says Jamie Butterworth

112 Blowers and Vacs Rounding up the best garden blowers and vacuums

114 What I’m Reading Melissa King reviews ‘art Before Breakfast’ by Danny Gregory

117

What’s Your Role?

Paul Cook, curator at RHS Garden Harlow Carr

118 Trading With GreenBlue Urban

122 Little Interviews Quick-fire questions to the people who make up our industry

Pro Landscaper / November 2017

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INFORM

SPOTLIGHT ON

CONTRIBUTORS

Tim Howell

Andrew Wilson

Noel Kingsbury

Robert Webber

Managing director, Mitie Landscapes Ltd

Garden designer and lecturer

Garden designer and writer

Founder, Scenic Lighting

In this month’s View from the Top, Tim Howell discusses health and safety within the workplace, and why this regularly needs to be refreshed. He divulges how Mitie Landscapes ensures its staff are aware of any updates, and how it uses innovation to encourage staff to take the information on board.

By promoting the industry as safe yet exciting, we can address the current skills shortage.

It’s up to us to convince clients of the benefits of a good garden, says Andrew Wilson. He considers the garden as a financial asset, admitting that a designed garden will not necessarily increase house price and that clients who invest for personal benefit rather than financial gain are thin on the ground – but there are many clients who can be persuaded.

Horticulturist Noel Kingsbury advises how we could react more rationally to tree pests and diseases, using the examples of ash dieback, Dutch elm disease and the emerald ash borer. He suggests how the landscape industry and other land-based industries could help to limit the spread of pests and diseases in Britain, and suggests a few new basic rules to follow.

As the nights grow darker, and with winter just around the corner, Robert Webber explains why this is his busiest time of year. Garden lighting steals the spotlight, but the wet weather can have a detrimental effect; Rob provides his top tips for ensuring lighting installations are still shining at the end of the winter months, including how to prevent water ingress.

mitielandscapes.com @TimwHowell

wmstudio.co.uk @AndrewWilsonii

noelkingsbury.com @noelk57

sceniclighting.com @Scenic_rob

Other contributors Jamie Butterworth Horticultural consultant, London Stone

David T Binks Managing director, Big Hedge Co. and Landstruction

Andy McIndoe Leading horticulturist

Sam Hassall Managing director, LandPro Ltd

Adam White Director, Davies White Ltd

Ian Drummond Creative director, Indoor Garden Design

Sean Butler Director, Cube 1994

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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INSPIRE

Anji Connell Interior architect and landscape designer

Angus Lindsay Head of fleet, idverde

Pro Landscaper / November 2017

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INFORM

AGENDA

SHOULD IT BE THE GARDEN DESIGNER’S OR THE LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR’S RESPONSIBILITY TO BUY THE PLANTS FOR A PROJECT?

The question of whose responsibility it is to buy the plants for a project is a hot topic, querying whether the garden designer or the landscape contractor is liable for the plants’ establishment. We spoke to a few industry experts to ask what their stance is and how they deal with the problem of liability.

Patricia Fox Managing director, Aralia Personally, we think it should be the designer’s responsibility to purchase the plants for projects.

Our primary reason for this is that we have a long-established relationship with our nurseries – they know what we like and what we don’t like, and would very rarely bother to offer us substitutes that wouldn’t work. This works on several levels – it cuts down on the amount of liaison between designer, nursery and contractor, making for a streamlined business process, and ensures that our schemes are on the whole installed as per our design vision. We also find that if we are responsible for paying the bill with a nursery we have a greater level of control than if we are just ‘making requests’ as a designer, with someone else paying the bill. We do appreciate 8

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Pro Landscaper / November 2017

that this may sometimes raise a question of culpability if plants fail – is it the nursery, designer or contractor’s responsibility to replace? but to be honest, this happens so rarely that it’s not particularly an issue for us.

Karen McClure Owner, Karen McClure Garden & Landscape Design

The client, designer and contractor need to agree at the outset who is responsible for what.

As a designer, I’m absorbed in the vision of how the finished project will look. Feature trees are fast becoming a big part of my work, and large tree logistics are complex and expensive. I am happy for landscapers to supply plants of any size (although some won’t go near planting), as long as the design isn’t compromised, the longer-term maintenance is considered, contract documentation is in place and the soil is prepared correctly. After all, it’s the responsibility of whoever buys to remove, reorder, replace, deliver and replant any failures. My aim is to have ‘best practice’ with BALI or APL contractors, and for the client to understand who’s supplying, paying and accountable afterwards. I recommend that designers charge enough in the first place that it’s not essential to recoup money from planting. It’s all about valuing what you do as a designer.

Rosemary Coldstream Owner, Rosemary Coldstream Garden Design

Plants should be supplied by those who are experienced in plant sourcing and prepared to take the risk. Much depends on the project and how it is run. Sometimes clients will purchase direct, or the principal contractor supplies if certain guarantees are needed. I supply plants for most of my projects, as I prefer to have control over the selecting and sourcing. This can be done without the purchasing, but I see it as an arm of my business revenue. Plant supply is not to make up for low design fees – design fees are separate, and each should be priced appropriately. Some contractors don’t want to supply plants, while others might; it depends on your working relationship. Responsibility must be clearly discussed should something die that requires more than popping in a perennial.

David Dodd Managing director, The Outdoor Room I’ve always advocated designers valuing what they do and this starts with charging appropriate fees – avoiding the need to supplement income by supplying plants. One concern is that if www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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INFORM

designer becomes supplier, they’ve created a grey area, and aren’t necessarily representing the client’s best interests. However, the biggest problem is liability. If the designer supplies the plants and the contractor plants them, who is responsible for anything that dies once a project is complete? The Outdoor Room won’t take liability for anything it hasn’t supplied. We’re still happy to work with designers who want to supply plants and take the risk over their liability.

For me, the most professional route is for the designer to source the plants and charge a decent fee for all of their time. The contractor purchases and supplies the plants, and also undertakes their establishment and warranty.

fees. There is also the question of who then guarantees the plants and the cost of labour to replace them. This is particularly relevant when the cost of replacement far outweighs the value of the plants – for instance, when craning is needed. Personally, I think that either the designer or contractor can supply the plants, but it’s critical to be transparent with the client so that guarantees, costs and responsibilities are clear between all parties.

James Scott

It should always be the contractor’s responsibility – that way the liability envelope is clear. Doing both design and build is okay, as the liability envelope is even clearer – there’s only one port of call if anything goes wrong. I do realise that this an ‘ideal world’ solution. On smaller projects, or when contractor skill is poor, it may be the most sensible option for a designer to supply the plants – but in this situation they should really plant and maintain them as well, in which case they are effectively operating as a contractor. The danger is that if the designer supplies, the contractor plants and a third party maintains, the liability is split. Who pays in the event of a failure – the contractor, the nursery, the designer, the gardener or the client?

Managing director, The Garden Company

This is often seen as a commercial conflict of interest between designer and contractor, who both want to profit from plant supply. The contractor’s argument is that the client will pay more if the contractor can’t charge for plants, because the contractor then needs to charge more for labour to cover the deficit of plant profit; at the same time, the designer will mark up when selling the plants, so the client pays twice.

However, in this scenario the designer’s plant mark-up is often instead of charging professional www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Agenda.indd 9

John Wyer CEO, Bowles & Wyer

Caspian Robertson Director, Caspian Gardens

Good quality planting and plants secure the health and longevity of the design, so it is imperative that this gets completed to a high standard for clients.

To meet this, I feel it is important to reflect upon who holds the greatest level of ability in the environment. I’m happiest when meandering through aisles of plants at the nursery; however, it is also important to recognise when the project would be better served by outsourcing the planting. For instance, I’m currently designing a space for the University of Arizona that features rare fasciated saguaro cacti, a species and environment that would be better served by an expert. Ultimately, creating a wonderful garden involves a collaborative effort where all parties use their areas of expertise to pull together and create something special.

NEXT MONTH How much value can business consultancy add to a company?

Have your say: editor@pro-landscaper.co.uk Pro Landscaper / November 2017

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INFORM

NEWS Designs for Manchester’s proposed Embrace a multi-generational workforce, says Glendale new Peace Garden created by landscape architecture students Glendale is urging employers to Landscape architecture students have put forward ideas to help shape the design of Manchester’s proposed replacement Peace Garden. The Friends of Manchester Peace Garden have been campaigning for its reinstatement since the removal of the previous garden five years ago as part of the St Peter’s Square redevelopment.

Lincoln Square has been identified

by Manchester City Council as the likely location for the new garden, and Planit-IE was recently appointed by a consortium of developers to deliver the public realm of the area.

The Integrated Project 2017 – part of the Master of Landscape Architecture course at the Manchester School of Architecture – saw students focus on the issue

News.indd 10

of creating a new garden in the city centre. Over the course of a week, in collaboration with the Friends and Planit-IE, 36 students worked in groups to explore how the word ‘peace’ might be translated into a contemporary public space.

The groups presented their proposals to a panel of judges, including Qaisra Shahraz of Faith Network for Manchester, sculptor Karen Lyons, and Steve Roman and Rae Street of The Friends of Manchester Peace Garden.

Group A was announced as the winner with its design, ‘Equilibrium Contemplation Protection’.

The winning proposal was based on the idea of ‘peace’ as a state of mind, characterised by equilibrium, contemplation and protection. The design featured an oval reflecting pool, semienclosed by a wall punctuated with ‘windows’ and enlivened by a waterfall; it is a powerful vision of a new icon for the city centre. www.msa.ac.uk

consider the benefits of a multigenerational workforce, following the appointment of 50-yearold apprentice Paul Valiantis.

In his role as a green space management specialist, Paul will take on a programme that combines hands-on experience with workplace-based training.

The green services provider is highlighting the range of benefits to be gained from embracing older workers, including the access to more experience, skills and knowledge. According to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the over 50s will make up almost one third of the working age population by 2020.

Its Attitudes of the Over 50s to Fuller Working Lives survey found that 21% of employers said that workers aged 50 or over were more productive than younger counterparts, while 68% said they were equally productive.

“Apprentices are a key part of our succession plan here at

Glendale, but I think it is easy to forget that they are not just limited to younger people,” said Shereen Marlow, contract manager at Glendale. “An individual with more years under their belt is likely to bring their own experiences to the role, as well as a wealth of transferable skills from previous positions that can be passed throughout the workforce.”

“I was keen to gain a horticultural qualification, so I was looking for something which would provide experience while learning at the same time,” said Paul. “An apprenticeship seemed the best way to do this, and I like the fact that you get to work in many different environments and take on new challenges every day.” www.glendale-services.co.uk

19/10/2017 14:16

INFORM

Diarmuid Gavin unveils plans for the largest container garden in the world Diarmuid Gavin has unveiled plans to create an urban garden on Gateshead Quays, on the banks of the Tyne. The Urban Garden, which could be the largest container garden in the world, is planned to open in June 2018.

The plans aim to bring together cultural and social initiatives working alongside local businesses, creating a key visitor destination for the 2018

Great Exhibition of the North and the Newcastle Gateshead World Transplant Games in 2019.

The designs comprise a walled terraced garden created from 90 shipping containers.

Inspired by traditional walled gardens, it is planted with a variety of ornamental and agricultural species; its internal walls will be covered with herbs, vegetables and ground-cover species.

Large specimen trees will create dramatic structure, with six-metre tall Carpinus dotted throughout the multiple levels of the scheme, while groves of multi-stemmed birch will emerge from drifts of flowering perennials. Wheat, corn and hops

NEWS IN BRIEF Thrive Birmingham starts prison gardening programme

will be planted in potato crates at ground level, and each container terrace will be adorned with mixed plantations of ornamental and productive species.

Up to 100 people would work at the site and the garden would be maintained by National Trust gardeners and volunteers.

It’s estimated that over 200,000 people could visit annually.

The planning application will be considered by Gateshead Council’s later this year. www.gateshead.gov.uk/ urbangarden

Mango Paving and Landscaping celebrates 10th year in business Exeter’s Mango Paving and Landscaping is celebrating its 10th year in business by incorporating garden design into its services.

“We really want to fulfil every need of our valued customers by evolving into a design and build company,” said the company’s director, Roxanna Jaudat. Mango was nominated in the Best New

Contractor category at this year’s APL Awards, where Roxanna saw guest speaker Adam Frost deliver a compelling speech about creating a journey through a garden, and the importance of design.

Without wasting any time, Roxanna enrolled on a brand new diploma with The Pickards School of Garden Design.

In November, horticultural therapists from Thrive Birmingham begin a gardening programme for prisoners with mental health problems at HMP Hewell, working with them in the prison’s garden once a week for a year. www.thrive.org.uk/ birmingham.aspx

Green Flag Award reveals the public’s favourite parks

This year, 1,799 Green Flag Awards were awarded to the UK’s best-managed parks and green spaces. The public voted for their favourite parks in record numbers, and Green Flag Award announced the people’s top 10 in October. Find the winning parks at www.green agaward.org.uk

London Stone launches DesignBoard

“I enrolled onto this course to fulfil my creative potential, and embark on something relevant for myself, for the business and most importantly for our customers,” she said. Her graduation will be in 2018, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Mango Paving & Landscaping. www.mangolandscapes.co.uk

London Stone has announced the launch of DesignBoard, a range of composite decking that sees nature meet technology. Easy to clean, scratch and fade-resistant and algae-proof, it is supplied in eight colours to suit traditional and contemporary settings. www.london one.co.uk

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INFORM

HARD LANDSCAPING MEETS HORTICULTURE

L

ondon Stone has announced its new vision to become more than simply a hard landscaping materials supplier.

The company, which is renowned for its selection of natural stone paving and bespoke stone products, is looking to become involved in the entire garden-building process, from hard landscaping to horticulture.

It is ambitiously looking to provide expert advice on both of these garden elements under one roof. To bring this new horticultural offering through to fruition, one of the landscape industry’s leading horticultural experts, Jamie Butterworth, will be joining the London Stone team; he will be working alongside Garden Design Director Craig Potter as the company’s new horticultural consultant.

Commenting on his new role, Jamie says: “We all work in one of the most fantastic, rewarding and diverse industries I can possibly think of. I am incredibly proud and excited to be joining such a dynamic, forward thinking, and innovative company as London Stone.

“I have loved every second of my time spent working with Hortus Loci, and cannot thank them enough for the opportunities I have had there. In my new role I hope to develop and expand upon this close relationship.

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“This is a new and exciting role, and our aim is to break down barriers so that we can build a bridge between soft and hard landscaping. Only by working together can we truly achieve this, throwing away the rule book in attempt to re-shape and unite our fabulous industry.

“A garden is a glorious cocktail of quality design, expert craftsmanship, beautiful plants and superb stone. Our vision at London Stone is to help make the process of creating a stunning garden seamless, and in doing so, helping all designers and landscapers, from students to veterans, to create the most beautiful gardens and spaces possible. Landscaping and horticulture should go hand in hand.”

OUR AIM IS TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS SO THAT WE CAN BUILD A BRIDGE BETWEEN SOFT AND HARD LANDSCAPING London Stone will also be including an educational aspect in its ambitious new vision.

The supplier already offers CPDs and training in hard landscaping to landscapers, garden www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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INFORM

designers and students, but it will now be using its relationships with clients to extend this education into horticulture. It is going to be offering horticulture introduction courses to landscapers and advanced planting courses for designers, as well as providing basic planting plans to complement its stone ranges.

Steve Walley, Managing Director of London Stone, explains: “Jamie Butterworth is one of the UK’s leading horticulturists, so I’m unbelievably excited that we have attracted a person of his calibre to join London Stone.

“Our vision is for London Stone to become more than just a natural stone supplier. From hard landscaping through to horticulture we want to offer our clients the complete service, all of the expert advice they need to design and build amazing gardens and all under one roof.

“I talk to landscape professionals every day and more than ever there is a thirst for knowledge as the boundaries are continually pushed. This new direction is about education, service and ultimately about enabling our clients to build beautiful gardens and outdoor spaces.

“Jamie’s passion for horticulture and the landscape industry is truly inspirational, and his appointment will enable London Stone to improve even further on the level and scope of service that we can offer our landscape and garden design clients.”

Speaking on how this new offering will benefit the landscaping industry, Mark Gregory – Managing Director of Surrey-based design and build company Landform Consultants – comments: “When I heard the news that Jamie Butterworth was to join the management team at London Stone as a horticultural consultant it caught me off guard and for a moment I was lost for words. I’ve always been an www.prolandscapermagazine.com

News Extra London Stone.indd 13

FROM HARD LANDSCAPING THROUGH TO HORTICULTURE WE WANT TO OFFER OUR CLIENTS THE COMPLETE SERVICE outside of the box thinker but I really did not see that one coming.

“After the initial shock I have to say what a brilliant idea! It shows a company widening its horizons, a company with vision, looking at

ways it can support its customers and help them to grow. Totally embracing complete customer care, it sets a new benchmark for the landscaping supply chain, is great for the industry, breaks down barriers and brings us all that little bit closer together.

“Who would have thought a leading stone supplier, offering horticultural advice - brilliant! I need to think out of the box a little more intently.”

To find out more about the opportunities available, and learn more about this new offering, contact info@londonstone.co.uk

Learn more about this new partnership at FutureScape on 14 November, where Jamie Butterworth and Craig Potter of London Stone will be hosting the seminar ‘It’s Better When We’re Together: Hard Landscaping Meets Horticulture’ at 2pm in Room 2.

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 13

19/10/2017 10:51

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19/10/2017 10:01

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13/10/2017 11:53

ASSOCIATION

INFORM

NEWS

efig outline efig at FutureScape We are excited to announce that we will have a seminar at this year’s FutureScape, which takes place on 14 November at Sandown Park Racecourse.

With last year’s FutureScape such a success, we knew we couldn’t let it pass without supporting the event this year.

The double seminar will be in the Solario Room at 2.30pm and will feature two speakers.

The first is Ed Suttie, director of RE Timber, who will be Ed Suttie, RE leading the Biophilic Design Research Project with Oliver Heath of Oliver Heath Design and a number of other partner companies. Richard Sabin, director of the well-known green wall company and efig member Biotecture Ltd, will be Richard Sabin, our second Biotecture Ltd

to be confirmed to comment on the speakers’ presentations and/or general interior landscaping questions.

Times are appro imate

speaker. Biotecture is a core partner with RE on this biophilic research project.

2.30: Ed’s contribution will be Connecting buildings with nature – the biophilic design research project 2.50: Richard will speak about The value of green infrastructure 3.10: There will be time for questions and discussions following their contributions.

3.30: After question time, we will host a panel discussion (participants

The seminars aren’t restricted to our members – they are open to anyone who is interested in the subject matters. There will also be time for general networking after this, so we are sure that both members and nonmembers will make the most of the opportunity. www.efig.co.uk

APL update APL Autumn Seminar 2017 – Vertically Challenged, sponsored by London Stone On 26 September, the APL held a one-day seminar on the challenges of vertical landscaping at the TA o ces in Chilton, Oxfordshire. The day was a great opportunity for

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Association News.indd 17

industry experts to get together and share best practice and experiences, as well as to network.

The day was introduced

by APL chairman Ken White, who discussed how, as an association, the APL has a real community of knowledge that can be shared. He then introduced his predecessor Mark Gregory, who chaired the rest of the day and gave insights into his experiences of vertical landscaping.

The day included insightful talks from Kate Gould of Kate Gould Gardens, who

discussed the design process and the considerations that should be explored in a project; Oliver Magnuson of Frosts Landscape Construction, who gave an overview of the role of a structural engineer and highlighted the importance of giving them as much information as possible to avoid costly changes and problems later; Paul Hensey of Green Zone Design Ltd, who discussed planning, the different types of walls and when to use them; Andy Loudon, DSWA Master Craftsman and Chief E aminer, who gave instruction on how to

achieve the dry stone wall look, and Paul Masters of London Stone Paving Ltd, who talked about Design Clad, a porcelain cladding system.

There were also great opportunities for networking and a chance to visit our e hibitor sponsors CE atural Stone, Citation, Global Stone, London Stone and Makita. www.land ca er.org.uk

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 17

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INFORM

RHS report org.uk/science/articles/johnmacleod-annual-lecture for further details.

Autumn Woodfest, RHS Garden Hyde Hall RHS Garden Hyde Hall will be transformed into an Autumn Woodfest from 3-5 November.

Visitors can immerse themselves in traditional crafts and activities, including heavy horse-logging, wood-carving and willow-weaving. The event, sponsored by Stihl, will also see plenty of advice from the team, as well as ©RHS/Georgi Mabee

The John Macleod Annual Lecture, RHS Lindley Hall On 9 November, Dr David Wolfe, Professor of Plant and Soil Ecology in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University, will be speaking on ‘Gardening with a mission: providing leadership for climate change adaptation and mitigation’. Hosted by the RHS at the Lindley Hall in London, the John MacLeod Annual Lecture was created to highlight important and inspiring topics on horticultural science. Visit https://www.rhs.

demonstrations on how to choose the perfect tree for your garden this autumn. www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/ hyde-hall Winter Illuminations ©RHS/Oliver Kite

Yorkshire Christmas Shopping Showcase, RHS Garden Harlow Carr Throughout November and December, visitors can get into the festive spirit at Harlow Carr’s Shop & Plant Centre with a festive delights to stock up on. There will also be talks on Christmas houseplants and the chance to buy natural tree decorations, wreaths, mistletoe and products that make for the perfect stocking fillers. www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/ harlow-carr

See How Our Garden Glows, RHS Garden Rosemoor From 17 November to January, Rosemoor will be lit up, highlighting trees, shrubs, sculptures and pathways for visitors to explore as dusk falls.

Thursday-Saturday each week will also see an extended trail, with pieces from the Winter Sculpture Exhibition. Evenings will also activities such as Christmas Food & Craft Fairs. www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/ rosemoor www.rhs.org.uk

Parks Alliance matters sector/community groups. Modest pump prime funding of £500,000 has also been announced.

Green shoots Exciting times here at The Parks Alliance! The long awaited ministerial response to the Communities and Local Government Committee’s public parks inquiry has been published, together with a commitment to establish a cross-departmental group to look at the recommendations, and a ‘Parks Action Group’ (PAG), which will be made up of representatives from local government and third

18

The Parks Alliance is delighted to have been invited to become a member of PAG, and while we are yet to understand the terms of reference for the group, this has to be seen as a positive move, and particularly an indication that the government will take an interest in the plight of parks. Bringing together seven government departments to form the cross-departmental group could create a more joined up approach, both in recognising the benefits that public open

Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Association News.indd 18

space can provide, and in linking opportunities for funding – from health to education, and from sport to environment.

As well as guardedly celebrating the response to the public parks inquiry, The Parks Alliance has been studying the London Mayor’s draft London Environment Strategy. Its vision to create the greenest city in the world has to be supported, as does the ambition to make London the world’s first national

park city. Green infrastructure is given prominence, and it is probably fair to expect that there will be significant opportunities for the sector to work with communities in creating and improving green spaces. The establishment of a ‘greener city fund’ will, if implemented, support community groups with modest funding for projects.

As the days get shorter, the weather becomes less forgiving and winter work programmes kick in, we can all be cautiously optimistic that the benefits of parks and green space are coming back into focus for those that can influence their futures. www.theparksalliance.org

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19/10/2017 10:57

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BALI briefing

Win a £1,000 holiday voucher

BALI’s new trade campaign, supported by headline sponsor and BALI Registered A liate member Westminster Stone Company, will go live on 1 November. It will target industry professionals through digital and traditional methods, including Google AdWords, Facebook, a campaign landing page and targeted mailshots. Designed and built by Google Premier

Partners Adtrak, the campaign will promote BALI as the UK’s leading trade association for landscape professionals, as well as the benefits of joining and becoming Registered.

Any organisation or designer who successfully joins ALI as a Registered member between 1 November 2017 and 31 March 2018 will be entered into a prize draw to win a £1,000 holiday voucher.

There has never been a better time to join with over 100,000 people employed through the membership network, it’s a great way to make new connections. You can view the trade campaign at joinbaliandwin.co.uk, once it goes live on 1 November.

