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As the leading supplier of Wildflower Turf products in the UK, we are passionate about supporting and encouraging action that promotes and improves biodiversity within the urban environment.
 To this end we’re delighted to announce that, as in previous years, Wildflower Turf Ltd will be the overall prize sponsor at the CIRIA BIG Biodiversity Challenge Awards.  Now in its 5th year, the BIG Biodiversity Challenge invites the construction industry to add at least one new biodiversity enhancement to construction sites, developments or existing buildings.
With 2018 entries drawn from the likes of Skanska, Network Rail and Scottish and Southern Electricity, just to name a few, it is clear that engaging with the biodiversity agenda is of great concern, and indeed importance, to organisations up and down the country.
With voting (http://www.bigchallenge.info/2018-shortlisted-entries) for this year’s BIG Biodiversity Challenge Awards now open, we thought it an opportune time to bring you a brief update on how last year’s overall winners, The RG Group (http://rg-group.co.uk/), utilised their prize.

The RG Group are construction specialists primarily focussed on the Living Space, Retail and…

The second installment of our tale of a community that has come together to transform their communal space. And won a Green Flag Community Award to boot!
The Katherine Buchan Meadow in Ealing, London had received enough funding to ensure that the key elements of their rejuvenation project were able to be completed. So where next for the project team?
With funding from Ealing Council’s “Transform Your Space” programme now confirmed, further community consultation was undertaken by the project team of Amanda and Sim, and landscaping preparation was able to be finalised.

Central to the green was a large mound. Delving into the annals of local history revealed that the mound itself dated from the 1970’s, but the resulting rubble contained within was dated much earlier. In 1876, four Alms Houses for single women of the parish were built by one Katherine Buchan, in honour of her father, also a local charitable figure.
When these Alms Houses were demolished in 1976, the resulting rubble was disposed of nearby, with the surrounding area turned into a green space. (Fittingly, the new meadow is…

Receiving news last week that the Katherine Buchan Meadow in London has been awarded a Green Flag Community Award, we thought it was high time we featured the story of how this delightful meadow came about.
The Katherine Buchan Meadow in Ealing, London, is testament to what can be achieved when a local community comes together with a shared desire to enhance their local environment.
Once a bustling and busy, yet very neglected space within the Old Hanwell conservation area, the green has been transformed into a beautiful wildflower meadow which has become a local hub for those who live and work nearby.

With a location close to Ealing’s St Mark’s primary school and boasting a historical Victorian church building as a backdrop, the meadow has sympathetically transformed the space into which it has been installed.
Previously the area was treated solely as a thoroughfare; dog walkers, locals on their way to or from work, children and the families rushing to and from school, and local residents on their way to the nearby canal or local allotment all rushed through the green….

The Wildflower Turf Ltd team are very proud to see our Hampshire-grown wildflowers playing their part in the regeneration of Canning Town as part of London’s ambitious Crossrail project.
Set to open in December 2018, Crossrail will deliver a high frequency, high capacity service to make travelling in the capital quicker and easier while also easing congestion and reducing crowding on London’s transport network.
Working with one of our landscaping partners, Turney Landscapes Ltd, our very own Wildflower Turf is now capping the emergency exit shaft of the Crossrail site in the Limmo Peninsula.

As Crossrail’s primary worksite for their eastbound tunnel boring machines, the Limmo Peninsula area adjoins Canning Town underground and Docklands Light Railway station and is next to the River Lee.
Overlooked by high-rise developments, a key consideration in planning for the Limmo Peninsula area has focussed on ensuring biodiverse solutions that provide commuters, local workers and Canning Town residents alike with a landscape that is as aesthetically pleasing as…

With longer days on the horizon and Easter now almost upon us, you’d be forgiven for thinking that spring, that much lauded of seasons, is just around the corner. We can only hope!

After a long winter many of us yearn for some time spent outdoors in nature but what happens when we lack this most basic commodity?
The term “Nature Deficit Disorder” has been around since 2005, but the phenomenon has only recently started to make headlines.
The term itself refers to a trend towards an increased alienation from the natural world, brought about by our increasing dependency on electronic devices and a loss of natural surroundings. Specifically, it is the costs of such an alienation that is sparking concerns.

While not a medically recognised disorder as such, the term is beginning to gain some prominence, with Dr Ross Cameron of the department of landscape at Sheffield University recently addressing The Royal Horticultural Society on the subject.
“As biological beings we are physiologically adapted to be in certain environments – to run, to play, to hunt, to be active basically,” says Dr Cameron.
The…

With UK construction and associated infrastructure continuing apace, a new development in Berkshire has been a recent project for Wildflower Turf Ltd.
Buckler’s Park in Crowthorne, Berkshire, is located on the former Transport Research Laboratory site and is comprised of 1,000 high-quality, contemporary-styled homes.
Adjacent to a new country park and with over 100 acres of parkland and open space, several key areas of the site are now enhanced with wildflowers provided by Wildflower Turf Ltd.

