Although we have often faced challenges when designing and constructing a new landscape, this project has to be one of the quickest we’ve ever had to do. A unique opportunity, a worthy cause and a momentous challenge – this is the third in a series of blogs which follows this ambitious landscape project…
In just two weeks we designed a new landscape for the green space outside the entrance of St George’s Hospital, and now we’re excited to begin construction. Our design team created two zones in the landscape – a formal seating area surrounded by cheerful planting at the top of the site, with a naturalistic woodland area with more secluded seating at the lower end of the plot. Whilst we’re keeping some of the existing elements in place, such as some planting, trees and sculptures, our construction teams are set to be busy in the coming weeks.
And the pressure is certainly on – as we have just over three weeks to complete this ambitious build – which will culminate in being filmed for the Lorraine TV show at the end of November! Our construction teams started on site just last week, where they began to prepare the groundworks and landscaping needed for the new design. This involved stripping away the mossy areas of ground and forming the landscape into levels, whilst rearranging the existing groundcover and beginning to shape the woodland path. The wet Autumnal weather proved a challenge at times, but our team are pleased with the progress made so far. And what better way to see it yourself than with a little photo diary below…
This week, our construction teams will be focussed on creating the edgings for the woodland path and resin-bound surface. It will be key to get the heavy construction work done this week – which includes bringing in the soil and forming levels so that the area is ready for turfing and planting next week!
As you might already know, this new Wellbeing Garden has been funded by Sir Captain Tom’s NHS fundraising efforts earlier in the year. It will be an important development for St George’s Hospital and will create a welcome refuge for both visitors and staff to take a moment out in nature. It’s clearly an incredibly worthy cause and we’re delighted that we’re able to support it too. We took an early decision to carry out all the design and planning work on a pro-bono basis and the works themselves at a below-commercial margin. This has truly been a project of collaboration – between the hospital charity, our designers, our construction team, and our suppliers. Although these are challenging times and the project is ambitious in both time and scope, we’ve been thrilled to see the support from our suppliers, who have been unhesitatingly generous in giving discounts and gifts for the project, making it as cost-efficient as possible for the charity.
So we’d like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all those who have been so generous with their services: Palmstead Nurseries, Torc Pots, Charles Wilson Engineers, InTurf, Deepdale Trees, Bourne Amenity, Soil & Stone and APS Grabs which were sourced by Soil & Stone, Graveltech and Round Wood. It’s been wonderful to see so many different companies pull together for this very worthy cause.
In the meantime, construction continues so look out for the next blog when we’ll be updating you on the big build…
[Read the first blog here]
[Read the second blog here]
November 2, 2020