Public campaign to launch BALI will also be launching a public sales campaign on 1 November, sponsored by BALI Registered A liate member and luxury greenhouse manufacturer Gabriel Ash. This aims to raise public awareness of BALI as a landscaping brand, as well as to generate new enquiries for Registered members that offer domestic products and services.

BALI has secured advertising space with leading brands such as Mumsnet, Gardens Illustrated and House and Garden, and will also use platforms like Facebook and Google AdWords. The campaign will promote the association to over one million

potential customers view the campaign from 1 November at findabalimember.co.uk.

November events BALI is set to exhibit at two major industry events in November. On 1-2 November, BALI’s Pavilion returns to SALTE at irmingham’s EC the association will be working alongside Registered members such as Makita, oningale Nurseries, Green-tech, M&M Timber, Ground Control and British Sugar TOPSOIL. BALI is also supporting FutureScape at Sandown Racecourse on 14 November.

Find us on stand 8 , working alongside Adtrak. www.bali.org.uk

SGD bulletin SGD Awards 2017 Shortlist Announced The Society of Garden Designers has announced the finalists for The SG Awards 2017. A shortlist of 33 has been announced across 13 award categories, including a sensory woodland garden at a children’s hospice, a public garden designed as a contemporary playscape at a Historic Royal Palace, and a roof garden on one of the largest roof terraces in London.

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Association News.indd 19

Chosen by an independent judging panel drawn from experts across the industry, the projects represent some of the very best in garden design from right across the UK and abroad.

The shortlisted projects in the three Residential Garden categories and in the International, Public & Communal Outdoor Space,

Coach ouse garden by ane rockbank MSG Marianne Majerus

Garden Jewel and Roof Garden categories will now be entered into the People’s Choice Award, which opened for votes on 1 October via the SGD Awards website. The same finalists will also be competing for the highly coveted Grand Award, which will be decided by the main judging panel.

The winners of all 19 awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Grand Award, the Judges’ Award and the People’s Choice Award, will be revealed at The SGD Awards ceremony on Friday 2nd February 2018. The event, which returns to London’s Landmark otel for a third year,

Tyre Hill House by Matt Keightley MSGD Marianne Majerus

promises to be the highlight of the garden design calendar.

Tickets for the ceremony are now on sale.

To see details of all the shortlisted projects in the main award categories, visit the SGD Awards website – www.sgdawards.com www.sgd.org.uk

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 19

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18/10/2017 14:52

Let’s Hear it From

INFORM

MANDY BUCKLAND Pro Landscaper speaks to Mandy Buckland about how a career change led her to follow her passion and open her own practice Your career in the landscape industry has spanned 15 years – how did it all start for you?

I used to work in a busy IT department for a large insurance company, running out of the door at five every evening, a little jaded. I needed a new start and a new career; I had an urge to learn new skills, do something very different and work creatively. I took voluntary redundancy, which funded my four-year degree course at Greenwich University, completing a BA (Hons) degree in Garden Design. I worked for two landscaping companies during my studies, which gave me great exposure and experience, and I met some wonderful contacts along the way.

What made you decide to start your own practice?

I wanted to do it on my own and do it my way.

I had a real desire to make it work, which still gets me out of bed early every morning – I’m excited about what I do and what we create.

Our best garden is always our next garden!

I’m incredibly passionate about our business and hope to enthuse everyone who works alongside us. We encourage team effort and celebrate our successes.

You have recently grown your team – is this due to demand for business, and are you looking to expand further?

I’m slowly building the team to keep up with www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Let's Hear it From.indd 21

demand, and hope to take on another person in January or February next year, which will bring our team up to five. I like to surround myself with positive thinkers and doers – people who care and want to make a difference. This job is wonderful, I often have to pinch myself and ask: “Is this real? How lucky are we?!”

WE WANT TO OFFER THE WHOLE PACKAGE – WE DESIGN, WE TENDER FOR THE HARDSCAPES AND WE DO OUR OWN PLANTING, SO IT MADE SENSE TO OFFER AFTERCARE What made you decide to offer maintenance as part of your business?

We want to offer the whole package – we design, we tender for the hardscapes and we do our own planting, so it made sense to offer

aftercare. It is so important to the success of the garden. It creates an additional revenue, keeps our clients happy and we get to see the garden mature – and hopefully get great photos. We know the garden inside out, we understand the soil, we know every plant. Gemma, Emily and Benita look after all our gardens with love and care. They are all RHS-trained and qualified, and make a real difference to each and every garden.

How is the business’s turnover split between design and maintenance?

I break it down into four revenue groups: design is 30%, maintenance is 20%, plants and other purchases is 40% and planting labour is 10%.

It’s important to understand your accounts and calculate your profit margins accurately. We do this for love, but it’s still a business, and it needs to work and make profits. I do find myself swapping hats on a daily basis. This is natural for any small business – one minute you are HR, then you are marketing, accounts, pension Pro Landscaper / November 2017 21

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INFORM

expert, administrator, blogger, tweeter, website developer. If I’m lucky I’ll have a couple of quiet days to work up concepts for a design. This makes it fun and varied.

How do you choose the landscapers you work with, or do you have your own team attached to the business?

We typically work with three large companies for our big jobs and two small landscapers for our smaller, budget-conscious jobs. Two of the three larger companies are APL and BALI members.

You build up trust and a working relationship, they understand your requirements and the quality that is expected – it’s a team effort. On average, at any one time, we have 20 jobs which are at various stages. This makes my work life incredibly busy; I no longer leave work at 5pm and am often working a 10+ hour day during the week, although I rarely work weekends.

Would you say you have a particular design style or preference?

During a lecture at Greenwich University, our lecturer Andrew Wilson asked: ‘What is your USP?’ I hope I have developed this through the years: I’m very interested in materials, textures, light and shadows, colour and contrast, and I work on those throughout each design. Client brief, context and budget lead the way, but we take it further, hopefully achieving desirable and magical green spaces. I have a modern influence but love rustic too; my layouts are generally strong and geometric but they are always softened by wonderful planting.

I LIKE TO SURROUND MYSELF WITH POSITIVE THINKERS AND DOERS – PEOPLE WHO CARE AND WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE You are a fully registered member of the SGD. Do you find this helpful in finding work and keeping up to date with developments in the industry?

I have been a full member of the SGD since 2009, and it has provided me with opportunities, client leads and helpful advice. The public

generally isn’t aware of the SGD; I’ve helped raise its profile at RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court. It’s an industry stamp that needs to be pushed further and promoted, because it demonstrates a level of design quality, capability and professionalism.

How do you think we can encourage young people to take up a career in the landscape and garden design sector?

I have employed two young graduates in the past, and they brought new ideas, challenged my thinking and played a big part in our success to date. There are so many opportunities available in landscaping and garden design – why wouldn’t you join?

Do you find industry events such as FutureScape helpful for networking and building your knowledge of products and systems?

I love them and look forward to meeting up with peers, colleagues and old acquaintances.

There is a wealth of experience in this industry, and people are very giving and sharing of their knowledge.

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Let's Hear it From.indd 22

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INFORM

THERE ARE SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN LANDSCAPING AND GARDEN DESIGN – WHY WOULDN’T YOU JOIN? What do you think will be the major challenges for the landscape industry moving forward?

I feel the biggest and most important challenge is looking after our planet, with climate change and extreme weather patterns already affecting our lives and our gardens.

When you’re not working, what do you like to do to relax?

I generally don’t work at weekends, as I need to recharge. My husband calls me Clockwork Wife, and after a full day I collapse on the sofa!

I love to cook – it’s a great way to transfer from www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Let's Hear it From.indd 23

work to family life – and I can often be found walking coastal paths in North Norfolk. I start most mornings with a power walk to clear my head and prepare myself for the day, and I also practise yoga.

1 LED strip light to quartz paddle stone steps and feature wall, Sevenoaks 2 Small garden with bioethanol fire bowl, Caterham 3 Small garden in Sevenoaks, using SketchUp Pro 4 Grade II listed Victorian foundry, using Corten steel playing homage to its history, Great Walsingham 5 Hardwood deck boards vertical and horizontal, Sevenoaks 6 Corten fire bowl, Great Walsingham

CONTACT Greencube Garden & Landscape Design, Birch House, Platt Common, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 8JU Tel – Kent office: 01732 885484 Tel – London office: 020 7649 9054 Mob: 07766 857880 info@greencubelandscapes.co.uk www.greencubed.co.uk

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INFORM

COMPANY

PROFILE

Tim Glover, managing director of Country Grounds Maintenance, tells us about the Norfolk-based company’s growth and its commitment to training and apprenticeships Can you tell us a little bit about how the company was founded?

I founded it in 1985. After I left school at 15, I went into farming, and started cutting grass in the evenings to earn extra money. My father and I cleared an overgrown churchyard in West Dereham, and my father bought me a mower to maintain it, so I quoted for the churchyard in the next village as well. Before long I was maintaining several churchyards in the evening.

One of these was to be handed over to the borough council, so I wrote to them asking if I could continue maintaining it and other areas. I was interviewed, asked for a price per square metre, and submitted a tender, which was then successful. I sold my car to buy a pick-up truck, and my brother modified a trailer to put a beavertail on it. I started trading under my own name and the company grew from there.

WE PRIDE OURSELVES ON DELIVERING A SERVICE THAT GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND How has it developed since?

We became a limited company in 1998. I suppose we were just successful in what we did, and we pride ourselves on delivering a service that goes above and beyond. We were based at Hill House Farm in West Dereham, and moved three years ago to Reed House, where we are now.

What services does the company offer?

We were primarily grounds maintenance, but we identified a need for arboriculture work, so we brought someone on board who set up the arboriculture department and grew it to what it 24

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Company Profile CGM.indd 24

COUNTRY GROUNDS MAINTENANCE

in numbers

Established 1985 Employees 200+ Breakdown • Commercial grounds maintenance 45% • Commercial landscaping 15% • Arboriculture 15% • Specialist services 12% • Facilities 8% •Domestic services 5% Awards BALI Awards: 4 is today. We then set up a projects department for new installations and any sort of work that isn’t covered by maintenance or arboriculture.

Five years ago, we added the facilities department, which carries out internal and external cleaning, high pressure washing, graffiti removal and so on.

How are these services managed?

We have two heads of operations – Ed Griffiths and Marcus Glover. Underneath them, we have an arboricultural manager, two project managers, a facilities manager and a special projects manager, who covers work such as invasive weeds and winter clearance.

Is the majority of your work still grounds maintenance?

Yes, it still holds the highest percentage, followed

Tim Glover by arboriculture and projects; the smaller departments are facilities and special projects.

Are there any plans to expand on these?

Never say never, because you always have to look at opportunities. If an opportunity arose, then we would look at it – it would have to be the right client, and we’d have to be able to fulfil the level of service required. We’re also always interested in innovation and looking at how we can change and improve, whether it’s training, equipment or services.

What geographical areas do you cover?

We cover the whole of East Anglia, down to the M25. We also go outside of Milton Keynes, up to Lincolnshire, and everything within that area up to Norfolk, including Cambridgeshire.

What would a typical landscaping project involve?

Anything from a domestic garden through to a large commercial project. One of the largest projects we’ve undertaken was a quarter of a million pounds. We pride ourselves on doing everything in-house with our own staff. We invest a lot of money in training; we have our own in-house ROLO trainer.

What does the company offer in terms of apprenticeships?

We took on five apprentices this year, and four last year. Anybody who is looking to have a career in grounds maintenance or landscaping can contact us, and we are more than happy to sit down and talk to see if there is something we can offer them.

We have also started a monthly forum with our existing staff, so that we can liaise with them about where the business is www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:45

INFORM

heading and what trials and tribulations we’re expecting moving forward; it also gives them the opportunity to voice any concerns or ideas directly to me. I don’t want the business to reach a size where people feel they cannot approach me.

Where do you see the company in the next five years?

The next five years are going to be quite difficult with everything that is going on in the country – especially Brexit. We’re just making sure that we’re aware of these challenges and that we’re delivering a good service.

What accreditations does the company hold?

We hold health and safety in high regard in all our work, as it should be. Therefore, we have sought to achieve accreditation from the most wellwww.prolandscapermagazine.com

Company Profile CGM.indd 25

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE RECOGNITION FOR GROUNDS MAINTENANCE TEAMS, AND THIS NEEDS TO BE REFLECTED IN BETTER VALUE CONTRACTS renowned organisations, so our clients know that when they work with us they will be receiving nothing but high quality services. These include being CHAS accredited and TrustMark endorsed. We have also been accredited by a number of industry-specific organisations that provide us with up to date industry information and advice; these include BALI and the Arboricultural Association.

Finally, what is the one thing you think the industry could and should do better?

People don’t always respect those carrying out grounds maintenance; they don’t always recognise the conditions and constraints we have to deal with. I would like to see more recognition for grounds maintenance teams, and this needs to be reflected in better value contracts.

CONTACT CGM Group, Reed House, Karoo Close, Bexwell Business Park, Downham Market, Norfolk PE38 9GA Tel: 01366 388738 Twitter: @CGM_Ltd Email: info@cgmltd.co.uk Web: www.countrygroundsmaintenance.co.uk

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 25

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Liverpool Football Club ©Adrian Lambert

LANDSCAPE

ARCHITECT’S JOURNAL

We speak to Planit-IE to find out about some of its long term, city-shaping and communityfocused projects

S

ince it was founded nearly 20 years ago, Planit-IE has grown from a small team of three to a workforce of more than 50, with studios currently in Manchester and London – but its core values remain the same. Joint managing partner Pete Swift, who founded the practice with Ed Lister and Richard Line, firmly believes in Richard Branson’s philosophy: “Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, give them everything they need to grow, and your business will thrive.”

This seems to have worked, as the name Planit-IE is consistently linked to exciting projects embracing landscape architecture, urban design and visualisation. Expertise and a track record across these areas allows the company to be selective in the projects that it undertakes. The only rule is that they have to make a difference, however large or small.

One such project is Liverpool Waters, the £5.5bn regeneration of Liverpool’s northern docks that Planit-IE has been working on with The Peel Group since 2005. The practice was originally appointed to prepare public realm design guidance for the 30-year vision across the 26

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Architects Journal Planit IE.indd 26

Leopold Square ©Ask

60ha site, but this role has grown to become the ‘guardian’ of the masterplan. “It calls upon all our skills, and when you are involved in projects of this scale that last for decades, you realise just how responsible you are.”

This is not the practice’s only long-term project in Liverpool – for the last 15 years it has been working with Liverpool Football Club on its Anfield Stadium expansion. The stadium’s expansion into the surrounding Anfield and

Liverpool Football Club ©Adrian Lambert

Breckfield neighbourhoods has led to the production by Planit of a Strategic Regeneration Framework in collaboration with Liverpool City Council and Your Housing Association. The framework sets out guidance for how to integrate the stadium into its communities – from building guidelines to the delivery of new public spaces and rebalancing the streets.

“Every single service we offer has been deployed on that project, from visualisations,

Townscape and Visual assessments, helping to write planning policy and community engagement, down to the nuts and bolts of getting it built.

Working closely with the victim’s families to relocate the Hillsborough Memorial, whilst simultaneously dealing with Carillion and its £120m building project, has been a challenging and humbling experience.”

Sports projects are a particular area of expertise, and its work with Liverpool Football Club led to Planit-IE becoming part of the winning team to design a new £120m arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, and they have recently won the commission to be the landscape architects on another arena and conference centre in the UK. Manchester City Council is embarking on a major programme of work to repair, partially restore and upgrade the Town Hall and Albert Square over the next seven years. It’s one of the biggest heritage projects the country has seen for decades.

“We were selected through the OJEU process to be the designers of the square – the civic space outside the Grade I listed town hall, to enhance its role as a popular events space,” explains Pete. The regeneration scheme is still in the inception phase, with the design team having only recently been appointed. “Our team has embedded itself in a collaborative office within the 140-year-old building for the duration of the project.”

Over the last 18 months Planit-IE has been working with Manchester City Council on the www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 11:04

INFORM

Circle Square ©Virtual Planit

Leopold Square ©Ask

Kirkstall Forge ©Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

Liverpool Waters ©Planit-IE

‘Manchester Residential Quality Guidance’, created to help shape the vision of the city as a place to live over the next 25 years. Written in collaboration with Deloitte and with input from architects Callison RTKL, the guide will have a huge influence on the city’s identity and livability.

“The guide is really shaping the city, and that’s us in a nutshell,” Pete says. “It’s not a piece you’d normally expect from a landscape architect, but we really crafted that guide, and it will hopefully stand the test of time. It is without doubt, for a good many of us, our proudest moment.”

Again in their home city, Planit-IE is now working with Feilden Clegg Bradley and 5plus Architects on the BBC’s former home, a new Manchester Residential Quality Guide ©CallisonRTKL

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innovative district called Circle Square. “We’re the keeper of the masterplan, which is quite a privileged position to be in, but we’re also the designers of all the public spaces,” says Pete.

“Again our role is broad and varied - Virtual Planit has put together an immersive CGI marketing initiative, and our designers have written the placemaking document.

“This is the biggest new public space in Manchester we have delivered. The problem is, the bigger you get, the more certain people think that you only undertake large projects – but some of our favourite projects are tiny, and they embody a lot of our values.”

This is exemplified through Leopold Square in Sheffield, which won the Sheffield Design Awards’ People’s Award in 2010. The new public square has become a much-loved destination in the city, with an illuminated water feature, and Pete says the space looks better today than it did on the day it was finished. “We’ve recently completed a public square for the Co-op on the NOMA estate in North Manchester, which was very much driven by

Kirkstall Forge ©Planit-IE

Circle Square ©Virtual Planit

elements from Leopold Square – working around historic buildings, bringing in new buildings, working in cities, thinking about where people go during lunch or at the end of the day, to where they have their photographs taken when they graduate.”

Planit-IE’s projects have a common strand in that they shape communities, and as the practice celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, it aims to continue along this path, with the strength of its team behind it.

CONTACT Planit-IE Manchester office – 01619 289281 London office – 0207 253 5678 Email: info@planit-ie.com Twitter: @PlanitIE www.planit-ie.com

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 27

19/10/2017 11:04

HEAR MORE FROM

TIM HOWELL AT DESIGN

BUILD

M A I N TA I N

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14 NOV 2017

VIEW FROM THE TOP TIM HOWELL

Tim Howell discusses how and why employees’ health and safety knowledge should be regularly refreshed There is a wide-ranging campaign to encourage more people to enter the landscape and horticultural sector, which already employs over 170,000 people in the UK. Our sector is under pressure; the recruitment pool is reducing in size and the impact of Brexit is still unknown.

Not enough people are joining our industry, and it lacks the diversity that it needs to thrive. The labour market is increasingly flexible, transient and in some cases driven by small increases above the living wage levels.

I spend a lot of my time reflecting on how our workplace can be made more attractive to people. Increasing its value to allow better wages and rewards will help, but for people to thrive they need to work somewhere with long-term job security, where they can develop their career and have a safe working environment in which their wellbeing is highly valued.

How often do management or recruiters add safety considerations into the role description? How often do we commit to keeping our people safe when ‘selling’ ourselves to prospective employees? That’s something the industry can do better, to take advantage of the perception that many people have about what we do. Are our recruitment and diversity challenges due to safety or wellbeing concerns?

I remember the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation coming in back in 1992, which meant that employers had specific duties 28

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towards the wellbeing and safety of their employees. The regulations changed the way we manage our workplace, making the provision of personal protective equipment, training, maintenance and checking of equipment mandatory. It changed the way we work for the

WE SHOULD COLLABORATE AND SHARE DATA AND BEST PRACTICE TO REDUCE THE MOST COMMON CAUSES OF INJURY better. The role of HSE manager was created in many of our businesses, tasked with producing documented safe-working practices; this was not an easy transition for me to accept, but now it forms a part of my daily routine.

These regulations were significant in our industry because they gave prescriptive, legislative instruction on how we should be managing health and safety within the workplace.

Even though we were managing the safety aspect under the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974, the new regulations were much more precise and comprehensive.

It’s so important to keep safety messages fresh and up to date. I often use the analogy of airline safety messages: at worst the stewards deliver a halfhearted message that hasn’t changed for decades, at best airlines are innovative with the way they deliver the message, and you can guarantee that those messages are the ones you remember.

Similarly, where I cycle in the South Downs,

I see close-up the lack of investment in safety messages on our roads. On one particularly dangerous corner, previous investment in non-slip, coloured tarmac has eroded and been patched over a ‘SLOW’ message that now reads ‘OW’, which seems somewhat appropriate.

At Mitie, we keep these messages alive through regular training and update sessions, annual training events and safety campaigns. We use both print and video media, often featuring individuals who have been involved in an incident, relaying their story. We also introduce annual innovations that require something to be physically handed to an employee, so that they remember the message. We operate with a simple strapline of ‘if it’s not safe, don’t do it’.

My message is consistent: we should collaborate and share data and best practice to reduce the most common causes of injury. Our industry needs to be seen as an exciting, safe career that attracts great people, who will continue to strengthen its value for years to come.

ABOUT TIM HOWELL Tim Howell has worked in the landscape industry for over 30 years. He is the managing director of Mitie Landscapes Ltd, where he has worked for the last 15 years. Mitie Landscapes employs over 800 people across the UK.

www.mitielandscapes.com Share your thoughts with Tim at:

Tim.Howell@mitie.com

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 09:22

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18/10/2017 13:35

INFORM

BREAKING NEW GROUND ANGUS LINDSAY

Technological development are fantastic, says Angus Lindsay, but they’re no substitute for interpersonal cooperation Several of the articles I have written in the last year have focused on alternative power and what manufacturers have to offer us going forward. With SALTEX upon us in early November, I would urge all readers to visit and to look not just at the traditional ride-on mowers, tractors, power tools and the like, but also at what is new and revolutionary. What is technology doing for our industry, and where are the next innovations coming from?

Advances from manufacturers and suppliers are all well and good, but there needs to be an overall partnership approach adopted by all relevant stakeholders. Without this, new ideas invariably lose momentum or run aground. To give an example, we have recently been looking at new developments within that most routine of tasks, sports field line marking. “Fascinating,” I hear you yawn – but it’s an area where technology has made a big difference.

Technology has helped to make this task easier

You would think that putting straight lines on a field would be an easy job, but this is not the case; the initial marking of a playing pitch takes a bit of working out to ensure all is correct, so that players and referees are all happy. Most playing pitches use a series of straight lines that 30

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need to be accurately measured and to line up – not to mention the centre circle. And what about athletics? It’s not so easy keeping an accurate curve on an eight-lane running track, but technology can help. Laser guidance, and more recently GPS in the line marking sector, has made a big difference, with GPS also giving the ability to store data from the initial marking so that future marking is quicker and easier as long as the field is still available – even if the goal posts may have moved.

WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY DOING FOR OUR INDUSTRY, AND WHERE ARE THE NEXT INNOVATIONS COMING FROM? This brings me to my point about all parties working towards the same goal, if you pardon the pun. At a recent demo of a GPS enabled system, the biggest issue was the grass itself.

Reduced cutting frequencies, as specified by the client, and a moist season meant that there was a considerable carpet of arisings lying on the pitch – hindering not just the marking operation, but also the football match to be played 48 hours later. It used to be that before marking the lines the groundsman would use a pedestrian rotary to cut the grass where the line was to be and then mark the line.

Unfortunately, the whole area was cut in one pass in this instance, and we had to send somebody ahead with a blower to clear the arisings so that the grass could be marked.

Technology and innovation could deliver us a line marker with its own blower, or even a small rotary head to cut ahead of the marking apparatus. You never know, there might be one at SALTEX! Budget pressures are a burden to everyone, but where’s the sense in reducing grass cutting

Line marking should be a straightforward task

to save money when the amount of arisings results in those who use the pitches having to cancel matches because they are not fit for purpose? A bit of lateral thinking and cooperation between client, contractor and end user could have resulted in the pitches themselves being cut at a more suitable frequency, with the surrounding grass left on the original regime. This thinking could also be adopted for the aeration regime, which would keep the pitch in a playable, income-generation state. It’s not a difficult situation to achieve – it just needs all parties to communicate.

ABOUT ANGUS LINDSAY Angus spent several years working on arable farms in Scotland before joining VSO in Egypt, implementing a mechanisation programme, managing field operations for a commercial cotton plantation in Nigeria and working as a contract instructor for Massey Ferguson in Yemen.