The developers of Buckler’s Park, Legal & General Homes, have aimed to provide a sustainable environment that is in keeping with the natural areas that border the development. To ensure a seamless transition, Legal & General Homes specified wildflowers within the designated Public Open Space area of their design and contactors, Benchmark Grounds Maintenance Ltd (http://www.benchmark-gm.co.uk/) contacted Wildflower Turf Ltd for advice and assistance.
In November 2017, Wildflower Turf Ltd supplied 950m² of Border Non-Native turf to the project, with installation completed by Benchmark Grounds Maintenance Ltd.
Border Turf – Picture supplied by Benchmark Grounds Maintenance…

Never one to let the grass grow under our feet (!) the Wildflower Turf team have been delighted to assist the University of York enhance their environment as they work towards the completion of new campus facilities.
The University commenced work on the construction of a new building, The Piazza Learning Centre, in Autumn 2015, with the project due to be completed next month. Containing a range of high-quality learning spaces and facilities for those living and studying on the University’s Campus East the new building will offer, among other things, a 350-seat auditorium and a large restaurant with fantastic lake views.

At the outset of the project, the University of York had a very clear and practical biodiversity plan, developed in conjunction with Gordon Eastham (Grounds Maintenance Manager), for the picturesque lakeside campus where the Piazza Building was to be built.

This part of the campus is a definite natural asset to the University and, whilst…

 
Our featured partner this month is Steve Williams of Steve Williams Landscapes (www.stevewilliamslandscapes.com). Originally from Derby, but now residing in Bristol, Steve originally studied Photographic Art at degree level before moving into horticulture and landscaping.
Drawing on his creative arts studies, Steve has developed a successful horticultural design style that integrates his passion for form, the abstract and the innovative with an over-riding interest in ecology and biodiversity.
Steve describes his style as “versatile and contemporary, using innovative techniques and soft, natural plantings with the aim of breaking down the divide between the natural environment and the human landscape.”
Steve completed a one-year garden design diploma course at the Cotswold Gardening School, Gossington, and was shortlisted for two prestigious garden design awards within months of graduating.
Competing against a record 64 other entries in the annual competition run by the Society of Garden Designers (SGD), Steve is now a finalist in both the commercial and domestic student categories, with the winners to be announced in February 2018.
One of Steve’s competition entries was for a new area at Slimbridge Wetland Centre – see below.

Sustainable Urban Drainage systems (SUDs) have really come to the fore in recent years due to the increased occurrence of significantly damaging flood events in the UK and around the world.  The need to find a better planning solution to deal with increased surface water, particularly in urban areas, that also dovetails with the all- important green infrastructure agenda, has never been greater.
New build developments and expanding transport infrastructure tend to interrupt rainfall and the natural movement of water.  With greater surface areas of non-permeable materials, a fast influx of rainfall will inevitably lead to flooding and an increased potential for erosive damage downstream and pollution by contaminated water.
Janine Robinson from Portsmouth University wanted to gain a greater understanding of how grasses and wildflowers could play a role in slowing the water flow, therefore reducing erosion and giving the vegetation and soil an opportunity to absorb and ‘lock in’ water borne pollutants.

Water borne pollutants tend to be grouped into either: Metals (which have been extensively studied) or PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons). Janine wanted to focus on the impact and journey of man-made PAHs often created by vehicle…

Background:
Formally an airfield, the site of Alconbury Weald was acquired by property company Urban & Civic in 2009. Currently in development, and with a 20-year timescale, the site will boast a 3 million sq. foot Enterprise Zone, 5,000 new homes, 3 primary schools, community facilities and 700 acres of open spaces and sporting amenities when completed.
The work:
The principal Landscape Architects, Bradley Murphy Design (BMD), met with Wildflower Turf in Hampshire in the autumn of 2014, to request tailored advice as to the most appropriate products to specify as part of the initial development designs for a very discerning client, Urban & Civic.
Urban & Civic have very high standards of delivery and wanted to ensure that everyone involved in their supply chain completed as much due diligence as possible to ensure that the results on site were exactly as they envisioned. This resulted in BMD requesting a series of small pilot sites of a wide range of Wildflower Turf products (Wildflower Turf® and Wildflower Earth, both ‘off-the-shelf’ mixes and bespoke mixes) a full year in advance of installation, to assess the results before choosing the final specification and products to be installed as part of the development.