He gained an MSc in agricultural engineering and mechanisation management at Silsoe, joining Glendale as machinery manager in 1994, and then idverde UK in 2009 as group head of assets and fleet.

Contact: angus.lindsay@idverde.co.uk

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:36

ASSET OR LIABILITY

INFORM

ANDREW WILSON Andrew Wilson takes a neutral view of garden design and asks: are we on a hiding to nothing?

For all of us in the professional world of garden design and garden making, it seems obvious that well-designed gardens are an asset to the properties they surround. Of course we would support this view, as our livelihoods depend upon this income stream. But are we simply being protectionist in taking this stance?

Working with architects is something of an eye opener, with their original budgets virtually always smashed to smithereens as costs soar – yet clients frequently seem ready to accept this state of affairs, and often plunder the garden budget in the process. The decimated budgets

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that remain are usually insufficient to make a worthwhile garden, but if finances are still available the garden designer is regularly asked to make substantial savings.

It’s no great secret that investment in a house or building will usually push up its future price, should the client sell. Can the same be said for the garden? Well, not exactly. Most would say that the sale will probably go through faster with a designed garden, but it won’t necessarily inflate the house price. In other words, money could be spent but not recouped.

It may also be the case that investment in the garden could put off future buyers. Many perceive the garden as an ongoing maintenance liability. Although it can be argued that an entire property – house and all – needs maintenance, most house owners know that a well-maintained property is an investment, should they need to sell.

Most buyers concentrate on their housing need – the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the available space and the layout, for example. The need for a garden beyond a terrace or deck for socialising is some way down the list.

There is also the added perception that gardens are cheap to develop and renew while houses are not, meaning that most choices in house buying are made regardless of the garden and its potential.

Where does this leave us? Not all garden and house owners make their decisions based on future profit. For those seeking a quick fix, garden budgets will be lower and often unworkable as a business model for many designers and landscapers. For owners wanting to enjoy their gardens over the longer term and feel the personal benefit of investment in

their private environment, different rules apply.

Investment in the sheer pleasure of the garden can outweigh financial gains, but if that investment covers the rest of one’s foreseeable life or is spread over 10 or 20 years, many would see this as money well spent.

The difficulty lies in finding these people. They will often be older clients who have stopped

INVESTMENT IN THE SHEER PLEASURE OF THE GARDEN CAN OUTWEIGH FINANCIAL GAINS moving up the property ladder and they will spend or increase budgets to obtain what they want. They will be high net worth individuals who see the garden as part of their whole domestic environment – not a low-cost addition or ‘tidy up’ in order to sell. Future resale value for their property is not a priority, and as a result, their gardens can be more personalised, individual and idiosyncratic.

For them, the garden is an asset worth the financial investment and ongoing upkeep. For garden designers and landscapers, these clients are the ones to relish and to hope for, although sadly they are often thin on the ground.

Somewhere in between are clients who might be persuaded to expand their ideas, concentrate less on financial gain and see the real benefits of a good garden. It’s up to us to convince them.

Pictured: We might drool over glorious planting, but do our clients see it the same way?

ABOUT ANDREW WILSON Andrew Wilson is a landscape and garden designer and a director of Wilson McWilliam Studio. He is also a director of the London College of Garden Design, an author, writer and lecturer.

www.wmstudio.co.uk

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19/10/2017 10:35

INFORM

HEAR MORE FROM

DAVID T BINKS AT DESIGN

BUILD

M A I N TA I N

www.futurescapeevent.com

14 NOV 2017

David T Binks explains why creative collaboration is so important to the future of the landscaping industry As part of a recent tender bid, we were asked to explain how we could improve efficiencies on a project through ‘innovation’. The prospect of a contract being awarded on merit as well as cost piqued my interest. I’m not sure whether this is major civil companies paying lip service to government initiatives, but this forward-thinking approach seems to be gaining traction. If you look at the mission statement for the HS2 scheme, it says that it is “committed to collaboration: it is a client principle that together with innovation and sustainability, it is at the heart of our way of working and contributes to a high performing team”.

This idea of ‘joined up thinking’ is slowly permeating our industry. Perhaps the most exciting prospect is Building Inspection Modelling (BIM), which is like SketchUp on steroids. The transition to BIM has been glacial, despite the government issuing a mandate that by 2016 all businesses bidding for ‘centrally procured projects’ worth more than £5m must be BIM Level 2-ready. This directive has seen some firms embrace change quicker than others in order to be ahead of the curve or almost leading the charge, but there are many that are still dragging their heels. The upsides of working on a BIM platform are huge: it is design collaboration at its purest, with multiple users

JOINED-UP THINKING DAVID T BINKS able to simultaneously work on different elements of the same 3D model. It ensures there are no design conflicts between the various disciplines on a build, as the entire construction process has been built virtually in a 3D model. The information from the model is collated into a schema called COBie, which can then be used by project managers to control costs and build programmes, and upon project completion it also provides all necessary information for facilities management.

A GREATER DIVERSITY OF IDEAS WAS HIT UPON BY COLLABORATING WITH A MIX OF CREATIVE PEOPLE WHO WE WOULD NOT NORMALLY HAVE WORKED WITH This idea of collaboration seems to be cropping up increasingly, not only on £6.6bn construction schemes – where working together helps obtain greater resources, recognition and rewards when facing competition – but also within the fields of landscape design and landscaping. We recently attended a ‘co-creation workshop’, where the steer of the event was to create engaging public realm installations. In attendance were a whole gamut of creatives, from scientists to sculptors, landscape

architects to environmental musicians – a real cross-section of free thinkers.

Once we were given our remit, the process started a little bit like speed dating. You got five-10 minutes to chat with potential collaborators to discuss what you did and how you could work together, and then you had to move on to the next prospect. At the end of this intense process, you decided on who you’d like to ‘hook up’ with and then see if the feeling was mutual – a little bit like asking someone on a date, rather than ‘strategically choosing a party to cooperate with in order to achieve shared or overlapping objectives’. Following this, the next 36 hours became something akin to a ‘hackathon’. I’m not saying that we wrote an algorithm to create a new social networking app, but a fairly small room was buzzing with people who were full of ideas, working together to deliver something inspiring for the public to interact with and get excited by. The concept of crosspollinating ideas was almost tangible in this instance, with people getting outside their comfort zone and their normal circle of ideators, advisers, and creatives; a greater diversity of ideas was hit upon by collaborating with a mix of creative people who we would not normally have worked with.

In a commercially driven industry, the prospect of sharing ideas with someone who you may typically regard as competition may seems counter-intuitive, but this leap of faith can be eye-opening, thought-provoking and ultimately rewarding for all parties concerned.

ABOUT DAVID T BINKS David T Binks is managing director of Cheshire-based Landstruction, which was set up in 2010 and now has 30 employees. It has won Gold medals at RHS Chelsea and RHS Tatton Park. David also launched the Big Hedge Co., which supplies and installs mature hedging and topiary nationwide.

landstruction.com, bighedgeco.com

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www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:03

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19/10/2017 09:35

INFORM

HEAR MORE FROM

ADAM WHITE AT DESIGN

BUILD

M A I N TA I N

www.futurescapeevent.com

14 NOV 2017

Adam White reports on the Landscape Institute’s call-out to employers willing to support the development of new apprenticeship routes

© Photograph by Pari Naderi

The future of the landscape profession depends on attracting new people and helping them become competent, well-rounded and skilful professionals. There are a number of options to explore, but apprenticeships could be one key way that we could tackle the skills shortages in the landscape and placemaking sector.

Apprenticeships provide an education route without the need for debt accumulation, and promote diversity and inclusion in the profession.

In 2016 the Trailblazer Apprenticeship standards for arboriculture, forestry, horticulture and landscaping were approved by the government. Following on from this success, the Landscape Institute is keen to create apprenticeship routes that reflect the broad spectrum of specialisms in landscape and placemaking firms: landscape architecture, management, ecology, planning, urban design, place management and more.

“The creation of a new apprenticeship route can only happen with the whole profession behind it,” says Daniel Cook, chief executive of the Landscape Institute. “It will take time, work and resources – but if we get it right, the value

YOU’RE HIRED

ADAM WHITE added to the profession could be substantial.

It is a really important step to attract talent from more diverse communities.”

It can take one to two years to approve a new apprenticeship standard, although this is subject to change as commitment pressures vary. The BDP (Building Design Partnership) hosted the first Trailblazer Apprenticeship meeting at its London studio in Clerkenwell in October. This was the first opportunity for employers who are interested in supporting the creation of a new landscape apprenticeship to get together and exchange ideas.

THE LANDSCAPE INSTITUTE IS KEEN TO CREATE APPRENTICESHIP ROUTES THAT REFLECT THE BROAD SPECTRUM OF SPECIALISMS

From the meeting in October it is hoped the Landscape Institute will be able to form the Trailblazer Employer Group. The group must have a minimum of 10 employers that reflect the diversity of organisations in the sector in terms of size, specialism and geographical spread.

The Landscape Institute is looking for people who can commit to meeting in person every few months, as well as engaging online.

Members of the core group will offer staff and financial resources when they take on an apprentice.

Education is another important aspect of development. The next step will be to engage at least Wendy Perring, director of PAD Studio, teaches apprentices two education providers. If with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) you are an education

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provider and would like to express your interest in being involved when the time comes, do get in touch with the Landscape Institute.

Taking part in this project will put your business at the forefront of skills development for your sector. It will also provide an important opportunity to ensure the relevant apprenticeship programme is geared to suit the needs of your business, as well as the wider profession. The Apprenticeship Trailblazer is a great networking opportunity, allowing you to build relationships with businesses of all sizes. It will also raise awareness of your business’s investment in the future of your profession.

The government has introduced a new apprenticeship levy that has changed how apprenticeship routes are funded. The amount payable is 0.5% of a company’s annual pay bill, and applies to companies with a payroll of more than £3m. Companies that do not meet the levy threshold have the option to ‘co-invest’, with the government meeting up to 90-100% of the training costs. This has got to be a huge incentive for many practices.

If you were unable to attend the meeting but would still like to support this idea, you can contact the Landscape Institute’s future talent manager Poppy Smith via poppy.smith@ landscapeinstitute.org

ABOUT ADAM WHITE FLI Adam White FLI is a director at Davies White Ltd, a double RHS Gold Medal, double People’s Choice and RHS Best in Show award-winning Chartered Landscape Architects practice. He is a Fellow and President Elect of the Landscape Institute.

Social media: @davies_white www.davieswhite.co.uk

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:49

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18/10/2017 13:42

INFORM

THE CALM

after the storm How Mid and East Antrim’s parks department is making a palpable difference to the economic growth of the historically troubled area

A

s anyone over a certain age will be aware, Northern Ireland has arguably been the most historically troubled part of the UK, with its political violence only coming to an end in 1998 with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

Prior to the document, the province was regarded as a bit of a no-go area for anyone who wasn’t compelled to be there. This included foreign investors, for whom the sectarian conflict proved to be a disincentive.

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The result of this, on top of everything else, was that large portions of the region suffered from high levels of poverty, which can be seen to this day. As of 2014, according to the University of Bristol’s Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK project, a quarter of adults in Northern Ireland still suffered from ‘multiple deprivation.’

With that in mind, Pro Landscaper is delighted to be focusing on the borough of Mid and East Antrim, whose parks and green spaces are not merely brightening the region up but

helping to rejuvenate it economically. Its flagship town, Ahoghill, distinguished itself in 2016 when it was named an RHS Champion of Champions.

Broader awareness The area for which Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is responsible sits in the north east of the province, next to the Irish Sea; it contains towns such as Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Larne. It’s population in 2014 was just under 137,000, or 7% of Northern Ireland’s population.

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19/10/2017 10:24

INFORM

The council’s head of parks and green spaces, Stephen Daye, gave an overview of the organisation’s strategy and how it contributes to the economic life of the region. “The parks department is responsible for a number of things – not just the parks, but also playing fields, cemeteries and car parks,” he says. “Although they’re all distinct in terms of how they’re used, to us they’re part of an overall effort to present the area in a particular light. They’re all important, and we treat them all with care.

ITS FLAGSHIP TOWN, AHOGHILL, DISTINGUISHED ITSELF IN 2016 WHEN IT WAS NAMED AN RHS CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS “In terms of strategy, we try and coordinate with the council more broadly, trying to improve economic development, tourism, and the health and wellbeing of the people who live here. We’re conscious that whatever we do, our parks and green spaces planning has to involve our staff, because it’s all about improving their community as well. We employ 119 people, 78 of whom turned up to our last parks strategy meeting.”

According to Stephen, numerous positives have resulted from the level of effort put in by him and his team, with some towns transformed since the pre-Good Friday Agreement days. One of these is the aforementioned Ahoghill, near Ballymena, which had suffered from neglect until the council began working with local businesses

and the community to transform its environment.

By concentrating on features such as roundabouts and street decorations, as well as entrances to the town, they’ve encouraged a steady flow of new residents and investment.

Alongside the economic benefits, the team’s efforts have also been rewarded with success in national and international competitions, including Britain in Bloom, Communities in Bloom and Ulster in Bloom. At the awards ceremony for the latter, Mid and East Antrim won in around half of the 24 categories.

“Our involvement at awards is very important for everyone concerned, whether that’s the council, local people or the parks service itself,” says Stephen. “For one thing, it contributes to the economic success we were discussing earlier. There’s also great pride in the fact that we win these awards – it gives us a great deal of motivation going forward.

“The judging tends to be on horticultural achievement, alongside environmental responsibility and community participation. It’s not just about flowers – it’s also about how community groups and statutory bodies come together, which we coordinate through an initiative called Mid and East Antrim in Bloom.

That involves things like tours of the borough and planning meetings where we share good practice, as well as a healthy level of competition between local groups and individuals.”

Palpable holistic element As mentioned, Mid and East Antrim parks strategy possesses a palpable holistic element, with every green space given attention as part of a whole. There are still plenty of destination parks in the region, though, some of which are renowned in the local community and beyond.

These include Marine Gardens in Carrickfergus,

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19/10/2017 10:25

INFORM

as well as a highly-regarded Victorian-style town park in Larne.

Arguably the most famous is Larne’s Carnfunnock Country Park, which attracts visitors from across the province. The 191-ha open space boasts a walled garden, maritimethemed adventure playground, orienteering course, golf driving range and more. The Carnfunnock Maze, meanwhile, was planted in 1985 for the International Year of the Maze.

“We obviously want our green spaces to look great, and part of that over the last few years has been the transformation of how we plant up,” says Stephen, on the maintenance of the borough’s parks. “Instead of bedding, which we’ve reduced by around two thirds, we’ve introduced more annual seeds and wildflowers.

That hasn’t been for economic reasons so much as to mitigate the environmental costs of peat.

“When we started out, we realised that this transformation had to be done slowly – reducing the bedding but not the impact is the key. As it turns out, wildflowers have proved to be extremely popular, promoting pollinating species.

Coming back to the use of peat, there are many other things that we’d prefer to spend our money on. It all ties in with our green infrastructure strategy.” www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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This strategy also includes the development of ‘biodiversity units’, through which the council gets involved with initiatives intended to make the area more sustainable. A major project for this year, linked to Britain in Bloom, is Beelicious,

THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IS VERY SUPPORTIVE OF US, AND WE INTEND TO KEEP THAT GOING which ties in with an ongoing push to encourage pollinators. Mid and East Antrim is also involved in the RHS’s Greening Grey Britain project, which aims to brighten up drab areas of towns such as driveways and multi-story car parks.

Remaining relevant Mid and East Antrim is a truly unique local authority, not least because of the amount of attention it pays to what, in other places, might be regarded as insignificant details. It’s also unusual in that its parks department has not suffered any budget cuts during this period of austerity – in fact, its funding has increased.

According to Stephen, this is linked to his team’s efforts to synchronise with council

strategy. More than that, though, it’s tied in with a desire to remain relevant in the eyes of council leaders and the public at large, by being accessible to those who actually use the parks.

“That kind of thing is only possible if you’re able to show an awareness of things beyond what you’d usually be interested in,” he says, of the continued level of funding. “With that in mind, we’re in continual communication with the public, from people walking their dogs to those using our bowling greens.

“Again, that requires a level of buy-in from staff to promote parks and champion them individually – as everyone knows, the best marketing is always word of mouth, and we want people to pass the word along. The local community is very supportive of us, and we intend to keep that going.”

Long may Mid and East Antrim’s stretch of success continue.

1 Whitehead 2 Stephen Daye 3 Marine Gardens 4 The People’s Park 5 Ahoghill 6 Carrickfergus Mill Ponds 7 Carnfunnock Pro Landscaper / November 2017 39

19/10/2017 10:25

THAMESMEAD

INFORM

regeneration

As Thamesmead approaches its 50th anniversary, Pro Landscaper takes a look at how housing association Peabody is reinvigorating the town with a £1bn investment

W

hen it was built in the Sixties, Thamesmead was dubbed ‘the town of the future’. Sitting within the London Borough of Bexley and the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the town was to be an area of countryside within the city, with 5km of riverfront, nature reserves, and extensive parks and green spaces.

Funded by the Greater London Council (GLC) in response to the capital’s growing population, the masterplan included a shopping centre, a train station and a bridge across the Thames, but as costs mounted, these were scrapped.

Built on an 1,100-acre marshland site, the housing was elevated due to the risk of flooding; residents began to feel uneasy about unoccupied space on the ground floor, and vandalism started to occur.

By the late Eighties, the estate had become an area used by councils to house problem families, and it became known for antisocial behaviour and crime. Estate ownership and management continuously changed, before Thamesmead was acquired by the housing association Peabody in 2014. This proved to be a turning point.

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A new hope Nearly five decades after the original masterplan was created, Peabody is looking to achieve the initial aim of the town. It announced a £1bn regeneration programme, along with two housing zones to be led by the boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich, delivered by Peabody with funding from the Mayor of London.

Peabody’s regeneration plans will be landscapeled, utilising more than 150ha of green space and providing significant biodiversity.

THE PROJECT IS ABOUT LANDSCAPE ON AN ENORMOUS SCALE

“Now Peabody has gained the whole of Thamesmead – which is over 700ha of land – it can look at the town as a whole and think about what needs to happen in the future,” says Dr Phil Askew, who is the director of landscape design and management for the regeneration.

“Peabody’s mission is placemaking. The project is a lot more than housing, though this will be a significant part; it’s about landscape on an enormous scale.

“The original vision of the GLC was partially realised, leaving in place this extraordinary set of assets, and what we can do now is use what we’ve got to achieve great value for the people who live in Thamesmead.”

Phil, who led the transformation of the Olympic Park into the Queen Elizabeth Park, is part of the Thamesmead regeneration team set up by Peabody. The town boasts 30,000 trees, 7km of canals, six major lakes, three nature reserves and more than 350 acres of open space. In terms of utilising this space, Phil explains that it’s a laborious process of finding out what land is available and who owns it – while the majority is owned by Peabody, some of it is still owned by local authorities and other parties. www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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INFORM

WE THINK IT’S IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE GET INVOLVED IN THEIR LANDSCAPE, AND WE ARE STARTING TO WORK ON THESE SORTS OF INITIATIVES

One new addition is Gallions Reach Park in West Thamesmead. This opened in January on land formerly occupied by the Royal Arsenal, and features wildflower meadows and 800 new trees. “It’s a fantastic green space, with interesting topographic features – there are remnants from the armaments period called ‘tumps’. There are some great play areas as well.”

Phil is keen to include play areas in the regeneration, with the team currently rejuvenating existing play areas and proposing new facilities throughout the development. “One of the issues in Thamesmead is people’s health and wellbeing – we need to get people out and being active. One great way to do this is through play, and this is something that we will continue to evolve over the next few years.”

North and Central Thamesmead will see the majority of these play facility improvements, alongside new pedestrian routes and lighting as the regeneration team looks to address the perceived safety of residents. This will also be addressed in new public realm enhancements in South Thamesmead, as Phil explains. “We’re going to be carrying out trials to test the street www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Thamesmead.indd 41

lighting and to gain residents’ perceptions about how its success. We recognise that, although Thamesmead may not be a particularly dangerous place, it is important for us to look at areas that are not as well-lit or well-overlooked.”

Levitt Bernstein and LUC are collaborating to create this new public realm in South Thamesmead, the original main housing zone.

They will be engaging with residents to find out whether they want to be involved in community gardening. “We think it’s important that people get involved in their landscape, and we are starting to work on these sorts of initiatives. One can imagine a future where there are parks groups or volunteers or community growers.”

Long term thinking The new public realm is one of many proposals to rejuvenate South Thamesmead. A new village square development, Southmere Village, includes 525 homes, a library, and 40,000ft² of commercial floor space. Lead architecture firm Proctor and Matthews is introducing a new housing typology, with buildings surrounding a shared raised garden and new public spaces leading to a larger civic square adjacent to

Southmere Lake. Landscape architecture firm Turkington Martin is looking to include elements that feed into Thamesmead’s natural water attenuation system, such as rain gardens, water channels, canals and vernal pools.

Flood resilience is a vital aspect of the development. “We’re working with Thames21, the London Wildlife Trust, the Environment Agency, Thames Water and others to understand how the water systems work here,” says Phil. “One of Thamesmead’s assets is its network of canals and lakes. Most of the surface water runs into these – a visionary part of the work that was done in the Sixties and Seventies.

We have, in essence, a gigantic sustainable urban drainage system. Undoubtedly, we need a know a lot more about this, but given that other cities are experiencing erratic weather and flood events, Thamesmead already has something in place, which is pretty visionary.”

Phil expects the regeneration to be a 25-to-30-year project, but under one management approach and stewardship, the development will be ongoing. Peabody has its own in-house maintenance team to manage the landscape, and is working with landscape management experts to understand how to better manage the estate long-term.

“We have the opportunity to transform the way people think about living in cities. We’re certain that Thamesmead’s landscape is going to be what makes it different from any other parts of London or any other housing development.”

It would seem that Peabody’s long-term management plans for the town, and its landscape-led approach to regeneration, is finally allowing Thamesmead to live up to its nickname as the town of the 21st century.

Follow the Thamesmead regeneration at www.thamesmeadnow.org.uk 1 The Four Towers, Southmere Lake 2 Gallions Park 3 Crossness Lesnes Abbey Route, South Thamesmead 4 New play area, South Thamesmead

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 41

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KARENA BATSTONE DESIGN A Bristol home gets a modern yet tranquil space

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ESSE LANDSCAPES & THE LOVELY GARDEN Multiple levels work to transform a rural back garden

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WILSON MCWILLIAM STUDIO This Milton Keynes business park gets a much-needed update

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PORTFOLIO

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STEPPING UP KARENA BATSTONE DESIGN Contemporary chic complements this Georgian property in Bristol

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Portfolio 1 Karena Batstone.indd 45

he client, a busy property developer, wanted a modern garden to connect, and offer an attractive walkway between, a newly built coach house/garage and his Georgian terraced property.

The new garden, which the clients advised would principally be used in the evenings, needed to provide the owner with an elegant, playful space for entertaining that gave family members and guests a number of different areas in which to congregate. The overall style was to be clean and contemporary, complementing the neoclassical style of the Grade II* Georgian terrace. It was also important for the space to deliver a striking view from the kitchen window, which overlooked the garden from the first floor of the property.

Site analysis and challenges The north-facing garden, sloping down from north to south and surrounded by high walls, presented both opportunities and challenges for Karena Batstone Design. The main entrance to the house, accessed via a staircase, was dominated by an oppressively large clipped bay tree situated at the bottom of the stairs. The mature tree, which had been planted very close to the boundary wall, concealed views of the garden and obstructed the walkway. The decision was therefore taken to remove it, and repair damage to the wall caused by the tree’s close proximity.

Views from the south side of the garden towards the coach house were pleasant, with trees and tall shrubs in neighbouring gardens 1 View of the living areas towards the coach house 2 Reflections in the pool animate the garden Pro Landscaper / November 2017 45

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softening the boundary walls. The garden was a little overlooked from the high windows of the adjacent terraced houses, and views to the south west from the coach house included a number of modern buildings with windows overlooking the property, which required screening.

Very little of the original planting was worth preserving, except for the mature Hydrangea petiolaris on the east-facing wall by the house.

With the ground compacted and shaded, the clients’ repeated attempts to grow a lawn had failed, and a number of existing trees presented problems and had to be removed. These included a Prunus ‘Tai-haku’, which was severely shading the already dark north end of the garden, a Eucalyptus, which had been planted as a screening tree but felt out of character with the rest of the garden, and a hawthorn, which, although in reasonable condition, was too close to the steps of the coach house. These were replaced with other specimen trees as part of the redesign, strategically located to provide screening, enclosure and year-round interest.

The new design also aimed to break up the bisecting central axis which had been introduced via new steps from the coach house, creating more usable spaces in the garden as well as a more interesting route through it.

Design including the bark of Prunus serrula and the Karena Batstone Design divided the garden winter leaves of Carpinus hedging, was used to into four distinct areas. This approach was complement the new red-brick coach house intended to slow the journey walls; smooth sawn Yorkstone through the space, with the paving was juxtaposed against route passing through a the rough texture of the old series of ‘rooms’ that were Bristol rubble walls that separated by walls of surrounded the garden. pleached hornbeams. It also Borders were kept simple helped to visually widen the and easy to maintain, using Project value garden, adding depth by long-performing perennials. £52k partially concealing and Informal Mediterranean style revealing different areas. planting around the dining area Build time The ‘rooms’ were provided textural contrast to Four months connected via a still, the clipped hedging, with bulbs reflective pool of water, to lift the composition in spring Size of project 2 enhancing the illusion of a and early summer.

140m wider space and bringing A combination of lighting light and movement to the effects, including candlelight, north-facing end of the completed the design, garden. During excavation, special care had to transforming the garden into a magical space by be taken not to disturb the roots of the mature night and allowing the client to entertain family Hydrangea petiolaris that was located close by and friends late into the evening.

– an important feature in the new scheme. To add a touch of glamour, an island bed was ABOUT KARENA BATSTONE DESIGN added to the pool; it contained a multistem

PROJECT DETAILS

Prunus serrula, its burnished copper stems forming a living sculpture. A series of illuminated stepping stones through the pool completed the feature, lending a sense of fun and adventure while continuing to slow the pace of passage through the garden.

As well as introducing a number of new features, the design also aimed to celebrate existing ones, such as the attractive garden walls. Structural planting with russet hues, 46

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Karena Batstone Design is an innovative landscape design practice known for creating elegant contemporary gardens that nd a balance between geometric forms and naturalistic planting. Since establishing her practice in 1992, Karena has designed numerous gardens in the UK and abroad, from private urban courtyards to high pro le commercial landscapes. www.karenabatstone.com

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PORTFOLIO

REFERENCES Design

Paving

Karena Batstone Design

Hard York Quarries Ltd

www.karenabatstone.com

BEFORE/DURING

Build

Stone type â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Diamond Sawn Yorkshire Buff Stoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; from its Fagley Quarry www.hardyorkquarries.co.uk

Construction organised by the client

Planters

Lighting Lighting for Gardens

Bronzino

www.bronzino.co.uk

www.lightingforgardens.com

Furniture

Hunza

Indian Ocean

www.hunzalighting.com

www.indian-ocean.co.uk

Plants

Fire pit

Middlecombe Nursery

Ak47

www.middlecombenursery.co.uk

www.ak47design.com

3 Candlelight and a fire pit enhance the atmosphere 4 The graphical quality of the garden is enhanced by lighting 5 Modular furniture allows for easy rearrangement 6 Stepping stones lit by side-emitting LED strip lights 7 The dining area, surrounded by scented jasmine and herbaceous borders

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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MAKE A SPLASH

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PORTFOLIO

ESSE LANDSCAPES & THE LOVELY GARDEN A back garden in the South Downs gets an extensive multilevel revamp

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he client wished to renovate her Seventies house and garden, located in a small village that forms part of the South Downs National Park. The existing layout consisted mainly of concrete paths, walls and steps, all in a poor state of repair, together with an old round pool and dilapidated pool house. The brief included the creation of a new garden, terraced over several levels, with a larger swimming pool, paved sun lounger and dining areas (with a view to die for!). The client was also a keen kitchen

gardener, so the specification needed to incorporate a greenhouse, cold frame, extensive raised vegetable beds, fruit cage and tool shed.

offering far-reaching views of the sea and lighthouse. The meadow is interplanted with fruit trees and slopes down to the new rectangular pool. Here, a greatly enlarged Yorkstone terrace provides an extensive area Design and build for entertaining and relaxing.

Working with the natural contours, while taking The bespoke pool house includes the pool into consideration covenants that prevented a equipment, with heating provided by an air material change to the existing landscape, the source heat pump, controls for the automatic design broadly follows the previous ‘concrete’ pool cover, toilet/guest facilities and a sitting levels but uses green oak to provide a link to room with deep windows and views of the the sea and natural surroundings. Above the pool and out towards the sea. This creates the pool level, a new circular terrace with bespoke perfect refuge from hot sun or rain. seating has been Intermediate terrace levels created. This is reached provide wide bands of by way of informal oak planting, offering scent and steps through a structure. Malus trees are grassland meadow, planted throughout, using the same species in order to retain continuity and simplicity.

Leading through the centre of Project value the garden, the generous £200k paved steps have natural stone risers and provide a far Build time Six months more relaxed and easy access route. The levels are critical, as Size of project ‘landings’ provide access to 950m2 both left and right sections of the garden. The oak is wired and planted with evergreen jasmine, while the tallest wall is disguised with a long hedge of deciduous Viburnum lantana in order to add to the frosted, winter landscape.

The garden is lit with a selection of light fittings, including purpose-made oak bollards, and is also fitted with a fullyautomated irrigation system.

PROJECT DETAILS

Challenges The property sits on half an acre of steep hillside with long views to the sea and a distant lighthouse. The geography that provides these incredible views also means an extremely challenging 14m rise between 1 New pool terrace and meadow planting 2 Oak steps access the upper seating area 3 Upper seating area 4 Greenhouse and vegetable beds 5 View from the circular terrace www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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the front entrance gate and the rear boundary fence. Unfortunately, access is not available through an adjoining field and all plant and materials had to travel up a steep roadway, constructed as a part of the works. Over the course of the project, around a thousand tonnes of material was carried up and down this narrow route, much of it by tracked forklifts and dumpers. On the positive side, the solid chalk hillside provides an excellent bearing layer for the swimming pool, paved terraces and the many retaining walls. It also afforded drainage, which was particularly beneficial during the frequent periods of wet weather.

Commenting on the finished garden, the client wrote: “I presented Louisa and the team with a challenging site – very steeply sloping, on multiple levels, with a high degree of soil 50

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Portfolio 2 Esse Landscapes.indd 50

erosion over a bedrock of chalk. I expected, and got, a wonderfully sympathetic treatment with diverse and sustainable planting. What I did not expect was the truly magical effect Louisa created with a wildflower meadow, which has transformed an unused and inaccessible part of the garden into a sheltered belvedere that feels as though it’s a natural part of the landscape. Every time I see it, I am astonished and delighted afresh.”

ABOUT ESSE LANDSCAPES Esse Landscapes is a multi-awardwinning provider of garden design and construction services. Founded

by Stephen Etheridge in 2002, and now employing 15 staff, the company operates from its base near East Grinstead in West Sussex. www.esseland.co.uk

ABOUT THE LOVELY GARDEN 6 Aerial view of the garden 7 Poolside dining with distant views 8 Bespoke circular seating 9 Original pool and concrete terrace 10 Dilapidated steps and crumbling walls 11 Sandstone steps and oak retaining walls under construction

Louisa Bell of The Lovely Garden has designed, and been involved in the construction of, a large number of prestigious gardens throughout South East England. www.thelovelygarden.co.uk

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PORTFOLIO

BEFORE

REFERENCES

DURING

Contractor

Outdoor furniture

Esse Landscapes

Garpa

www.esseland.co.uk

www.garpa.co.uk

Designer

Greenhouse and cold frame

The Lovely Garden

Alitex

www.thelovelygarden.co.uk

www.alitex.co.uk

Pool equipment and cover

Fruit cage

Bell Leisure

Harrod Horticultural

www.bell-leisure.co.uk

www.harrodhorticultural.com

Oak

Light fittings

Wealden Oak Ltd.

Light Ideas

www.wealdenoak.co.uk

www.lightideas.co.uk

York stone paving

www.collingwoodlighting.com

Hard York Quarries

Collingwood Lighting

www.hardyorkquarries.co.uk

Irrigation fittings

Plants

www.cityirrigation.co.uk

Palmstead Nurseries

City Irrigation Ltd.

www.palmstead.co.uk

Barbecue

Trees

www.biggreenegg.co.uk

Big Green Egg

Barcham Trees

www.barcham.co.uk

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Portfolio 2 Esse Landscapes.indd 51

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PORTFOLIO

WILSON MCWILLIAM STUDIO Modern landscaping and planting transforms the dated exterior of Kents Hill Business Park in Milton Keynes

I

n 2014, Wilson McWilliam was commissioned to design the internal courtyard area and surrounding landscape of Kestrel House – followed by Redwing House, as an extension to the original commission. The site – part of a more extensive business park in Kents Hill, Milton Keynes – featured an Eighties building that was being refurbished by Circle Property, which was keen to incorporate the surrounding landscape.

Typically for an Eighties business park, Kents Hill had expanses of block paving and massed,

low maintenance shrub planting that swamped the entire site. The landscapes of both Kestrel and Redwing House were decaying and neglected, and contained courtyard spaces that had become overgrown, cluttered and dark.

The lack of usable external space for informal socialising or simple relaxation seemed oppressive, and became a major target in the redesign. The internal courtyards of the two buildings had been overplanted with species that had now outgrown their location, and both spaces needed to deliver more light and visual interest.

BACK IN BUSINESS WINNER Soft Landscaping Construction (non-domestic) £300k-£1.5m

WINNER Best Public or Commercial Outdoor Space

PROJECT DETAILS Project value £881,400 Build time Phase 1: November 2014-June 2015 Phase 2: October 2015-February 2016 Size of project 6,365m2

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PORTFOLIO

Externally, there was an obvious need to create more usable spaces, rather than just developing decorative planting or hardscape solutions. Wilson McWilliam was determined to make these sterile spaces work harder for both the client and the eventual users of the offices.

The brief also asked for a sense of arrival, and for clear views of the buildings and their respective entrances.

For Kestrel House, the redesign concentrated on more effective levels and access, while for Redwing, the issue was to

better integrate car parking, in order to create greener areas that engaged office workers and drew them into the landscape. A number of significant level changes across the entire site created a challenge for inclusive access and parking, but this rationalisation of pedestrian and vehicular accessibility to both offices also created new opportunities.

Design and build Both courtyards were cleared, simplified in terms of access, repaved and then replanted to create

1 Molinia caerulea heidebraut with Allium sphaerocephalon ©Paul Childs 2 Road and parking redesigned to prioritise pedestrian movement over vehicles ©Paul Childs 3 Redwing House Courtyard ©Wilson McWilliam Studio 4 New pathways and seating area installed ©Paul Childs 5 Main entrance to Kestrel House ©Paul Childs 6 New pathways and ramps installed to take pedestrians through the planting to the main entrance ©Paul Childs 7 Area surrounded by perennial and grass planting ©Paul Childs

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distinctive spaces of character that encouraged socialising. Kestrel House’s courtyard had steps removed and ramps installed, while overgrown shrubs were replaced with a single specimen Amelanchier. The area was repaved with sandstone and brick pavers, and surrounded by a planted bund of Molinia, retained with corten steel. The Redwing House courtyard was paved to the periphery with brick pavers, with two planted landforms of Molinia and Nothofagus and two Vera Solo modular curved benches at its heart.

At Kestrel House, Wilson McWilliam carved a new social space out of the lawn embankment, with an ellipse paved in 1m x 1m slabs of textured paving. Rendered walls defined the level changes, while also creating planting beds that introduced massed, colourful planting. The main pathways were given a tar spray and chip finish as a cost effective solution, and bench seating provided a focus and an invitation for people to use the space.

Fulfilling the design intention to create a more open, meadow-like quality to the landscape, Molinia ‘Heidebraut’– planted densely for strong light and colour effect, and interplanted with Allium sphaerocephalon – drifts across the entire landscape like a river.

Additional colour is delivered via massed planting of Lavandula, Salvia and Rudbeckia, with some areas of mixed Cornus planting for winter stem colour. Phlomis, Geranium and Sedum offer accents, alongside Stipa gigantea, Calamagrostis and Panicum.

Acer campestre provides the main structural

©Wilson McWilliam Studio

PORTFOLIO

tree planting, framing the main entrance, with Zelkova serrata used as specimens within key spaces, and Prunus lusitanica employed as a meandering screening element.

The basic palette of materials at Kestrel was carried through to the frontage of Redwing House, where car parking was reconfigured in favour of a planted embankment, delivering a more direct route to Kingfisher House. The road and the parking were redesigned to prioritise pedestrian movement over vehicles, with parking relocated along the main access road, which was repaved.

Portfolio 3 Wilson McWilliam.indd 54

Wilson McWilliam Studio is an award-winning design practice that creates bespoke gardens and exciting landscape architecture. The studio is based in London, but works across the South East of the UK, and internationally. It is interested in delivering memorable places and experiences, producing imaginative, uplifting and carefully tailored designs.

Kings Landscapes

Instant Hedges

www.kingslandscapes.com

www.instanthedges.co.uk

Conservation Textured Paving

Turf

Marshalls

Paynes Turf

www.marshalls.co.uk

www.paynesturf.co.uk

Brick paving, SeptimA in Brownstone (used in the Redwing House courtyard)

Lighting, Stake 1.0 (used in the Redwing Courtyard)

Vande Moortel

Wever & Ducré

www.vandemoortel-bricksandpavers.com

www.weverducre.com

Sandstone

Lighting, Hunza Pure LED 4W spike with pillar lights in copper finish (used in Kestrel House courtyard)

London Stone ©Wilson McWilliam Studio

Pro Landscaper / November 2017

ABOUT WILSON MCWILLIAM STUDIO

www.wmstudio.co.uk Challenges The clients were initially hesitant, having had little experience of landscape works, and the budget for both REFERENCES schemes was tight as Trees Design this project represented Deepdale Trees Wilson McWilliam Studio Circle’s first foray into www.deepdale-trees.co.uk www.wmstudio.co.uk external landscape Hedging Main contractor design. Wilson McWilliam

BEFORE

54

endeavoured to use materials economically, while also aiming to create a sense of impact and a fresh approach.

www.londonstone.co.uk Vera Solo benches mmcité

www.mmcite.com Planting Robin Tacchi Plants

Hunza

www.hunzalighting.com Tar spray and chip Installed by Kings Landscapes

www.robintacchiplants.com

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 11:40

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INSPIRE

CUTTING A RUG Adding an outdoor rug to a scheme is an easy way to inject some cosiness as it gets colder. Anji Connell tells us what to consider when choosing one, and how to maintain it More than ever we are using our outdoor spaces for entertaining, extending their usage into the autumn and winter months with comfortable seating, heat sources and ambient lighting. Adding an outside rug defines a space and creates an instant ‘room’. They transform gardens into inviting places by adding colour, texture, warmth and cushioning.

Advances in fabrication mean we have huge choice in the materials and designs for outdoor carpets, reflecting trends and styles with as much speed as interior rugs.

Materials Natural plant fibres such as jute, sisal, seagrass, hemp and bamboo are ecofriendly and durable choices for outdoors.

Their weave adds visual interest, and they absorb sound – beneficial when used on rooftops, or by music fans. Flatweave rugs stand up to heavy traffic and cling to debris on shoes, boots and paws, helping prevent dirt

Paola Lenti

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from being trailed indoors. They do absorb and retain water, leaving them susceptible to mould and mildew, so move them inside in heavy rain and to allow them to dry thoroughly if they do get a soaking.

As a rule, hand-woven or hand-tufted is more durable than machine-made. Responsibly manufactured synthetic rugs are made from a blend of fibres such as polypropylene; choose heat set (HS) polypropylene, which is durable, colourfast, soft, non-shedding, mothproof and easy to maintain.

Derclon, nylon, polyester, rayon and acrylic are all good choices as they are waterproof, stain resistant, durable and easy to clean. They are also lightweight, making them easy to dry and less expensive than natural fibre options.

PET is an eco-friendly material made from recycled plastic packaging and bottles; it has a natural fibre appearance, but doesn’t absorb water. Ramprotex, meanwhile, is an advanced fabric from Parx Plastics that resists the growth and proliferation of bacteria, mould and fungus.

A disadvantage of synthetic rugs is that they may contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can off-gas. This is due to the chemical treatments used to prevent sun fading and promote colour fastness. There are some flags raised over the unknown long term effects of VOC inhalation,

Paola Lenti

Paola Lenti

Kettal

but this should not be an issue when used outdoors. Generally, PET is a green option in that it is a recycled material and requires less water during the manufacturing process – and although it’s not biodegradable, it is recyclable. If you have concerns, then stick to natural fibres.

Fluffy and richly piled rugs look great indoors, but outdoor rugs endure their fair share of dirt and heavy foot traffic, whereas synthetic flat weave construction offers durability and stability underfoot, preserving appearance and minimising wear. They also shed less.

Rug liners A patio pad allows air to circulate under the rug as well as helping to prevent slip and rot, Fatboy

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INSPIRE Patricia Urquiola

preserving its appearance, and it sheds less. It will also make the carpet look more luxurious, but ensure that any backing is waterproof, and avoid latex, which is impermeable.

Size and shape Consider the space available when choosing the shape. Round patio tables work over round rugs, and outdoor seating groups are better with a square or rectangular rug. It usually looks best to have your furniture sitting on the carpet, rather than fitting a smaller rug between furniture.

Rugs to look out for Paola Lenti’s rugs are many and varied. Her signature Aquatech and Rope yarns provide high performance in outdoor environments; they are resistant to atmospheric elements and colourfast to sunlight, seawater and chlorine. The rugs are available in a range of dimensions, but can also be produced in custom sizes.

The new Garden Layers collection from Gan, designed by Patricia Urquiola, includes rugs, mats, roll pillows and cushions that can be used in a variety of arrangements. They come in terracotta, green or blue, and are made from weather resistant yarns and dry-fast foam.

Patricia also produces collaborations with international companies, so there are many Patricia Urquiola outdoor rugs to choose from.

Manutti’s humidity-resistant rugs are available in four colours and can be adapted to fit any space. The border finishes are available in a choice of stitch details, including ‘Royal’, with saddle stitching in three shades, or ‘Prince’, stitched in matching colours.

Stockholm-based Brita Sweden is a family-run brand that designs and produces high

quality, sustainable wool blankets, rugs and runners. Its PET fibre rugs are super soft; looking just like natural fibre rugs, they are as good indoors as outdoors.

Swedish company Brita’s synthetic rugs are made from plastic foil and polyester.

They are woven according to old traditions and are extremely soft to touch.

Paola Lenti Beautifully detailed with patterns designed by Saskia van de Linden, Fatboy’s Non-Flying Carpets create instant atmosphere.

Create your own carpet by buttoning two, three or even more together with the red buttons. The Non-Flying Carpet has an anti-slip top and underside, and a water-resistant coating. The rugs secure to the ground with four pins, and have a hole in the middle for an umbrella.

A rug can really change and update your outdoor look, what with the diverse patterns and textures available and the multiple ways in which they can be used – layering several outdoor rugs gives an eclectic, global look. The pattern will dictate the feeling, as well as the style: beach chic, urban, country or classic.

Vondom

Brita

Carpet Mill USA

Outdoor rug care and maintenance Cleaning recommendations vary; in general, clean your rug with a hose, a scrubbing brush and diluted washing up liquid. Be sure to clean both sides and, when possible, let it dry in the sun. Clean as needed, monthly, and at the start and end of each season.

Remove moss and algae with diluted bleach or vinegar, and in cold climates store your rugs during icy months – rolling, rather than folding, to avoid creasing and cracking.

ABOUT ANJI CONNELL Internationally recognised interior architect and landscape designer Anji Connell is a detail-obsessed Inchbald Graduate, and has been collaborating with artisans and craftsmen to create bespoke and unique interiors for a discerning clientele since 1986. Anji is a stylist, feature writer and lover of all things art and design.

Manutti

www.anjiconnellinteriordesign.com

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INSPIRE

Why I...

#lovehorticulture JANINE PATTISON

M

DIRECTOR, JPS LANDSCAPE DESIGN

ud has been a recurring theme throughout my life, and mud – well, soil – is a key ingredient in horticulture. From the little child helping her dad water the veggies, to the pony-mad teenager, the cross-country runner, the army captain, the mountain biker and now the professional garden designer and qualified horticulturist, mud has been my constant companion.

But, seriously, without soil and the plants it supports we would all be in trouble. My passion for plants – growing them, designing with them, looking after them – has underpinned my career.

The positive impact that horticulture THE POSITIVE IMPACT has on people cannot be THAT HORTICULTURE HAS underestimated, and here at JPS ON PEOPLE CANNOT BE we relish the projects where the UNDERESTIMATED gardens we create have huge benefits on the physical and mental wellbeing of their users. We could be designing a private garden for a captain of industry or a therapeutic garden for a dementia care home, so the budgets might be different, but the care and attention given to selecting the right plants is the same.

Plants allow us to tap into nature – the seasons, the weather, the birth, death and rebirth cycle of life – and keep us grounded. Successes and failures are guaranteed in horticulture and these are valuable life lessons; from them, we learn resilience and the understanding that we cannot control everything. Nature will have her own way.

We work closely with Thrive, the NHS, BUPA, Barnardo’s and other organisations to design and develop therapeutic gardens that offer life-affirming solutions to users, whatever their age. The plants are a key element in these spaces, and my passion for horticulture ensures the plants take centre stage.

We hope to inspire the next generation to love plants, care for the world and for each other, just as that four-yearold watering roses with her dad developed a passion for horticulture. The future’s bright, the future’s green!

Tweet us @ProLandscaperJW and tell us why you love horticulture using the hashtag #LoveHorticulture

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INSPIRE

WORK

Best project There are two real gardens that I’m particularly proud of – one in Weybridge, Surrey, that was completed in 2001 when I worked with Graham Pockett, and the other in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, which won the SGD Grand Award in 2013, by which time Gavin and I were working together. For show gardens, I’d have to say the Breaking Ground garden for Chelsea 2017 and the Sacred Grove garden for Singapore 2014. In my writing, I am still proud of Influential Gardeners, a fascinating book to produce, and I also have a soft spot for the Garden Design Journal, which I created in 1994.

Colleagues It’s great working with Gavin as we bounce all sorts of ideas around and we do have some great laughs. The teaching has also brought me into contact with a long list of people, all of whom are fab in some way – too long a list for this page, but Peter Thurman and James Hitchmough would be sitting at the top. Noel Farrer has remained a mate since we were at university, and we always have a laugh together, even when trying to be serious.

Mentors I had the privilege of working with Preben Jakobsen when I was running the diploma at the Inchbald School. He was a hero of mine in design terms, and he advised on the programme.

Issues to address Doing too much and finding it difficult, still, to say no. Always thinking I can fit more into a day than I can, and trying to give more time to my family when work is pressing.

Best learning curve My first day of teaching – it was surveying, which I always hated at university. I couldn’t quite believe it when Tim Rees asked me back.

High and low points of my career Winning Gold at Chelsea and in Singapore were the highs, and winning Silver Gilt three times at Chelsea were the lows.

Leadership style Just get on with it somehow, and try to inspire!

What I hope to achieve in the next 12 months More fab gardens and happy students. Another book would be quite cool, too. Otherwise, a better work/life balance – work remains a dominant part of my life, but as I get older I have to start thinking about how that will change.

LIFE/STYLE

Andrew Wilson

INSPIRATION

Talking work, travel and family with garden designer, author and lecturer Andrew Wilson

People I’d have to start with my mum and dad, which makes it sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, but they supported my dream of becoming a landscape architect when they weren’t completely sure what it was. My wife Barbara is also incredibly supportive of everything I do. From a design perspective I’d say Preben Jakobsen, Dan Kyley, Thomas Church and Ted Smyth in New Zealand. I admire Steve Martino’s work in and around Phoenix, and we enjoy a regular banter on Facebook. Richard Hartlage in Seattle is both a friend and soulmate, even though he’s halfway round the world. I wish I could write, too, beyond the garden stuff I do – John Grisham, Jo Nesbo and Bill Bryson inspire me but for different reasons, and I’m a sucker for Thomas Hardy.

Gardens I admire Bury Court and secretly want John Coke to leave it to me in his will! Bodnant is also a favourite. I like gardens with attitude and a sense of belonging to their landscapes – Marsh Lane in Harlow is so atmospheric and yet so unassuming, and so much a part of its context.

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INSPIRE

PERSONAL Hobbies I sing and have been trained as a classical tenor soloist – I love it when it’s going well and a part of me desperately wanted to be an opera singer. I swim regularly and would love to get back into windsurfing, and I enjoy riding my motorbikes. I’m also determined to pick up the work that my mother started on my family tree.

Most treasured possessions My wedding ring and a slender white gold ring with a tiny diamond that Barbara bought for me after I had given her an eternity ring.

Dress style Casual smart and hopefully sufficiently trendy – riding the motorbike most days means that anything that will fit into my rucksack and look decent when unpacked is cool!

Food Duck is my all-time favourite and will be forever. I’m a real food lover and enjoy cooking, but Barbara’s cooking is sensational. Chocolate is an important part of my diet and many of my favourite puddings involve a chocolate input.

Drink Malbec is my wine of choice, although after my choir practice on Tuesdays I like to have a Doombar at the Jolly Farmer in Weybridge!

Most fun I’ve ever had Mucking about in the surf in Cornwall – often with my daughters in tow. I am a real water baby. Riding the motorbikes gives me a great sense of uplift, and if the singing is working well the feeling is like nothing else – so spiritual and gratifying. If applause follows, then so much the better.

TRAVEL Places you’ve visited and would like to visit I love to travel – we honeymooned in Venice and Florence, both of which still thrill. Last year we went to Bali, which was a long term goal for both of us. But I also love the UK, and Cornwall especially is a favourite destination for my whole family. Japan is on the list to visit, and Australia or India too – and I’d love to see Chile. I connect with places where the landscape speaks.

How you like to travel Business class at least – First if possible, though that doesn’t happen very often. I like to get there and then enjoy. I’m not a trekking or ‘anything will do’ kind of traveller. I used to work for British Rail as its landscape architect, which really rekindled my love of train travel. I can still remember going to Liverpool on the steam train as a little boy with my grandfather, and arriving in that city by train is still an amazing experience.

Favourite continent Africa – Barbara and I stayed in Kenya for six glorious weeks when I was 21. It’s still an unforgettable experience.

How you like to stay when on holiday In a reasonable degree of comfort, so a hotel or villa, or holiday cottage. I don’t camp, mainly because I have always suffered dreadfully with hay fever – it’s a great excuse, though a bit rubbish for a garden designer! www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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STAND 123

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TRADITIONAL PLANTERS AT THE POT COMPANY

Terracini Florentine Si es 20cm-100cm diameter The Florentine planter is available from just 20cm in diameter up to an impressive 100cm. It is handcrafted in terracotta before being fired in high-powered gas kilns.

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The urghley features three diamond-shaped leaded windows to the rear, lockable doors with casement style windows, and brass ironmongery to finish. ptional e tras include freestanding seating and upholstery, colour finishes, shelf features and leaded glass. Supplied in pressure-impregnated European redwood, it is available in three widths 2. m, m and .6m.

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GRIFFIN GLASSHOUSES Bespoke blue Griffin glasshouse

This bespoke lean-to glasshouse, measuring 2. 5m 2. m with offset ridge, is manufactured using Gri n’s Classic gla ing system. It features a plain ridge and wider gla ing panes to give a contemporary feel. The glasshouse is made from aluminium and has an aluminium subframe to support the structure, so that the walls are not load bearing. The aluminium is a maintenance-free material, so a wash every year or two will su ce to keep this looking good for years to come.

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THE PLAYHOUSE COMPANY CarFest South, Hampshire

Playhouse Company created a bespoke design for CarFest South 2017. Playhouse was approached by the festival, which donates all of its profits to Children in Need, to create a one-off playhouse for the VIP camping area. The playhouse included a 7ft x 5ft playhouse cottage on a 2ft platform, with two 3ft platforms either side joined by a walkway.

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PROLUDIC LTD

Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovil

Proludic created a bespoke aircraft carrier multi play unit. The Proludic team crafted four bespoke items – The Flight Control Tower, The Ship Control Tower, The F35 Fighter Jet and the Merlin Helicopter, each unique to the Fleet Air Arm museum. Catering for the two to 14-yearolds, the play area can accommodate up to 76 users. The opening was attended more than 150 people in August, to coincide with the launch of the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier.

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WICKSTEED PLAYGROUNDS Highland Wildlife Park

Commissioned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), this play area is situated in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. The focal point is a giant climbing rockscape, which features a polar bear standing on a block of ice, with tunnels to explore underneath. The site also includes a slide to an azure safety surface ‘sea’ and a balance board, among other features.

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PLAY EQUIPMENT

SUTCLIFFE PLAY

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RUSSELL PLAY

Lancaster City Council wanted to create a destination playground on Morecambe’s seafront. It needed to be strong enough to withstand the coastal environment, and have a maritime theme to complement its location. With limited space on-site, Sutcliffe Play needed to be clever to create maximum play value for all its users. The playground contains six pieces of equipment, offering endless play opportunities.

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Earth Wrights’ hilltop tower provides an exciting and challenging lookout and climbing play structure. Access to the tower is achieved by climbing a web of ropes to a hatch in the tower’s floor. The tower connects to a scramble net and traversing ropes, which link to the wider space and enable climbing and balance routes between other structures in the play area. The tower is made from Robinia for maximum durability.

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Russell Play used its Spielart timber range for the design that won the tender for the play area at Barshaw Park in Paisley. It can be built to fit any terrain, and with a large choice of colours it can give every park a unique play area. Here, a palette of mainly natural wood was chosen, with deep green and white highlights, making the units a stylish addition to the historic park.

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24/11/2016 09:04 19/10/2017 10:25

SPONSORED BY

30 UNDER 30

From the sponsors...

Welcome Welcome to the 2017 edition of Pro Landscaper’s 30 Under 30: The Next Generation. This initiative has secured its place in our industry as a platform for highlighting and celebrating the ambition and drive of young people who have chosen a career in horticulture, in the diverse range of sectors we cover.

Businesses have applauded its arrival and in its third year, we have noticed the seriousness that has been taken in putting together entries. It has been, without a doubt, the most difficult task yet to shorten the list to 30 people, which in itself shows the success that is already being achieved by the next generation of people working within our industry.

Feedback from previous winners tells us that winning the award is a confidence booster, has helped forward their career and raise their profile – all of which has no doubt helped them step up to the next level. If you’re under 30 and thinking of entering next year, as the ever-popular slogan says: ‘just do it’.

What have you got to lose?

We would like to thank our 2017 sponsor Glendale, which has recognised the importance of investing in and developing people within the horticulture sector; it entered no less than nine of its own workforce for this year’s award.

If only we could share the stories and achievements of this group with schools and colleges around the UK; there would be no skills shortage, only inspiration and aspiration to join this rewarding and fulfilling industry.

Very many congratulations to the class of 2017 – and do remember to use this award to promote yourself going forward, it’s a very worthy accolade.

I

t is well documented that many sectors within the green services industry are under threat, as fewer talented young people are choosing to embark upon careers in the field.

That’s why it’s more important than ever to continue nurturing the next generation of talent, and also why we are thrilled to support Pro Landscaper’s 30 Under 30: The Next Generation.

It’s an accolade that highlights the achievements of young people who have Alex Paterson is operations demonstrated passion, dynamism, director at Glendale innovation, expertise and entrepreneurial spirit in their roles – values that align with our own aims and commitment towards rewarding talent, hard work and dedication. These people are shaping the future of our industry, so it’s vital we recognise their accomplishments while encouraging more young people to begin and develop their careers, and motivating those already working in the sector.

As a leading national supplier of nine specialist green services, including grounds maintenance, arboriculture and the supply of plants and semi-mature trees, it’s our responsibility to foster a culture in which the next generation is passionate about making a difference in the industry.

We are also a member of The 5% Club, an initiative designed to get the UK’s public and private sector companies to commit to having 5% of their total workforce as apprentices, sponsored students or graduates within five years. Through this partnership, we can play our part in addressing youth unemployment and providing the next generation with the training and qualifications needed to build their careers.

We’d like to congratulate this year’s recipients of the prestigious 30 Under 30: The Next Generation award, and look forward to following their development and progress.

For more information about Glendale’s services visit: www.glendale-services.co.uk.

The Pro Landscaper team

Turn to page 74 to find out who made the list... www.prolandscapermagazine.com

30 under 30 cover and intro.indd 71

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Visit glendale-services.co.uk today Adverts November PL.indd 10

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Adam Ryan

Lydia Noble Owner Noble Stonework

Age

28

Grounds maintenance team leader, Glendale Liverpool After starting a five-year apprenticeship programme with Glendale in 2009, as part of its partnership with Liverpool City Council, Adam became a grounds maintenance operative before being promoted to team leader in 2015. Now leading a team of three mobile grounds maintenance operatives across 13 sites in north Liverpool, Adam was nominated by his manager for his ongoing commitment and passion for his job, and for striving to deliver exceptional standards. One of Adam’s proudest achievements is receiving recognition through Glendale Liverpool’s Employee of the Year Award, and his passion is to make a difference to the parks in which he grew up.

31

Adele Ford Pro Landscaper / November 2017

30 Under 30.indd 74

22

Lydia became selfemployed after leaving school, and is the seventh generation in her family to work with stone. She is the first woman to win the Dry Stone Walling Association’s (DSWA) Pinnacle Award, the association’s first young ambassador, and a trustee on the board. Her company, Stonework, has worked on five RHS show gardens at Chelsea and Chatsworth, and she is now working towards her Level 4 Master Craftsman certificate with the DSWA; she has been the youngest person so far to achieve each level. She says young people keep every industry vibrant, and that it is important to nurture traditional skills for future generations.

Age

74

Age

Owner Adele Ford Garden Design After graduating from Hadlow College and Greenwich University with a BA (Hons) in garden design, Adele worked alongside the curator at Great Dixter and the Heritage Lottery Fund before setting up her own company, Adele Ford Garden Design, a year later. Since then, she has designed over 70 gardens, and was been awarded RHS Gold medals at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2012 and 2013, with her 2013 garden Mid Century Modern also named Best in Category. Following this success, Adele is keen to gain more show garden experience, setting her sights on Chelsea and Chatsworth.

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 12:27

SPONSORED BY

30 UNDER 30

Project landscape architect Bradley Murphy Design Ltd Freelance consultant Biophilic Projects

Joe Clancy

Joe has been a project landscape architect with Bradley Murphy Design Ltd for two years. With a passion for biophilic design, he also works as a freelance biophilic design consultant, architectural journalist and public speaker, operating under the name Biophilic Projects. He has co-authored several reports, including Terrapin Bright Green’s 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, which he used as the structure for a workshop at the UK’s first Living Building Challenge project at Cuerden Valley Park Visitor Centre. Joe hopes that through his work, biophilic design will be implemented to a larger degree in the built environment.

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Daisy Parsons

Rick Porter Director Strata Garden Design and Landscaping Richard set up Strata Groundworks at 22, and has since grown the company and rebranded it as Strata Garden Design and Landscaping. It now focuses on design and build projects, as well as build-only projects for local garden designers. His was one of the youngest companies chosen by Corker Outdoor Living and Landscaping Suppliers to build a show garden at the company’s yard, and he is looking to build on Strata’s reputation so that it becomes one of the top landscaping contractors in Sussex and Kent. He says the landscaping sector is a rewarding industry that caters for academic, creative and practical natures alike.

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With the ultimate goal of being director of her own landscape architecture practice, Daisy is extremely ambitious. She is currently working towards becoming a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute, and hopes to be Age involved with the association in an official capacity, as well as to be a member of the Society of Garden Designers. She singlehandedly ran the Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show last year, managing novice sponsors and a large team of contractors. Daisy says the industry offers young people the opportunity to help shape the world they inherit, both physically and in terms of values.

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©Christa Holka

Landscape architect Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design Ltd

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Dominic Knower

Alexandra Noble

Age

28

Regional community manager idverde

Garden designer

Dominic works within idverde’s greenspace development team as a regional community manager. In 2013, the company sponsored him to undertake a BSc in Ecology and Conservation, while he worked part-time in business development. He fulfilled his third-year placement component supervising grounds maintenance operations for the south region of the Sefton Council contract, worth circa £1m and with 18 operatives.

Dominic graduated this year with first class honours, receiving the Environmental Crop Management Award for Highest Overall Average from Manchester Metropolitan University.

During the four-year degree, Dominic also designed and built a Gold-medal winning garden at the Southport Flower Show 2014.

Having studied architecture, Alexandra was drawn towards horticulture after winning The One Show’s competition to design a feature garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2014. She has been self-employed for over a year, and is currently designing and overseeing a handful of UK-based gardens, working on her own projects as well as on a freelance basis for various designers, including the RHS. She managed teams of planting volunteers for flower shows at Hampton Court and Tatton Park, and also volunteers for Maggie’s West Centre London. Earlier this year, Alexandra founded Flowers & Foliage, a service whereby clients commission bespoke botanic artwork.

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Richard George 76

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Senior supervisor Kingston Landscape Group Throughout his 11 years at Kingston Landscape Group, Richard has become, in his manager’s words, ‘one of the most valuable assets we have’. Having left school at 16 with no qualifications, he has gained a number since joining the company, including an SSSTS certificate, and now manages the day-to-day site installation and administration of landscaping projects in excess of £500k. His proudest achievement to date is passing the Site Management Safety Training Scheme to a high standard, and he encourages young people who struggled at school to join the industry, where every day is different, there are many opportunities to learn, and skills are transferable.

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Rhiannon Williams

Age

24

Design and project manager Landform Consultants Rhiannon joined Landform Consultants in 2014 for a year’s internship between studying BSc Landscape Architecture & Ecology and a Masters in Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield, having previously worked with the company on RHS show gardens. She started full-time last year, and has since designed a show garden of her own for the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2017, where she gained a Silver-Gilt medal and the People’s Choice Award. Rhiannon is now looking to continue learning and working on a wide range of projects to develop her skills, and is keen to design more show gardens.

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27

Mark Browne Key account manager Green-tech Having achieved every annual budget in his career at Green-tech, it’s no wonder Mark’s manager describes him as a key member of the sales team. Mark is now achieving a turnover of more than £1.5m, managing top accounts and being responsible for building relationships with new and existing customers. He aims to manage his own team eventually, and to give advice based on his experiences within the role. He says every day is a new challenge, that what we do has a big impact on the environment and areas that we visit, and therefore we need to educate people correctly in the way it’s done.

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Anthony Harper Contract manager Glendale

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28

Throughout his seven years at Glendale, where he started as an apprentice arborist, Anthony has worked his way up to contract manager at the company’s arboriculture team in Sevenoaks, Kent.

His manager says he embodies all of Glendale’s values, including professionalism, integrity and trustworthiness, and has skills that are invaluable to the industry. He secured a large tree felling contract with Capita due to his excellent track record of delivering similar, highquality work, and is now looking to use his role as contract manager to improve the internal culture at a local level and secure a fixed-term contract for the Sevenoaks team.

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Joanna Hill Marketing manager Glendale

Age

29

Joanna joined Glendale in 2011 as a sales and marketing assistant and has worked her way up to marketing manager â&#x20AC;&#x201C; responsible for all marketing activities to promote the organisation, supporting existing contracts, and helping develop client relationships. Since joining, she has completed her CIM Level 4 Certificate in Professional Marketing with Distinction, allowing her to bring new skills and ideas to the department. Joanna aspires to grow the department and to gain experience managing a small team. Her manager says she has quickly settled into the role and enhanced marketing function within Glendale, building relationships with the management team and producing excellent work under pressure.

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Nawid Obaydi 78

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Director The Landscaping Consultants Ltd With more than 10 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in the industry, Jacob has gone from apprentice to head foreman to director of his own company, The Landscaping Consultants. He is hands-on in his role as director, being the lead installer on-site to ensure projects are completed to a high standard, while maintaining strong relationships with clients, suppliers and designers. Ultimately, he hopes the company will be well-respected and trusted, and he is passionate about researching and introducing new sustainable materials to his customers. He encourages young people to join the industry, vouching for the benefits of learning young and pursuing a lifelong career.

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Jacob Catling Business improvement manager Mitie Landscapes Nawid has progressed quickly through the ranks at Mitie, starting out as a marketing assistant. In his current role as business improvement manager, he is expected to drive improvements across the whole business, from operations and technology to finance, identifying areas that require change and implementing new systems and processes. His manager says that every business improvement project has been delivered effectively, on time and within budget, and most importantly has made a difference to the business and its people. Nawidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is to reach managing director/CEO level and to lead a business focused on innovation and providing value-added services to clients.

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Anca Panait

Age

28

Landscape architect AHR Since completing her MA in Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, Anca has become immersed in the horticulture industry. In addition to working as a landscape architect at AHR since 2014, she works as a freelance designer. She has also mentored school children for the RHS Green Plan It Challenge and aided the RHS Greening Grey Britain campaign earlier in the year. Her biggest accomplishment to date is being one of the three finalists for RHS Young Designer of the Year 2017, and being selected to exhibit a garden as part of Chaumont-sur-Loire International Garden Festival in 2016 – her first international competition win.

Jason de Souza Project manager Gardenlink

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Jason approached Gardenlink for work experience, having undertaken a landscape architecture BSLA at Writtle School of Design, but the company was so impressed by his capabilities that it hired Jason as an estimator when a vacancy became available. He was promoted to project manager in 2014, pricing tenders and managing projects through to completion.

His manager describes him as an essential member of the team who always remains calm under pressure.

Jason has worked on a variety of projects, from private estates to show gardens, and aims to work on an iconic project that will become a UK landmark, such as the Olympic Park.

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Kieron Lee

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Head gardener idverde

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25

Having joined idverde’s legacy company Quadron in 2010, Kieron has worked his way up through the ranks. After a year of working as team leader on one of idverde’s mobile gardening teams, providing grounds maintenance at 15 parks and green spaces within the London Borough of Southwark, he was promoted to head gardener at Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park. He now leads a team including two gardeners, and mentors an apprentice. His manager praises him for his positive attitude and willingness to assist anywhere on the contract whenever needed, gaining him the respect of his peers and the client, Southwark Council.

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Tom Bream

Age

27

Head gardener Great Martins Estate Tom is responsible for all garden maintenance and development over the 20-acre Great Martins Estate, managing a team of three as well as all contractors. He is also responsible for two other properties attached to the estate. After only eight months in this role, having previously worked as head gardener at The Old Gables, Tom already has many accomplishments, including creating a 100m-long border in the garden with Matt Keightley. He is proud to have developed a great working relationship with staff and contractors, and to have been involved with worldrenowned designers, plantsmen and garden photographers such as Nigel Dunnett and Marianna Majerus.

Lilly Gomm

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Director Lilly Gomm Studio Co-director Pitts & Lilly Ltd After studying architecture, Lilly enrolled at Capel Manor College to study an RHS Level 2 course in the Principles of Plant Growth, Propagation and Development. She works as a gardener under a jointly owned company, Pitts & Lilly, and is director of garden design company Lilly Gomm Studio. She competed in RHS Young Designer of the Year 2016, achieving a Silver-Gilt medal and the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choice Award, and was sponsored to build a second show garden the following year. Lilly is continually furthering her knowledge, and hopes one day to have a garden of her own that people are excited to visit.

James Craggs Contracts and project manager The London Lawn Turf Company James joined The London Lawn Turf Company eight years ago as an apprentice, and has worked his way up to contracts and project manager of the landscape division. He manages six Age landscaping teams, carrying out up to 30 projects per week. His manager says his commitment to the company, along with his desire to improve the way he and his staff work, has made him a valuable staff member. This is exemplified through his two years managing the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s North London Kingsbury depot: under James, this depot started to meet its budgets for the first time in years, and continued to grow under his management.

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Sam Eagling Fernandez

Laura Owens

Regional manager Maydencroft Ltd

Contract manager Glendale Laura began her career with Glendale on the company’s graduate training programme in 2015, and was promoted to contract supervisor before becoming contract manager in January this year. Laura now oversees the company’s contract with Newport City Homes, maintaining public open spaces on housing developments Age across south Wales, employing up to 25 staff with a turnover in excess of £500k. She believes that young people bring a unique flair to this industry; the influence of new technologies such as GIS systems have allowed the industry to develop with the times, and Laura believes younger people coming into the industry have an influence on these progressions.

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As Maydencroft’s first regional manager, Sam has worked his way up through the company, starting nearly four years ago as an arborist and becoming a contracts manager within months. He designed, built and now manages the company’s offices and yard in Windsor, and has grown his team to nearly 20 operatives. In just over a year, he has already returned the company’s investment and has taken on a number of responsibilities, from being his region’s Safety, Health, Environment and Quality manager, to working with the managing director to make strategic investment decisions. He is now focused on continuing his progression and growing his team.

Nicholas Lie Operations manager Garden Club London

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Nicholas has become an instrumental part of Garden Club London since joining two years ago. He recently qualified as an accredited site manager and oversaw the construction and landscaping of the floating pocket park in Merchant Square, Paddington, which received a BALI National Landscape Award. Before this, he successfully navigated the company through BALI accreditation, including audits of company procedure and site inspections. Ultimately, he is looking to manage high end commercial and domestic landscaping projects, to be able to use and bring more environmentally beneficial technology into the industry, and to offer apprenticeships for young people who show an interest in landscaping and horticulture.

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Sam Hunt Skilled soft landscaper Graduate Gardeners Ltd

Age

29

As a skilled soft landscaper, Sam is responsible for installing plants into new garden builds and border redesigns, as well as carrying out aftercare. He joined the company over two years ago and has proven himself to be a valuable team member. His interest in horticulture began at university, where he spent his weekends with conservation volunteers and his summer holidays helping on farms in Italy. He retrained through RHS courses, and in 2016 was a finalist in the RHS Young Landscaper of the Year competition.

Sam has an interest in horticultural therapy, and hopes to use horticulture as a way to help others.

Thomas Campbell Senior/principal arboricultural officer London Borough of Hackney Council

Jacob Botting Junior foreman Bespoke Outdoor Spaces As junior foreman, Jacob leads a team carrying out landscape construction projects worth up to £100k. His manager says that Jacob has demonstrated a natural flair and continued determination in his approach. Having completed his Level 2 APL Apprenticeship Scheme at Myerscough Age College, Jacob participated in the 2016 WorldSkills competition and reached the final, where he was named ‘Best in the UK’ in landscaping, taking home a coveted Gold medal. He is now responsible for an apprentice on his team, and his manager is sure Jacob will rise to the challenge of mentoring new recruits and embedding his own spirit throughout his time with them.

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Currently working towards his MSc in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, Thomas has made a huge impact. He is responsible for 20,500 trees in the London Borough of Hackney, ensuring public safety and improved local quality of life is achieved.

Since July 2015, he has saved the council £5,000 in 20 hours of use through the Hackney Treecycle, a cargo bicycle to be used in inspections by tree officers to enable small scale pruning operations to be completed by council officers. He presented this work to the London Tree Officers Association, and will be presenting it at the National Tree Officers Conference later in the year

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Valya Kerisheva

Age

29

Associate Wilder Associates Valya joined Wilder Associates three years ago as an intern, after completing her MA in Landscape Architecture at the University of Forestry in Bulgaria; she has since become a project landscape architect. Her focus is overseeing and training new staff, and she is involved in the design and specification of systems. She is passionate about her work, saying that what she does helps people by giving them an oasis within a city, and she is proud of a recent project where Wilder Associates designed a garden for disabled children, which will help them to explore the environment and create their own perception of the world.

Callum Gilfillan Skilled landscape operative Landscape Associates

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Callum joined Landscape Associates in 2013 as a labourer, and has since completed a Construction Apprenticeship Scheme and progressed to become a skilled landscape operative, working under the project foreman to assist in the construction of high end domestic gardens.

According to his manager, Callum has become a highly skilled landscaper and an instrumental member of the company’s construction team; he was part of the core team that achieved a Gold medal at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. He believes young people should enter the industry because it provides the opportunity to work outside in a role that is physically challenging but ultimately rewarding.

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Michael Booth Graduate Glendale Currently on Glendale’s graduate training programme, Michael joined the company in 2016. He has experience in a number of different aspects within the company, including as part of Glendale Liverpool and on a grounds maintenance contract with Stockport Homes. He has also become part of the implementation team for Glendale Live, the company’s cloud-based work programme and quality monitoring application, and took the lead in securing Glendale’s bid for a tree maintenance service framework with Hertfordshire County Council. Michael is now moving into his new role in operational management, and plans to continue the implementation of new technologies such as Glendale Live and GIS mapping.

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ANDY MCINDOE Plant picks for livening up a winter garden

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For a fine range of quality trees with first class service and expert advice SEE US AT

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Hear from award winning designer Dan Pearson, Laura Gatti planting designer for Bosco Verticale and Tim O’Hare on soil issues with podium landscapes Visit www.palmstead.co.uk/events for full details and to book online Tickets are £39 (inc. VAT), which includes buffet lunch and a stimulating exhibition from a range of selected suppliers

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NURTURE

NURTURE NEWS British Hardwood Tree Nursery extends office and job roles to prepare for exciting growth period In the past 12 months, British Hardwood Tree Nursery Limited has invested more than £130k in infrastructure and business development, and continues to develop its professional services, supplying young plants to the forestry, farming and landscape sectors.

With this investment coming hot on the heels of its recent site investment into new warehousing and storage capacity at its rural location in the Lincolnshire countryside, BHT remains perfectly poised for the approaching bare root season.

This has been demonstrated this summer, with the creation of new office roles and the expansion of space to accommodate growth.

Sam Kennedy joined the business in 2010 as sales administrator. She will now be responsible for the logistical planning for the wholesale supply of young hedging plants and trees,

with over 90% of BHT’s trade now despatched nationwide, beyond the Lincolnshire boundary.

Completed in August 2017, the new office space – an extension of the existing head office, housing eight other staff – will now be home to the Haulage, Personnel and Training departments. Ongoing personnel improvement is of utmost importance for British Hardwood Tree Nursery, which is recognised for its high service levels and personal touch, with an expert on the end of the phone for assistance throughout the buying process. www.britishhardwood.co.uk

Nursery chairman honoured with prestigious nomination John Richardson, the chairman of leading horticultural nursery Johnsons of Whixley, has been shortlisted for a Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Richardson recently celebrated his 80th birthday, and his achievements in the industry span well over half a century. He has been recognised by The Yorkshire Post, which has included him on its final shortlist for the Lifetime Achievement category at the Rural Awards.

Starting with eight full-time staff in 1964 and an annual turnover of £33,500, Johnsons of Whixley now employs more than 100 members of full-time staff, rising to 150 seasonally; during the last 12 months it has delivered a turnover of just under £12m, which represents one of its best ever annual performances.

Richardson received Horticulture Week’s Individual Excellence Award in 2006, and The Royal Horticulture Society’s Associate of Honour Award and The Institute of Horticulture Award for Significant Contribution to Horticulture in 2003. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Pearson Memorial Medal.

Johnsons of Whixley is a true Yorkshire family business, employing three generations of the Richardson family; John’s sons Graham, Ian and Andrew serve as directors. It is one of the largest commercial nursery businesses in Europe, and a trusted supplier of plants and trees to the amenity sector in the UK. www.nurserymen.co.uk

GreenBlue Urban launches the ArborSystem Configurator

GreenBlue Urban has announced the launch of its free online tool, which enables users to design a tree pit to their exact requirements.

It has been a long-term ambition of GreenBlue’s to make it easier for clients to specify products and design a tree pit with ease. The new tool hosts a wide selection of tree species, to complement designs with a range of infrastructure scenarios. Incorporating ArborFlow ensures SUDS tree pits are also an option for planners and designers.

Full specifications and drawings are distributed for ease of quotation and project estimation.

The purpose of the configurator tool is to enable the right size tree pit is used, underlying the GreenBlue Urban mission of enabling sustainable cities through green and blue infrastructure. www.greenblue.com/gb/

SEND US YOUR

NURTURE NEWS! editor@pro-landscaper.co.uk

01903 777 570

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Salvia verticillata & Verbena hastate ‘Rosea’

NURTURE

Acer palmatum ‘Raraflora’

Xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxx Olea europea

Designer PLANTS Laura Anstiss creates a fragrant and rhythmic planting scheme with a Mediterranean flavour

A young, dynamic and well-travelled family moved to the countryside from London, and wanted to redevelop their dream home and grounds to suit their lifestyle. The garden was located in an open, sunny position and had poor soil conditions, so a Mediterranean-style scheme with English charm was the answer for this particular property and family, transporting them to a relaxed, calm space that all their family and friends can enjoy.

The fragrant smell of herbs and the sound of trickling water makes you want to take a seat and enjoy a glass of wine; all that is missing is a view of the glistening blue ocean.

This is compensated for by the large, lush 88

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green lawns, an important element in the family’s design. The existing patio space had been enlarged to create an outdoor family space and a generous pool terrace; the finishing touch is a spectacular gnarled olive tree that provides interest and a focal point, linking features from the architecture of the house.

Scent is as an important quality of this style of planting; to add colour and more fragrant foliage, Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ was chosen. This compact, long-lasting shrub will retain a mound of silver foliage in winter.

Allium schubertii extends the garden’s flowering season by producing its firework-like flowers in summer. Its delicate blooms, balanced on fine stems, surprise with their cerise-purple colouring. They are particularly striking emerging through a haze of Stipa

tenuissima, one of the loveliest grasses for a hot, dry situation. On well-drained, poor soil, the grass and alliums will seed and drift among the shrubs, softening the scheme and adding movement throughout.

Plants from a muted palette were selected to imbue the garden with a sense of calm, such as soft, purply Nepetas in an array of mauve

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Mixed planting by the new Padel Court to soften the environment

NURTURE

New resin bound drive outlined with formal planting

Plant list Urn with formal style planting softened with Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’

and lilac hues. The bright and bold Penstemon ‘Raven’ was then brought in to really add some colour. The contrasting shapes and textures are helped by more formal Buxus: low clipped hedges line the meandering paths, while clipped balls punctuate the drive.

Roses are one of Laura’s personal favourite plants to use in her schemes; she uses them in almost all of her gardens, as there are so many colours and types to suit any design. In this planting scheme, Rosa DIAMOND, Rosa FLOWER CARPET, Rosa ‘Harry Edland’, Rosa ICE CREAM, Rosa KENT, Rosa ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’, Rosa MARGARET MERRIL and Rosa TWICE IN A BLUE MOON were all used. The elegance, romance and nostalgia they contribute elevates the garden to new levels of beauty and enjoyment. www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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Various Acers were used for entrances to paths and in key areas of the garden; as the days shorten and temperatures drop, the explosion of colour they bring is breathtaking.

These graceful, slow growing trees seem to erupt suddenly into a firework display, their leaves turning from lime green, pink and burgundy into vivid shades of scarlet, crimson, flaming orange and buttery yellow.

ABOUT LAURA ANSTISS Laura Anstiss has been a keen horticulturalist all her life having quali ed from Hadlow and Greenwich with a degree in Horticulture and Design, Laura believes it is imperative to understand the relationship between hard and soft landscape and to understand the habit of plants, knowing how they will look throughout the year and how they will relate to the rest of the garden.

anstissgardens.co.uk

• Acer palmatum ‘Emerald Lace’ • Acer palmatum ‘Crimson Princess’ • Acer palmatum ‘Raraflora’ • Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’ • Actaea simplex ‘Atropurpurea’ • Agapanthus ‘Headbourne hybrids’ • Allium ‘Gladiator’ • Allium schubertii • Astrantia major ‘Rubra’ • Buxus • Campanula lactiflora • Centaurea montana ‘Amethyst in Snow’ • Cistus x purpureus • Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’ • Echinops bannaticus ‘Taplow Blue’ • Euphorbia x martini ‘Ascot Rainbow’ • Hebe vernicosa • Hemerocallis ‘Gentle Shepherd’ • Geranium macrorrhizum ‘White-Ness’ • Geranium sanguineum ‘Album’ • Iris ‘Mer du Sud’ • Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ • Lilium ‘Casa Blanca’ • Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’ • Olea europaea • Papaver orientale ‘Royal Wedding’ • Penstemon ‘Raven’ • Penstemon ‘White Bedder’ • Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Golf Ball’ • Pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’ • Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Blue Spire’ • Rosa DIAMOND • Rosa FLOWER CARPET • Rosa ‘Harry Edland’ • Rosa ICE CREAM • Rosa KENT • Rosa MARGARET MERRIL • Rosa Mme. Alfred Carriere • Rosa Twice in a Blue Moon • Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ • Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew Green’ • Stipa tenuissima • Teucrium fruticans • Verbena rigida

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NURTURE

Andy McIndoe suggests a selection of plants to brighten up and add interest to a winter garden

A

s we head into winter it’s good to consider plants that add colour and interest over the next few months.

There are certainly plenty on offer, but some of them look better in the pot than they ever will in the garden – Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’ and Skimmia reevesiana are good examples. Tens of thousands are sold every year to gardeners and landscapers, but how often do you see a decent specimen that’s been in a garden for a season or two?

WINTER WONDERS Andy McIndoe

Ilex x altaclarensis ‘Golden King’

heathers are worth considering. Erica carnea and Erica x darleyensis are hardy, grow on most soils, tolerate some shade and flower for over two months. They make good ground cover and are perfect for the front of beds and borders if planted in groups between low evergreens and grasses.

The secret is to plant a number of 9cm plants in well-conditioned soil and clip after flowering; for more immediate impact go to 1L. White-flowered varieties are ideal with subjects like Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’ and black ophiopogon.

Nandina ‘Obsessed’

Recently, the dwarf varieties of nandina, sacred bamboo, have become widely available; compact, evergreen and colourful in winter, they tick many boxes. Nandina domestica ‘Obsessed’ is striking when the upper foliage turns coral-scarlet for several months over winter. It is excellent for a sheltered border and great for pots and containers. It does need an open, sunny position to colour well and resents dry conditions in summer. ‘Gulfstream’ is similar. I find these easier to grow than the softer-leaved Nandina domestica ‘Firepower’.

Although they will not bloom until the New Year, witch hazels become available in early winter; they grow best in the field and are then containerised or rootballed. If you want to be

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Barnstedt Gold’

certain of variety it may be best to wait until they flower: varieties are often confused and any nondescript yellow witch hazel may be offered as Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’. In most cases, flower quality, quantity and fragrance are the things to look for, along with shape and vigour. Autumn colour is a bonus. For example, Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Barnstedt Gold’ is a 90

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good grower and blooms well, but the fragrance is weak; it would not be my first choice.

Witch hazels and dogwoods look best when planted with evergreens; conifers work well in mixed plantings. Pinus mugo ‘Wintergold’ is a star in the winter garden as its needles turn to a warm shade of old gold. Dwarf pines are useful

Pinus mugo ‘Wintergold’

plants, tolerant of light sand soils, cold and exposure; they also look good with birches and shiny, broad-leaved evergreens.

Hollies rarely make an impact when first planted; they are often rather lanky youths that become broad and beautiful with maturity. Only female and hermaphrodite varieties fruit, so if you want berries, choose carefully; most females have male cultivar names, but not all. For a bright gold variegation, Ilex x altaclarensis ‘Golden King’ would take some beating, fruiting well in the presence of a male pollinator. In most regions male native hollies are widespread, so it’s rarely necessary to plant a pollinator.

Although many designers will throw up their hands in horror at the thought, winter flowering

Euonymus ‘Emerald Gaiety’

Pink and white ericas make fantastic partners for the compact Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’. The purple-black colour of this evergreen is remarkably intense in winter, with the foliage also becoming glossier than usual. Useful to add weight to a scheme, it is reasonably hardy, given good drainage, but dislikes exposed situations and may shed leaves in extreme cold.

Nurseries and wholesalers mostly carry plants in season; try buying sarcococca and cornus in midsummer. As winter progresses, the stock and selection becomes depleted, so if possible get in early and get those plants in the ground.

Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’

ABOUT ANDY MCINDOE Andy McIndoe is a practical horticulturist with more than 30 years’ experience in ornamental horticulture.

He has designed and advised on gardens of all sizes and has been responsible for 25 Gold medal winning exhibits at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Twitter: @AndyMcIndoe

www.andymcindoe.com

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:38

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NURTURE

O

nce upon a time, you could pretty much guarantee being given a cyclamen as a gift at some point in your life, but now this gorgeous little houseplant is more often overlooked in favour of bigger, more extravagantly leafy plants.

When it comes to Christmas planting, it’s the same; alongside the festive pizzazz of poinsettia and amaryllis, or Christmas trees with their showstopping decorations, these tiny gems can be too easily forgotten.

It’s the scale that is often against them, because the cultivars of the wild Cyclamen persicum are particularly small and daintily delicate in size. But if you are looking for low-level planting that is dense and compact in order to create the most elegant swathes of colour, small is most definitely beautiful. This is where they shine and the reason they are sold in their millions all over the world.

The colours are quintessentially festive, with a seasonal symphony of bright, rich reds and cool whites, as well as the abundance of pinks (a hot trend this Christmas) for which they are best known. Each flower lasts for weeks and the display is further lengthened by the succession of subsequent blooms. Single colour planting can be incredibly stunning, due to the graduations of colour within each flower, so there is nothing ‘flat’ about this look. Conversely, red/ white or pink/white combinations can be used to stunning effect to echo the 92

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FEELING FESTIVE

Ian Drummond

The roots can be fragile, so treat them with care when planting. Go for loam-based compost with some added grit for good drainage. For a natural look, I like to top the soil with a blanket of emerald green moss – it provides a beautiful contrast in colour, too. For a bit of Christmas glamour, use twinkly clear or white stone chippings as a visual nod to the frost and snow of the season.

classic ‘candy stick’ palette. Their shape and size make them ideal for underplanting, too, when their colours can provide a perfect contrast or harmony to what’s going on around them.

SINGLE COLOUR PLANTING CAN BE INCREDIBLY STUNNING, DUE TO THE GRADUATIONS OF COLOUR WITHIN EACH FLOWER Colour and scale are not the only things going for these Christmas contenders by any means, because the variety of petal shapes – flat, twisted, double and fringed (tooth edged) – are so very pretty, along with their delicately patterned, heart shaped leaves.

These Mediterranean plants will grow throughout autumn and winter and will be at their peak of health and beauty during the Christmas season, continuing into the spring if properly planted and cared for.

Cyclamens are generally very reliable and easy to care for, so the following tips should ensure a healthy and colourful display throughout the festive season: • Ambient room temperature (55ºF/13ºC) is ideal.

• Avoid too much direct sunlight – this is not usually a problem in winter, but it’s worth noting that Cyclamen persicum grows in woodland in the wild.

• Watering can be tricky, particularly as the worst thing for cyclamens is a relentless dribble of water. The key is not to give them too much water, as they prefer to be lightly moist.

ABOUT IAN DRUMMOND Ian Drummond is the creative director of Indoor Garden Design, Europe’s leading interior landscape design company. Based in Highgate, north London, IGD has been bringing nature into offices for over 40 years.

www.indoorgardendesign.com

© www.thejoyofplants.co.uk

Ian Drummond celebrates the tiny charm of the often-overlooked cyclamen, a great festive indoor plant option

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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HEAR MORE FROM

JAMIE BUTTERWORTH NURTURE

DESIGN

BUILD

M A I N TA I N

www.futurescapeevent.com

Calamagrostis emodensis

can provide a tantalising glimpse of the sumptuous planting beyond them.

Grasses also provide a great foil: they can break up planting and completely change the feeling of a border. They are also very easy to grow, so it’s good news all round. As a general rule, full sun and good drainage provide perfect conditions for most grasses. It would be a sin to cut any of these beauties back before spring – wait until March, just before the new shoots appear, to get as much interest as possible.

Below are four of my favourite grasses to use as we head into the winter months.

Calamagrostis emodensis One of my all-time favourite grasses, with nodding flamingo-like heads that dance in a delicate breeze. Growing to a moderate 1.8m www.prolandscapermagazine.com

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KEEP ON THE GRASS Jamie Butterworth

Pennisetum ‘Hameln’

throughout the seasons, with billowing clouds of flower heads in the summer months that hold on into the winter. The colour is unlike most other grasses, working as a fabulous complement to creamy yellow perennials.

tall, this is a mid-border plant. In the summer months these are tinged pink, fading to a rustic golden bronze in the autumn.

Grasses are fantastic for adding height, texture and structure to any scheme. Out from May to March, what else provides you with such a long season of interest? Whether for a mixed border, a cottage garden or a minimalist courtyard, there is space for grasses in all design projects.

Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ A truly spectacular Miscanthus with purple tinged feather dusters that fade to silver in the autumn. This is a reasonably tall growing grass, growing up to around 1.8m.The green leaves have a distinctive white mid-rib that add to the interest before the plumes appear.

Pennisetum ‘Hameln’ This is perfect for the fronts of borders, softening path edges and breaking up lower planting. The seed heads curl out as they emerge, stretching themselves and revealing their fluffy nature.

Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’ A divine blue-grey grass that stands rigid

Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’

Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’

ABOUT JAMIE BUTTERWORTH Graduating from RHS Garden Wisley with a Distinction in summer 2015, avid plantsman and RHS Ambassador Jamie now works as a horticultural consultant for London Stone, having spent the last two years growing plants for the world’s top designers at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with Hortus Loci.

jamie@jamiebutterworth.com www.londonstone.co.uk

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19/10/2017 10:00

Images ©Lorenz von ehren

T

he unsung heroes of the border and saviours of the winter garden, nothing can beat the frost-kissed seed heads of grasses on a fresh autumn or winter morning. With a warm cup of Yorkshire tea in my hand, they’re one of my favourite sights.

These are the plants that normally struggle for attention, and it is only now that they come into the spotlight. As perennials die back for the winter, grasses reveal the magnificent structures they have been hiding all summer – quietly waiting for their time to shine.

Grasses are stunning when planted en masse, forming carpets of colour and texture.

A truly fantastic example of this has to be the blocks of Miscanthus softening the Carpinus pillars that frame the Glasshouse at RHS Wisley. Sometimes, though, less is most definitely more – when loosely planted, grasses

14 NOV 2017

Images © Lynn Keddie

With the bold colours of summer fading, it’s time for grasses to show off their low-key splendour, says Jamie Butterworth

NURTURE

Noel Kingsbury warns of the possible future consequences of certain pests and diseases, and wonders how we can best protect our trees

A

sh dieback disease, or chalara, is one of the great worries of our time. Headlines involving words such as ‘crisis’, ‘devastating’ and ‘unstoppable’ create an atmosphere of alarm, and inevitably anyone who has anything to do with trees professionally is expected by many members of the wider public to have some inside knowledge or be able to give advice.

But how worried should we be? We are being told constantly by the press and by environmental lobby groups about things we should worry about. In same cases these do look to be very worrying indeed (e.g. climate

MOST PESTS AND DISEASES SPREAD NATURALLY, BUT WE HUMANS SEEM TO BE GREATLY HASTENING THIS PROCESS change), and in others anyone with some basic knowledge of biology can probably guess a scare that sells newspapers but fails to materialise (e.g. GM crops). Tree diseases are at least a specific worry. Ash dieback might be a good example of how we might learn to react a little more, well, rationally.

Let’s start with the basic facts about diseases. Diseases are parasites which need hosts, and if they kill all their hosts they do themselves out of a living, so any new disease outbreak tends to become less damaging over time. It is also a fundamental fact of biology

SAVE THE TREES Noel Kingsbury

that some individuals are more resistant to disease than others (some of our ancestors survived the Medieval Black Death after all).

What about Dutch elm disease? It is an interesting case of a disease spread by a pest, such as a beetle, and the rules here are a bit different. The key thing about this disease, which transformed large parts of Britain by killing the majority of landscape trees, is that the English elm is a rare example of a clonal species – all individuals are members of a single clone, and therefore all equally susceptible. No wonder they all went down like nine-pins.

Early reports of ash dieback did look alarming, with around 95% of trees in Denmark being seriously affected. Now, since the disease came to Britain in 2012, it is clear that British

trees are less badly affected – because they are genetically more varied. Seedlings grown from the survivors’ seed will be much more likely to survive.

However the tree faces another threat, from the emerald ash borer, an insect of Chinese origin, almost certainly spread through the timber trade.

It is a fact of biology that genetic sources of resistance to pests are much more limited than to disease, so this does in fact look pretty serious, and in the long run is probably going to be more of a problem than dieback.

The landscape industry and all other landbased industries can help limit the spread of pests and diseases. Perhaps we need to learn some basic new rules: washing excess soil off footwear and equipment before leaving a site with trees for example, or taking care in transporting timber with bark; and of course using locally-produced nursery stock wherever possible. Most pests and diseases spread naturally, but we humans seem to be greatly hastening this process. Natural barriers, such as the English Channel, or prevailing winds, can be the most effective barriers to the spread of problems. We also need to respect such biological boundaries.

ABOUT NOEL KINGSBURY Noel Kingsbury has been involved in the horticulture industry since the mid Eighties as a nurseryman, garden designer and writer, with features appearing in The Garden, The Daily Telegraph and Gardens Illustrated. Since the mid Nineties he has played a major role in introducing the British gardening public and the horticulture profession to naturalistic planting with a series of books, four of which he has written with Dutch designer Piet Oudolf.

www.noelkingsbury.com

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NURTURE

SITE VISIT

EARTH CYCLE

THE WOODHORN GROUP Mike Jupp, sales and marketing manager at Earth Cycle, talks to Pro Landscaper about how the business was founded and where it hopes to go in the future The Woodhorn Group, established in 1882, is a family-run farming business based in West Sussex. It boasts a 1,500-acre organic dairy and arable farm that includes a 250-strong dairy herd, a diverse property portfolio and three licenced waste recycling sites that process green wastes and soils. Its range of peat-free composts, produced at the waste recycling sites, came about after a decision almost 20 years ago to diversify the business.

In 1998, John Pitts (right), managing director of The Woodhorn Group and a fifth generation farmer, picked up a West Sussex County Council contract to oversee homeowners’ green waste bin collections.

The company’s three compost sites – two in Chichester, one in Hayling Island – started out recycling around 8,000t of green waste a year; that figure has now risen to 84,000t.

Mike Jupp, sales and marketing manager, explains the process of developing the Earth Cycle brand: “About 10 years ago we were recycling 45,000t a year; at that time the majority went straight to farmers – they had the biggest land mass. A lot of the farms didn’t have the capacity to take on everything that we were producing, and that’s when Earth Cycle was 98

Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Nursery visit Earth Cycle.indd 98

born. We needed another vehicle to move the compost out into the open market.”

The business now produces compost, mulch, soil conditioners, play chip, bark, turf and two ranges of topsoil. A turning point came four years ago when Mike developed the BS 3882 topsoil, mixing local sand with Earth Cycle’s compost.

“Within six months, we had won a massive contract with Brighton and Hove Albion football club for its training academy.”

Earth Cycle has consequently become a highly recognisable brand within the industry, and many of its customers came into contact with it at the annual FutureScape event. “FutureScape was a pivotal moment for us – other companies, as well as high level landscapers, started to take us more seriously. They saw us as the real deal, rather than just a small, local business.”

The process of creating the products starts with the delivery of green waste to the sites, which is then shredded; at any given time there will be about 15,000t on one site. The first few weeks are vital to the composting cycle, as this is when the bacteria starts to break down the waste. Overall, it’s a 14-week process, with compost being turned every two weeks and its temperature constantly

monitored. The end of the 14th week sees the fractions screened down either to a 25ml mulch or a 10ml compost. The end products are stored undercover, keeping them dry and protected.

This year has been Earth Cycle’s most successful, with the company being involved in television shows such as DIY SOS and Love Your Garden. It also works with schools and charities, who come to visit the farm.

Earth Cycle is now looking to develop the e-commerce side of the business, selling its products in bulk bags to homeowners across the UK. Having made a substantial investment into a new building on-site that is designed for servicing the growth in bulk bags, Earth Cycle is now

producing upwards of 120 bags a day of different products, in peak season. This continual growth in the improvement and development of products, and the investment in the business’s future, means that the team at The Woodhorn Group will certainly be kept very busy.

CONTACT Earth Cycle, Woodhorn Business Centre, Woodhorn Lane, Oving, Chichester, PO20 2BX Tel: 01243 781730 Email: info@earthcycle.co.uk

www.earthcycle.co.uk

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:53

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19/10/2017 10:32

SEAN BUTLER

104

The whys and hows of recycling waste materials

A WORD ON WINTER ROBERT WEBBER

105

Advice for maintaining winter lighting schemes

SILENT CITY HUSQVARNA

110

The innovations set to change the future of landscaping

TRADING WITH GREENBLUE URBAN

118 117

EDUCATE cover.indd 101

PLUS...

SAM HASSALL (P102) BLOWERS AND VACS (P112) WHAT I’M READING (P114) WHAT’S YOUR ROLE? (P117) TRADING WITH (P118)

Talking business with the green infrastructure company

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19/10/2017 11:35

HELPING YOU MAKE A

EDUCATE

Putting together an accurate quote can be an arduous business; Sam Hassall guides you through the process, breaking it down into manageable parts

PROFIT

Costing, quoting and winning

When your proposed client calls you to ask you if you can submit a price for a proposed job, your probable thinking should be: a) Do I want this job? b) Do I have the time to get this price back accurately and minimise my risk? and c) If I win this job, will I be able to do it? It is vital that you price your work for profit. Here are some tips that you think you know, probably know, or forgot that you knew.

If you follow this simple step by step guide, your first objective – understanding the cost of the job and eliminating risk – will be achieved. Your probability of winning the job, strangely, is reduced if you have done your work correctly – look at the the old construction industry proverb, “The company who has made the biggest mistake, wins the job”. Conversely, the company that has got it right may lose the job.

Familiarisation: reviewing and familiarising yourself with the project Depending on who the eventual employer (the party employing you to do a project) is, the initial enquiry will arrive as anything from a telephone enquiry to a follow-up email with a set of drawings and paperwork, which you will have to review. It is common practice these days for the employer to send the enquiry out in electronic format, thus dispersing the cost of duplication and postage to you. It is incumbent upon you, the tenderer, to understand this document clearly, and I therefore recommend that the drawings and paperwork are printed out for clarity. You would be surprised how much information you miss when reviewing this on-screen.

1. Look through the drawings.

2. Find the scope of works document and understand it. If there isn’t one, ask for one.

3. Check the drawing issue list against the issued drawings.

4. Check the return date.

5. Check the project build dates for your ability to carry out the work, should you win it.

6. Flick through the spec and highlight the items you will need to get prices on from named suppliers.

7. Check the proposed contract for ‘non-standard clauses’ or liquidated damages clauses.

8. Check to see if the employer wants the pricing back in a required format.

9. Take a bet with a colleague on how much you think this job will come out at.

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The process 1. Familiarisation 2. Measurement 3. Site visit 4. Enquiries 5. Estimating 6. Checking 7. Margins and profitability 8. Cover letter 9. Submission 10. Adjustments

Measurement In general, the measurement is the largest task in a job, if done properly.

On any project, the general split between measurement and estimating, timewise, is 60% measurement and 40% estimating.

• We use a program called Bluebeam, available from our websites Libr8. co.uk or LandPro.co.uk, to measure and mark up the PDF drawings.

• We produce a detailed schedule of every element in the project and its sub-elements. For example, paving’s sub-elements would be excavation, muck-away, base, expansion joints, geofabrics, surface, edging, etc.

• Go through every drawing and address each one. If you haven’t addressed a drawing, ask the employer why this drawing has been issued. As a professional you should assume the presence of a required element, even if it hasn’t been specifically addressed. Alternatively, ask the designer or project manager.

• Don’t put in elements you don’t need just to show that you are professional. You can add these as suggestions, but they may make you look more expensive.

• After the measurement phase, you should be able to refer only to your schedule and pack away your drawings. You should know the job as well as the designer.

Site visit • I prefer to conduct the site visit only after I have done the measurements and schedule. By doing this first, I often familiarise myself with the requirement of the work, and I then know what to look for when I do go to the site to familiarise myself with this.

• Of course, there are instances where a site visit is not feasible or useful, such as on existing sites where the new buildings are still in the demolition or early construction phase.

• In some cases, it is possible to price from survey and design alone.

• Take photographs of everything.

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 11:27

EDUCATE Supplier enquiries This is arguably one of the slowest parts of the job.

Depending on the complexity of the work, there may be few or many suppliers who will answer you in their own time.

• I use the schedule I constructed earlier and highlight the items that need enquiries (supply or subcontract).

• Preparing, submitting and badgering them for answers is often very time consuming.

• It may also be necessary to explain to suppliers or subcontractors the extent and intent of the designer.

I always find that this section takes more time than it should!

Estimating It may surprise readers that this is often the easiest part. It takes a lot of time, but once you have all your ducks in a row above and below, it should be pretty simple to bring the job together under this heading.

You know your job and how long things take to do. If you have an estimating system such as LiberRATE (which the author developed – see Description Quantity Unit Rate Total below for free trial info), this tedious Excavate and lay base for 40mm 115.00 m 32.62 3751.30 task will be quicker and less prone to stone edging 300 wide x 150 deep errors or omissions. Excel, of course, is Material also an indispensible tool for this 142.00 771.59 Concrete site mixed 5.43 m3 process. Additionally, if all your prep work has been done, you can switch Total materials 771.59 the phone to voicemail and Workers Hours Labour methodically go through your prepared Operators 2 7.44 25.00 372.06 lists. Do remember though, that all you Trimming shuttering 2 14.88 25.00 744.12 are pricing here is what it will cost you to do the set of tasks in your schedule.

Pour and screed to formwork 2 10.55 25.00 527.28 Forget about rates, forget about profit.

Totals Worker 8.22 1643.46 You need to understand: days: • Your labour costs (see my Plant Pro Landscaper cost article Excavator 5t/Dumper 3t 8.35 hr 22.50 187.92 from April 2017) combination fueled excl delivery • The time needed to do each task 34.90 1147.86 Muck away (grab) inert 30% 32.89 m3 • The cost of required machinery bulkage London • The cost of materials.

Total plant 1335.78 To the right is a sample of a costing Item Total 3,750.83 for the base to an edging

Preliminaries There are always preliminaries. Whether you include them separately, as a percentage or within items they must be included. They are costs, such as site deliveries and collections, fuel H&S, site cleaning, drawing printing, site skips etc.

Checking It is financially suicidal to issue your quotation without a thorough check. It is a factor of the human psyche that you will think that you have not made mistakes. You do have errors in there. If you have the luxury of having a colleague go through your calculations, you will find errors that need to be corrected or adjustments that can be made to ensure your bid is compliant, secure in its pricing, and ultimately competitive and profitable.

Submission It always takes time to fill in your schedule, and, if appropriate, the tender forms. Many tenders require supporting documentation such as method statements, programmes and material lists. I have worked on tenders where compiling the support documentation can take longer than the estimating process. The tender cover letter is a legal document which will support your exclusions and clarify your understanding of the tender requirement.

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Profit Once you have your costs right you can be sharper with your profit.

If you feel that you have really done a good job analysing the cost, then reduce your profit – if you really want to win this job.

In normal circumstances, it may be fair to assume that much of your profit is fat, to soak up the risk on items you haven’t costed properly. If you are confident about the build-ups and the scope, fine tune your mark-ups

Your bet Collect if you’ve won – pay if you’ve lost.

Post-bid adjustments After submission it is acceptable to update your bid if information comes in that may change your prices. It is often the case that you find an alternative supplier that allows you to reduce your price. There may additionally be an element of adjustments required by the employer.

Tools used: Bluebeam – Measure and mark-up pdf: www.landpro.co.uk, LiberRATE Estimating: www.libr8.co.uk Excel Microsoft

ABOUT SAM HASSALL Sam Hassall is the UK’s only dedicated specialist landscape cost consultant. As managing director of LandPRO Ltd, his range of services include providing cost and implementation information to landscape design professionals and contractors. Sam’s expertise are gained from his formal training, and many years of experience in the landscape industry.

Sam also compiles the Spon’s External works and Landscape price book, and developed the market leading LiberRATE Estimating system.

www.landpro.co.uk Tel: 01252 795030

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EDUCATE

In the latest installment of his miniseries on specifying materials, Sean Butler looks at the process of recycling waste materials

The waste materials coming from construction and demolition operations are known as C&DWs (construction and demolition wastes).

These materials represent one of the most voluminous streams of waste generated in the world, accounting for 25-30% of all waste produced in the EU. Reducing this waste by recycling it is the way forward, and it is up to all of us to make the effort to do so, in order to help achieve greener landscapes.

IT IS UP TO ALL OF US TO MAKE THE EFFORT TO RECYCLE, IN ORDER TO HELP ACHIEVE GREENER LANDSCAPES With careful planning, using recycled materials can reduce your business’s carbon footprint, reduce timescales on a project, reduce costs and increase profits. At Cube, it is a part of our company policy to do all we can to carry out recycling in our landscape projects, and to use recycled products in the formation of a new landscape garden. There are limitations, though, as you would expect.

We have held a waste carriers license and waste transfer license for 25 years, but this doesn’t mean we can carry out all recycling at our yard. Legislation and the Environment Agency control the storage of waste materials very closely. The process of turning inert waste material into a product is classified as a waste recovery operation, and is subject to the waste

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WASTE NOT, WANT NOT management controls set out in the Waste Framework Directive and domestic legislation.

So what does this mean for you? While it is good ethos to practice recycling, you can’t just start doing it without making sure you are conforming to regulations.

At Cube, we store concrete, paving, bricks, stone, green waste, pallets and metal for recycling. First, we assess whether the volumes of waste products on any given project are large enough to warrant being recycled on-site or whether they should be taken to our yard to be recycled there. Once we have 300t of concrete, paving, bricks and stone, we crush it down to be reused for subbases; when it comes to green waste and pallets, we shred it together and use it for mulch once it has composted down. As for the metal, we take it to a scrapyard to help fund our Christmas parties!

Two suppliers of recycled aggregates I would recommend are JKS Group (01702 530010) and Grundy and Co Excavations (0151 4244079).

The process • Raw material is pre-sorted to ensure that unwanted materials do not enter the recycling process.

• Two main processes are used, namely dry crushing and washing.

• These systems produce high quality recycled products that meet tight industry specifications.

• Aggregates and sands are rigorously tested on a regular basis by an external testing house, so you can be confident that the products you purchase will exactly match your project requirements.

• While screened soil from new developments will attain BS 3882 certification, recycled skip fines will not gain the same standard.

TYPICAL RECYCLED AGGREGATES • MOT 20mm down sandfill • Grade 1 topsoil • Grade 2 topsoil • Washed aggregates 0-4mm fine sand 0-6mm coarse sand • Pipe bedding for drainage 6-10mm pipe bedding 10-20mm pipe bedding • For subbases 20-40mm clean stone 45-100mm clean stone

ABOUT SEAN BUTLER Sean Butler is a landscape designer and director of Cube 1994. With a background in civil engineering, Sean has an in-depth understanding of the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built landscape. www.cube1994.com

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 09:51

EDUCATE Robert Webber offers advice on lighting design for the darker months and keeping installations running smoothly throughout winter I hate to break it to you, but winter is just around the corner! It’s one of our busiest times of year; my phone rings constantly with reports of lights not working and circuits tripping. Wet winters in England are our worst enemy for extinguishing lighting.

Winter is the time when you want effective, reliable lighting. For most of us, it’s dark when we leave home and dark when we get back.

My comfort is returning home to my family and seeing into the lounge, where a roaring fire and a nice glass of red are waiting for me.

Winter is a great time to show off key features in a garden, because there is little else to see. Bare trees can be lit to show the skeleton of structure and form – the bones that support its life through the summer. Sculptures that appear tired and dark can be illuminated to bring them back to life. Simple, functional lights become paramount when navigating the slippery leaves and dark steps.

So often in the summer, lighting design and installation just concentrates on the features. It forgets the practicalities of kids getting to the front door in winter and people putting the bins out on a Sunday night. It’s one area that we cover in our three-point solution to lighting.

Function is number one on our list when we’re meeting a new lighting challenge. There’s no point spending thousands on lighting a water feature if you’re not going to light the

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Robert Webber.indd 105

A WORD ON

WINTER

HEAR MORE FROM

ROBERT WEBBER AT DESIGN

BUILD

M A I N TA I N

www.futurescapeevent.com

14 NOV 2017

steps that lead there – you’ll be much closer to nature than you envisaged when you slip over.

Here are some tips to help you get through winter with your lighting intact at the end of it: Clean the lights. Lights become covered in leaves and debris, which makes them far more susceptible to allowing water ingress.

If a light is covered in damp leaves for more than 30 minutes, then it will start to allow the water in. All that money you spent is worthless if you don’t maintain.

Lubricate. This is an area that is often left high and dry. When you clean the light, apply a little grease to the thread of the barrel of the fitting, and to any screws that may be needed to access the lamp. I’ve seen countless expensive lights become non-serviceable because the screws have lacked grease and care and have fused themselves to the fitting. They then have to be cut out and replaced. This is a common issue with cheaper models – great on day one, in the recycling bin by day 101.

Replace. So often, lamps are left until they blow before they are replaced. While normal incandescent lamps just blow and are gone, LEDs slowly lose their lumen output over time. Lumens are the measure of the actual light seen by the naked eye – it’s so different to the science of older style lamps, which are measured in watts, the amount of power used to run the lamp.

When an LED gets to 70% of its output – L-70 – it should be replaced. Most manufacturers measure this in hours, so they might say that a lamp will last for 3,000, 10,000 or even 100,000 hours. That’s not the day it blows –that’s the time it will take for it to reach L-70.

Position. It’s so key to choose a lifelong position for a light. An IP rating is indicative to its position. IP means Ingress Protection; every light has one written on by British Standard.

We only use IP68, the highest IP rating for garden lighting, which means they are submersible. Some installers might call that overkill, but that’s one of the reasons we get recommended. Our lighting installations hardly ever fail due to water ingress.

Cast your mind back to a lighting installation that you may have been involved in over the last few years; how do you think it’s doing now? At Scenic Lighting we build for the long term. It’s what has earned us the highest accolades. We don’t compromise to meet a budget, but we do have solutions for every budget.

ABOUT ROBERT WEBBER Robert Webber is the founder of Scenic Lighting, a specialist exterior lighting company based in Berkshire.

He designs and installs garden lighting throughout the UK and internationally. Robert can be contacted on rob@ sceniclighting.com or via his mobile on 07766 051 000.

www.sceniclighting.com

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 105

19/10/2017 09:53

EDUCATE

A NATURAL STEP FOR

NATURAL PAVING Rapid growth leads to introduction of the Talasey Group

T

he introduction of the umbrella brand Talasey Group to the UK landscaping market is down to the successful growth of Natural Paving Products (UK) Ltd (NPP), which has seen the addition of five new product ranges to the brand’s expanding portfolio in recent years. With rapid growth and diversification it seemed a natural evolution to introduce the Talasey Group, as a corporate entity under which all six brands would sit.

NPP, Vitripiazza Italian porcelain vitrified flagstones, Baksteen Dutch clay pavers, Luxigraze artificial grass and accessories, Pavetuf, stone installation cleaning and maintenance products and new Resiscape resin-bound aggregates, now sit together seamlessly under the Talasey Group, offering one of the broadest and highest quality landscaping solutions range available across the UK. Supporting the industry Under the Talasey Group, NPP continues to deliver as the number one independent supplier

106 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Natural Paving.indd 106

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE TALASEY GROUP AS THE PARENT COMPANY TRULY REFLECTS THE SUCCESS OF NATURAL PAVING PRODUCTS of natural stone to the UK landscaping industry, with operations also in Europe and North America. All brands within Talasey Group adhere to the company’s strict Merchant Only Policy, ensuring stable market dynamics are upheld.

The company will continue to offer comprehensive technical support through a team of dedicated specialists in each product area, as well as its large team of regional sales

managers, internal sales support and newly expanded customer service team.

Offering further support, Malcolm Gough, group sales and marketing director at Talasey Group, is a member of the Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) – a valuable asset for the merchant industry, working to measure Repair, Maintenance & Improvement (RMI) building activity in the UK. As a panel member, Malcolm brings his 30+ years of experience to offer perspective on the latest issues, new legislation, industry schemes and government policies for natural stone landscaping products, vitrified paving and artificial grass.

Commitment to ethical trading All of the brands under the Talasey Group are www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:40

EDUCATE

manufactured in accordance with the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to ethical trading across its full end-to-end supply chain, and can provide full CE documentation where required. The company is also a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and ensures its natural paving products are quarried and manufactured in accordance with ETI expectation; in fact, the Talasey Group goes one step further, as its operations exceed the ETI nine-point base code of conduct. As a leading alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promotes respect for workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Natural Paving.indd 107

rights around the globe, the ETI works tirelessly to tighten regulation of the full supply chain. The company is leading the way in demonstrating to the industry how natural stone mining can be conducted successfully and ethically. It has invested a significant amount of time, money and resources, working hard to ensure that all workers at home and abroad enjoy the best possible living and working conditions.

FutureScape 2017 The Talasey Group will be exhibiting its complete range of products and solutions at

FutureScape 2017. The group is excited to use the platform to engage with visitors and fully explain this latest company development.

Representatives will be on hand to explain to visitors the entire range of landscaping solutions and how it can support them in their work.

The introduction of the Talasey Group as the parent company truly reflects the success of Natural Paving Products and the other brands under its portfolio, and paves the way for more exciting growth and development opportunities in the years ahead. www.talasey.co.uk Pro Landscaper / November 2017 107

19/10/2017 10:42

EDUCATE

GO AND SEE AT ARBOR FOREST

Stand

22

Trex composite decking is designed not to fade, stain, rot or split, and has a 25-year limited warranty for residential and a 10-year limited warranty for commercial installations. Trex is made from 95% recycled materials and hardwood wastes, so it’s a sustainable alternative to timber.

Trex Transcend is available exclusively from Arbor Forest Products Ltd, a British company with over 175 years’ experience in the timber industry.

WWW.ARBORDECK.CO.UK

CHAPIN

Stand

130

With more than 130 solid years of manufacturing excellence, Chapin is proud to provide market leading products that are rugged and reliable. Following the UK distribution deal with Craigmarloch, Chapin can now distribute quality sprayers and spreaders on a next day delivery service throughout the UK. Chapin engineers and manufactures products specifically designed for lawn and ground maintenance, snow and ice, and gardening. Its sprayers and spreaders meet the needs of every home owner and professional.

Distributor opportunities available.

WWW.CHAPINMFG.COM WWW.CRAIGMARLOCH.CO.UK 108 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Go and see at FS.indd 108

FUTURESCAPE

PROVENDER NURSERIES

Stand

84

Provender Nurseries supplies top quality plants, landscaping products, soils and composts and related horticultural sundries. Priding itself on working closely with designers, landscapers and all other sectors of the horticultural industry, Provender holds an enviable range of plants in stock, alongside decorative corten steel screening, fencing and a vibrant range of containers and aggregates.

WWW.PROVENDERNURSERIES.CO.UK

CLEARSTONE

Stand

41

Clearstone’s resin bound surfaces provide clients with the style of a gravel driveway without the loose chippings or environmental impact. It combines naturally sourced aggregates and high-grade resin, carefully installed to create surfaces that are fully compliant with SuDS and the BREEAM assessment system. Clearstone’s experts can install the systems in courtyards, driveways and car parks that require an attractive permeable surface.

WWW.CLEARSTONEPAVING.CO.UK

MILLBOARD

Stand

97+98

Millboard composite decking combines the natural beauty of real timber with the high performance of its unique wood-free material. As opposed to wood-plastic composite (WPC) decking, which is made through extrusion, Millboard decking is moulded from oak planks to replicate the character and grain detail in timber. Where hardwood can warp and fade, Millboard decking is designed to withstand demanding environments.

WWW.MILLBOARD.CO.UK

GLOBAL STONE

Stand

146

For more than 15 years, Global Stone has remained committed to providing innovative, high quality paving.

Thanks to its superior quality products and exceptional service, it has become the trusted brand of choice. At this year’s FutureScape it will be showcasing the new Florence range from its Porcelain collection. A unique product with tumbled edges and an age matured appearance, this range offers all the benefits of porcelain while alluding to traditional natural stone.

WWW.GLOBALSTONEPAVING.CO.UK

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 12:19

EDUCATE

JOHNSONS OF WHIXLEY

Stand

51

Johnsons of Whixley will be showcasing its exciting new landscape range.

“This is the third time Johnsons has attended FutureScape,” said joint managing director Andrew Richardson. "We look forward to meeting a wide cross-section of new and existing customers in this hugely important sales area.” Johnsons of Whixley is one of the largest commercial nursery businesses in Europe, and a trusted supplier of plants and trees to the amenity sector in the UK..

WWW.NURSERYMEN.CO.UK

TURF GROUP

Stand

58

Turf Group is excited to launch its ground-breaking 2018 range of artificial grass products and accessories at FutureScape this year.

The range is the result of months of research and product development aimed at creating the ultimate synthetic turf.

WWW.TURFGROUP.COM

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Go and see at FS.indd 109

DANUBIA WOOD

Stand

178

Danubia Wood Trading is delighted to introduce the Rehau Relazzo WPC Decking range. Rehau is a leader in polymer solutions, with a global presence. The Relazzo range meets the highest standards, with European-style colours, different widths and surface variants available, and the appearance and feel of real wood. It is environmentally friendly, has exceptional anti-slip characteristics, and is readily available as it is European-made.

WWW.DANUBIAWOOD.COM

BALI

Stand

89

The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) is the UK’s leading trade association for the nation’s landscape professionals. Its members have been transforming and creating spaces for more than 45 years, offering domestic and commercial landscape design, build and maintain services. If you join BALI before 31 March 2018, you could win a £1,000 holiday voucher – speak to the team for details.

WWW.BALI.ORG.UK

BOUGHTON LOAM

Stand

37

Boughton is an established company that has been supplying the amenity, landscape and construction industry since 1985.

Boughton produces the finest quality growing media to meet all landscaping and horticultural needs. From ‘as dug’ topsoil and screened topsoils to lightweight compost mixes for roof gardens, Boughton has got every surface covered. Boughton will be exhibiting a range of high quality soils, composts and landscape growing media at FutureScape.

WWW.BOUGHTON.CO.UK

KEBUR

Stand

105

Kebur Garden Materials is one of the South’s leading suppliers of landscape materials.

It prides itself on its Contempo natural stone and porcelain collection, with its unique range of accessories such as Limestone Pearl setts and porcelain bullnose edging. Its range of high quality paving, fencing, decking and aggregates meets all landscaping needs, with prompt delivery seven days a week.

WWW.KEBUR.CO.UK

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 109

19/10/2017 12:20

EDUCATE

SILENT CITY 3 EDINBURGH

Gateway app is within the range of this sensor, the engine data is transferred to the Husqvarna Fleet Services account. It also utilises GPS to share the location of machines. Transferred data will instantly be available on the Husqvarna Fleet Services website, allowing access on a computer, tablet or smartphone.

Considering the future of urban landscaping at the Silent City 3 conference, held in collaboration with Husqvarna Silent City 3, the third international conference hosted by the City of Edinburgh in collaboration with Husqvarna, took place at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (RBGE) on 5-6 October. The event explored how innovation and sustainability will affect professional urban landscaping, today and in the future. A variety of presentations, from speakers such as Husqvarna Professional global director Hugo van Bijsterveldt, Sogeti global chief technology officer Michiel Boreel, and Quantified Planet co-founder and executive director Maja Brisvall, examined the trends set to influence the maintenance of green urban spaces, and how we can reduce carbon footprint.

The audience was shown findings from an international pilot of Husqvarna’s robotic mowers in public green spaces, revealing the positive impact they have on the environment and maintenance costs. Fears that they will threaten maintenance teams’ livelihoods were quelled by the confirmation that these mowers enabled workers to focus attention on less time-consuming aspects of their job. The event saw the launch of Husqvarna’s first robotic mowers for commercial use, the Husqvarna Automower 500-series; these have been designed to take on lawns of up to 5,000m² and steep slopes of up to 45%, and have an area capacity of 208m² per hour.

110 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Silent City 3.indd 110

Husqvarna also highlighted updates to its range of battery products, revealing its developments in battery application over the past few years. Its range of efficient handheld products is driven by lithium-ion batteries, which are built for demanding and continuous use. A new battery belt means professionals can continue to work while charging used batteries.

Quick to recharge and quicker to swap, every Husqvarna battery is compatible with every Husqvarna battery tool. Next year will also see all new battery kit include Bluetooth, meaning operators will benefit from 24/7 connectivity under the Husqvarna Fleet Services platform.

Husqvarna Fleet Services 2.0 will be available from the first quarter of 2018, and updates that bring additional functionality will be released throughout 2018. This cloud-based service gives landscapers and tree care companies an overview of machine fleet inventory, location information, machine and usage status. The Bluetooth allows data to be collected in real time, giving professional landscapers a superior situational awareness of their machine fleet.

Husqvarna Fleet Services collects information from machines through sensors, providing accurate facts and statistics about the fleet. In Husqvarna Fleet Services 2.0, landscapers can now also manage an inventory of commercial Husqvarna robotic lawnmowers. The platform is made possible by fitting a Bluetooth sensor to the exterior of every machine in a fleet, which tracks and stores data. As soon as the new

Visitors were also able to see Husqvarna’s latest concept, Husqvarna Solea, which is set to be available by 2030. This concept includes sensors and nine hovering robotic mowers, powered by battery technology and artificial intelligence and carried by a self-transporting drone. It was influenced by the findings from the Future of Urban Parks Report, which concluded that by 2030, the number of green spaces in urban areas will have increased.

“Husqvarna Solea demonstrates our commitment to exploring new ways of enabling cities to become greener, and helping landscapers save time,” said Pavel Hajman, president of the Husqvarna Division. This innovation shows that Husqvarna continues to be a global market leader in robotic lawn mowing; having created the market in 1995 with the world’s first robotic mower, Husqvarna aims to stay one step ahead in improving city health for the future.

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 11:52

LED

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18/10/2017 16:10

EDUCATE

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PB-580 backpack blower 2.05kW output • 1.8L fuel tank capacity • 10.3kg dry weight • Air volume: 882m3/h (straight pipe), 870m3/h (bent pipe) • Ma air speed 6. m sec straight pipe , .8m sec bent pipe) • Stage 2 low emissions compliant Price: £519

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EXPERT VIEW: HOW MULTIFUNCTIONAL ARE GARDEN BLOWERS? CAN THEY BE UTILISED FOR ANY KIND OF OUTDOOR CLEANING? I remember the days of using tools such as rakes,

recommendation would be the Husqvarna 123BVx, for its

brushes and shovels to clean up the mess created

multi-purpose tool and increased power.

from using a strimmer. We can leave these methods in the

DAVID NEWMAN DIRECTOR, NEWMAN LANDSCAPES

536Lib blower; once you take your finger off the trigger, the

choice is the hand-held blower that converts into a vacuum,

power stops, making it more economical. This has only one

as it is most efficient for leaf collecting.

function, though, and that is to blow leaves – it doesn’t

The two market leaders are the Husqvarna 125BVx and

suck them up. Another option is the Stihl SHE 71, which

the Stihl SH 56 C-E; both machines are fueled with a

has the exceptional electric dual power to both blow and

two-stroke engine, are light, include a vacuum kit, and are

suck leaves. It is lightweight, but does include a cable to

best used for cleaning paths, blowing leaves into a pile or

run to a power supply, so is more for

blowing leaves out of shrub beds. My personal

domestic use than commercial.

112 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Blowers and vacs.indd 112

In terms of battery options, there’s the Husqvarna

past thanks to blowers and garden vacuums. My preferred

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:59

Excellence and efficiency as standard “ ” We have around 250-300 Etesia pedestrian rotaries in our fleet, so we see them as our pedestrian mower of choice and Etesia is a key supplier.

Stuart Derbyshire, Glendale’s Commercial Director

Etesia pedestrian mowers are trusted for their quality, efficiency and excellent cutting capability in all weather.

Seeing is believing Greenway House • Sugarswell Business Park • Shenington • Oxon OX15 6HW Tel: 01295 680120 • email: sales@etesia.co.uk

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18/10/2017 16:19

EDUCATE

WHAT I’M READING Melissa King, JPS Landscape Design

MELISSA

KING

book arrived the very next day and I dived straight in.

ART FOR ALL Title art Before Breakfast Author Danny Gregory Publisher Chronicle Books My recent purchase and favourite book of the moment is art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory. It is a refreshing fusion of positive thinking, taking control and making time, and it’s a sure-fire way to help the creative juices flow. With this book, any design block can be thrown out of the window by exploring and using its range of inspirational strategies, removing pressure about ‘being creative’.

In continually striving to develop skills to support the growing JPS team, and with enthusiasm for all things creative, it is really important to find new and exciting ways to generate ideas and have fun. During a search for new material, I came across the book online and instantly knew I had to have it.

Even the digital preview was captivating. The

114 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

What I'm reading.indd 114

The book’s lack of linear chapters produces a sense of momentum and encourages the explorer to continue their journey, day after day.

The beginning of the book is fantastic. The author reminds us that there is a creator waiting to be discovered inside everyone. We must find the confidence to let them out, and not feel precious. “Art with a big ‘A’ is for museums, galleries, critics and collectors,” says the book. “art with a small ‘a’ is for the rest of us”.

Author Danny Gregory is co-founder of the Sketchbook Skool, a community of over 15,000 students who are encouraged to colour their lives and illustrate their thoughts by keeping a creative sketchbook. Video lessons and helpful downloads are available as different ‘kourses’ to help ‘jump start’ your inner artist.

FIRING CREATIVITY Other works by Danny Gregory for my book bucket list include Shut Your Monkey, Everyday Matters, An Illustrated Life, An Illustrated Journey and A Kiss Before You Go. Since reading art Before Breakfast, I have enrolled on one of the Sketchbook Skool’s newest community online courses. I am excited to continue developing my sketching and visualisation skills

while exploring a range of different landscapes. Sharing the sketches and ideas with the community is an exciting part of the process, and is important for constant improvement and critique. I am also passionate about contributing new methods and techniques as part of the JPS design team skill sharing.

A favourite exercise from the book is titled ‘You art what you eat’; the idea is to literally draw everything you eat in a day. As the book mentions, you end up taking longer to eat your food, and invariably eat less as a result! It does encourage you to prepare more interesting food, too, rather than drawing the same packed lunch every day. A full roast dinner has plenty of different textures to focus on, from the shiny gloss of honey-glazed carrots to the crispy edges of a Yorkshire pudding. My personal favourite course, dessert, offers a heavenly selection of tempting treats including the delicious layers of a trifle, the pleasant chaos of Eton mess and fresh bright colours of a fruit salad. The mere thought of it!

ABOUT THE BOOK Artist Danny Gregory encourages the creativity of aspiring artists, helping them to find time in their busy schedules to draw or paint and offering short exercises and practical tips. The New York-based author of art Before Breakfast taught himself to draw in his mid 30s, and now inspires others through his bestselling books, his popular blog and the Sketchbook Skool.

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 09:20

New Tree Anchoring Kits for trees up to 12 m - 75 cm girth • • • • •

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For installation videos visit our YouTube channel, GrippleTV!

Out There Services have recently completed landscaping works at the Newly Constructed Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex in Northern Ireland.

Completion of this £105 million project took just over 24 months, with Out There carrying out landscaping works which included tree and shrub planting, new internal courtyards, roof gardens, turfing and seeding works.

Business Development Director, Trevor Spence commented on the project “This was a great scheme to be involved in, the overall project was delivered to an exceptionally high standard throughout and we are delighted with the end result. We wish the Western Health Trust every success with this new facility. The Omagh Hospital project is a welcome addition to our Healthcare portfolio, which has been enhanced recently with the addition of the NI Hospice facility in Belfast.

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18/10/2017 15:51

PEOPLE

WHAT’S YOUR ROLE? PAUL COOK Paul Cook, curator at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, talks to Pro Landscaper about what the job entails – as well as his high hopes for the garden’s future

Can you tell me about your role? What does a normal day look like for you?

I’m very much office based. I am obviously involved in looking after the gardens, but our two garden managers coordinate the day to day operations at Harlow Carr. My role is more about long term planning for the gardens, looking at projects and new developments. I am based at Harlow Carr, but the Society has gardens all around the country and we do get to see and influence those – we now have a fifth garden in Manchester, RHS Bridgewater, which is in the planning stages. All RHS garden curators have a wider remit of keeping up with and contributing to wider developments in the horticultural sector and sharing best practice.

Were you in a similar role before joining Harlow Carr in 2013?

I was a curator at Ness Botanic Gardens for

more than 11 years. That was a university garden, so I had more of a research role and there weren’t the resources there that we have at the RHS. We have more gardens and more resources to be able to develop the gardens.

The big difference is that the five-year plans for the RHS gardens are far more challenging than anything I’ve come across before.

What changes have you made since becoming curator at the North Yorkshire garden?

There’s about 60 acres here, and about 30 acres of it consists of woodland, which hadn’t had a lot of resources put into it. Tom Stuart-Smith had done broad woodland visions for the gardens, and when I came four years ago the idea for me was to start implementing that – opening up the woodlands, adding new planting, new pathways and new shelters, and just generally making it a more inviting place for visitors to go into.

through the door, as well as a number of school groups, and actually working within a garden that’s very busy can be difficult. It’s well worth it though as we want to grow everyone’s interest in gardening.

What are your future aspirations?

For Harlow Carr, we’ve got plans to open up the lower end of the garden. It used to have a pub attached to it and we’ve bought the land.

That section of the garden is where the sulphur springs were, and the beck that runs through the garden really creates quite a dramatic landscape – I want to see us opening up that landscape.

Making more of a historic background to the garden is going to be one of the biggest jobs over the next 10 years.

I’ve really got to know the garden and the area now, it just takes time. It’s a long-term plan for the gardens, particularly with the woodlands, so I would like to be around as the curator for that.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Just the fact that we have the resources and a real will to keep changing the garden. As long as we put the plans in place and make things work financially, then we can develop as a team here and make our mark.

What do you find most challenging?

Big challenges come from dealing with the number of visitors and trying to develop the garden at the same time; we have thousands

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Whats your role.indd 117

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 117

19/10/2017 09:19

PEOPLE

TRADING WITH GREENBLUE URBAN

Shane Frost, sales manager at GreenBlue Urban, takes us behind the scenes at the green infrastructure solutions company

CONTACT

Company name GreenBlue Urban Address Northpoint, Compass Park, Junction Road, Bodiam TN32 5BS Tel 01580 830 800 Twitter @GreenBlueUrban Web www.greenblue.com

What are the key selling points of your products?

GreenBlue Urban is the only innovator and supplier of complete integrated solutions, with a proven track record of keeping trees thriving for more than 15 years.

Can you tell us a little more about GreenBlue Urban?

At GreenBlue Urban, our heritage is urban trees – this is our specialist area and our business is devoted to the Shane Frost development of products and methodologies that will bring canopy volume trees to our urban landscapes for generations to come.

What is the company’s mission?

To enable sustainable cities through green and blue infrastructure.

bearing systems are batch tested to ensure they give continuity of performance.

How do you market the business?

Content is key, so we have adopted a social media strategy, regularly updating customers on technical issues, case studies and product knowledge. We also discuss topical issues via our blog and podcasts. Most importantly is our collaboration programme with key supporters and customers, producing content and discussing topical issues on our podcast.

Exhibitions, print advertising and education visits are also a must.

Are you releasing any new products in the coming months?

We are continually innovating and developing our systems to provide greater performance and increase value for money. Our latest innovations are our ArborFlow SUDS systems, which are being rapidly adopted by authorities nationally.

We also have a number of irons in the fire around enabling trees to perform even more environmental benefits at similar costs.

How do you ensure product quality ?

We have ISO 14001 accreditation for our quality management. For instance, our RootSpace load What are the main products you supply?

Our product range can be summarised in the ArborSystem and ArborFlow packages of products, which help to establish trees for the long term. These packages integrate RootRain irrigation and aeration, ReRoot and RootDirector root management, ArborGuy guying, StrataCell and RootSpace load bearing cells, and tree grilles and guards. These products are complemented by our design input and on-site support.

118 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Trading With.indd 118

What is the next step for the brand?

New products, high end marketing and a proactive sales team will see the brand go from strength to strength, proving that we are the world’s leading provider of tree pit solutions. www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 10:12

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JOBS

For full details on all jobs, please go to For full details on all jobs, please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk. www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

Call 01903 777 587 or email ellie.downes@eljays44.com with your vacancy.

Call 01903 777 580 or email laura.harris@eljays44.com with your vacancy

SOFT LANDSCAPE SITE MANAGER

ASSISTANT HEAD GROUNDS PERSON

This is a site-based role to complete projects to the contracts manager’s plan, ensuring health and safety, profit, productivity and quality targets are achieved. To effectively manage and discipline site behaviour and timekeeping of employees under your control at the time. Maintaining good relationships with clients and maximising efficiency of all resources. Desirable Requirements include SMSTS, CSCS, a full UK driving licence, selfmotivation with the ability to use own initiative, suitable experience in related discipline and suitable experience at a site level of large or complex projects.

Estate Management designs, repairs, maintains and secures all campuses. Covering a multitude of services, we are available to assist with any issue concerning the University of Essex estate and grounds. An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Assistant Head Grounds Person within the team. The candidate will report to the Head Grounds Person and will work as part of the sports field team and on their own to maintain and develop the sports pitches, tennis courts and synthetic pitch to a very high standard. General duties shall include grass cutting, line marking, aerating, fertilising and litter picking.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

GARDENER

HORTICULTURAL TRAINER

Topiarus Horticulture Ltd maintains the gardens and grounds of a number of corporate and private clients across Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. Due to continued expansion we are looking for new gardeners to join the team to help maintain a variety of beautiful gardens to a high standard. You will be experienced in gardening and soft landscaping, have good plant knowledge, and work well in a team and on your own. You will also need to be able to effectively communicate with clients and be comfortable working with a range of garden machinery.

Recovery Focus is a new group of expert charities with the shared aim to inspire individual recovery nationwide. One of our partners, Richmond Fellowship, is looking for a Horticultural Trainer to join the team at The Old Moat Garden Centre in Epsom.

An integral part of the local community, we provide retail and horticultural services to the public and training and work-based opportunities to adults with mental health problems. Day to day, you’ll assist with the supervision and training of clients, both on and off site. We’ll also rely on you to open the garden centre and serve customers.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR

SALES EXECUTIVE / ADMINISTRATORS

Glendale Horticulture is one of the UK’s leading growers with production nurseries in the Midlands, Kent and Lancashire. With its head office in Gloucestershire the company serves garden centres, the DIY and retail markets as well as the amenity sectors and garden designers. We are looking to recruit a sales and marketing director to lead the sales teams and contribute to the strategic leadership of the company. You will be responsible for overseeing the management of key accounts, developing new relationships and maximising sales.

Johnsons of Whixley is a wholesale plant nursery situated in the Vale York. We need two sales executive / administrators to play key roles in our sales team. You’ll be building relationships with clients and making sales as well as dealing with all the teams’ administration tasks. You must have previous experience of working in a sales team, including tele-sales, great communication and interpersonal skills, be a team player and work flexibly and not be phased by working to deadlines.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

SALES EXECUTIVE

SKILLED LANDSCAPE GARDENER

Tamar Nurseries is a leading grower supplying the amenity market throughout the UK. We are looking for an enthusiastic, proactive and driven sales executive to support and increase our sales.You will be office based, but also required to travel regularly. Good plant knowledge and understanding is required as well as a good commercial understanding.

Andres Garcia Landscapes is looking for an experienced landscape gardener to join its busy and expanding landscaping team working in and around Milton Keynes, Bedford and Northampton. You will need to be well presented and self-motivated. You will be working as part of a team but there will also be occasions when you will be working on your own initiative. A full driving licence is essential along with your own transport to get to site.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

KILLINGLEY Location: Chesterfield, Derbyshire

TOPIARUS HORTICULTURE LTD Location: Chipping Norton, OX

GLENDALE HORTICULTURE Location: Fretherne, Gloucestershire

TAMAR NURSERIES Location: Cambridgeshire

120 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Jobs.indd 120

UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX Location: Colchester, CB

RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP Location: Epsom, Surrey

JOHNSONS OF WHIXLEY LTD Location:York

ANDRES GARCIA LANDSCAPING Location: Milton Keynes

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 12:02

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Ride-On Mowers Compact,Tractor lightweight mobileSince shredder 1936 John GT235, SD deck, 18hp petrol, 2WD, HST – 355 hrs goesDeere wherever it’s48” needed John Providers Deere X320, 48” SD deck, 22hp petrol, 2WD, HST – 195 hrs of English Handcrafted Planters and Outdoor Furniture Makes easy work of branches, • Suppliers top quality container grown shrubs, Deere GX355D, 48” SD deck, 16hp diesel, 2WD, HST –E choice of A 2 NTS inofOak, Iroko or Accoya.

IJohn N N O V A T O R S I N L A N D S C A PJUST PL grasses, herbaceous, climbers & specimens wet green-waste and mixed leafage Piranha® Chain to fit Stihl MS201T John Deere X495, 48” SD deck, 24hp diesel, 2WD, HST – 1922 hrs £5.50* Other services include a bespoke joinery forlitre interior • Suppliers ofof top quality grown •year Good range in service 3container and 10 pots 4Complete Season shredder for Deere X740, 54” SD deck, Low-Tip –allchoice of & 2 exterior •John range HNS Great performance for aCollector fraction ofshrubs, the price design. herbaceous, climbers & specimens John Deere X748, grasses, 48” of RD deck, 24hp diesel, 4WD, HST – 1380 hrs round effectiveness • 140 hectares production • Cash and carry service For more information email info@oxfordplanters.co.uk or call 01608 683022 Save upRD todeck on the top10 brand Bahia, 32” & collector, •66% Good range in 2WD 3 and litre potschains •Etesia B&D bred low maintenance varieties

Produces easilycompostable Etesia H124DS, 48” RD deck, Hi-Tip Collector, 25hp diesel –contact 828 hrsMartin Monthly operation cost cut dramatically For all horticultural and Garden design enquiries please • BioTech™ Quick response to enquiries • Cash and carry service chips Etesia Attilaon Bank Mower (Ex Demo) low hours 07765 188725 or email– info@martincadams.co.uk

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22/10/2015 11:01 19/11/201516:09 11:50 22/09/2015 15:01 18/10/2017

PEOPLE

ALEX BROTHERTON Contract manager, Glendale www.glendale-services.co.uk Garden shows/show gardens – inspirational or not?

Garden shows are a useful way for people to explore ideas and see famous designers showcase their talent, however I think some may question whether they would actually create such a garden in their own home.

Other than the UK, which country’s landscape inspires you the most?

I am a big fan of deserts.

They are so diverse and have a real array of flora and fauna, amazing natural rock formations, a real variety of colours and hues, interesting and deadly creatures and incredible sunsets and stars.

What would you blow your budget on?

We’re seeing great innovation in grounds maintenance machinery.

I’d like to review the more traditional methods of service delivery with new equipment that can reduce time and costs and improve quality.

One person in the industry you’d love to meet?

James Wong is a real inspiration to a younger audience. His knowledge

of plant uses is impressive, I think he’d be quite an interesting person to have a chat with.

One thing you think would make the industry better?

I think the RHS is doing really good work at promoting gardening for all but unfortunately I don’t believe they have as much backing from the government as they could. I think gardening and horticulture should be included on the school curriculum in some way.

Best piece of trivia you know?

Devon is the only county with two separate coastlines.

Role model as a child?

I guess as a child who grew up in the Eighties, the action movie stars were the closest I came to having a role model – or He-Man. Couldn’t get through the week without…

Spaghetti Bolognese.

Best invention in recent years?

I feel that the iPhone is certainly one of the most impressive. It’s useful both at work because of all its features and obviously in day-to-day life.

122 Pro Landscaper / November 2017

Little Interview.indd 122

Pro Landscaper asks quick-fire questions to gain a small insight into the people who make up our industry. To take part email claire.maher@eljays44.com

i

CHRIS CARR Sales manager, Harrowden Turf Ltd www.harrowdenturf.co.uk

Garden shows/show gardens – inspirational or not?

Inspirational – they help us to see what is achievable.

Other than the UK, which country’s landscape inspires you the most?

China. I’m inspired by the vibrant colours and quantity of plants.

What would you blow your budget on?

Inspirational activities for our customers. I’d like people to understand the production process and meet the teams.

One person in the industry you’d love to meet?

Tony Kirkham, head of the arboretum, gardens and horticultural services at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

One thing you think would make the industry better?

For an appreciation of outdoor space to be taught in schools, to stop society viewing landscaping and horticulture as jobs for underachievers.

Best piece of trivia you know?

If you wrapped a piece of string around the equator, you would only need to add 1m to allow it to sit 15cm above the ground all the way around.

Role model as a child?

My secondary school teacher.

Couldn’t get through the week without...

My smartphone.

Your favourite joke?

What’s green and hairy and goes up and down?

A gooseberry in a lift.

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

19/10/2017 11:21

PEOPLE

CHARLIE DU PRÉ Marketing and business development manager, Big Hedge Co. www.bighedgeco.com

Provence provide inspiration and happy memories.

Garden shows/show gardens – inspirational or not?

To be surrounded by such expertise, dedication and passion has been truly memorable this year.

What would you blow your budget on?

Topiary.

Other than the UK, which country’s landscape inspires you the most?

The lavender fields of

One thing you think would make the industry better?

An improved collaborative approach between interior and

Best piece of trivia you know?

At last year’s Olympics, the county of Yorkshire alone won more medals than hosts Brazil.

Regional manager north, Flora-Tec Ltd

Editorial assistant, Pro Landscaper

Other than the UK, which country’s landscape inspires you the most?

New Zealand.

www.prolandscapermagazine.com Alan Titchmarsh.

One thing that you think would make the industry better?

Recognition of what the industry represents and how crucial it is.

Role model as a child?

My dad.

Couldn’t get through the week without...

Going to the gym to relax.

What would you blow your budget on?

Landscaping gear that could earn the money back!

Your favourite joke?

A man walked into a bar – OUCH!

The one person in the industry you’d love to meet?

Best invention in recent years?

GPS.

www.prolandscapermagazine.com

Little Interview.indd 123

Best invention in recent years?

3D printing.

Your favourite joke?

ELLIE FOSTER

Garden shows/show gardens – inspirational or not?

Not at this time of my life, but perhaps in the future that will change.

Couldn’t get through the week without...

BBC News and Mail Online!

Role model as a child?

My rugby coach Paul Morris.

ANDY TROTT

www.flora-tec.com

What’s the difference between a camera and a sock? One takes ‘pho-toes’ and the other takes ‘five-toes’.

exterior new build design.

Appreciation for what horticulture can do for people.

Garden shows/show gardens – inspirational?

Definitely inspirational!

Best piece of trivia you know?

Simon & Garfunkel’s original band name was Tom & Jerry.

Other than the UK, which country’s landscape inspires you the most?

Greece – breathtaking.

Role model as a child?

My mum and Lara Croft.

Couldn’t get through the week without...

Chocolate!

What would you blow your budget on?

Books – especially cookery and baking books!

One person in the industry you’d love to meet?

Charlotte Harris.

One thing you think would make the industry better?

Your favourite joke?

How many South Americans does it take to change a lightbulb? A Brazilian.

Best invention in recent years?

Spotify and earphones.

Pro Landscaper / November 2017 123

19/10/2017 11:22

AT US SEE

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