Tag Archive for: urban

Strong Turnout for Green-tech’s First Urban Landscaping Event

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Strong Turnout for Green-tech’s First Urban Landscaping Event: Green-tech has successfully completed its first roadshow in Ireland, bringing together 36 industry professionals in Dublin for a focused discussion on designing climate-resilient cities.

Held at Croke Park, the event welcomed attendees from across the landscaping, planning and environmental sectors. The roadshow marked a significant step in extending Green-tech Specifier’s expertise into Ireland, while strengthening collaboration across the wider Origin Enterprises group.

Strong Turnout for Green-tech’s First Urban Landscaping Event

Strong Turnout for Green-tech’s First Urban Landscaping Event

The event, titled Designing Cities for Climate Resilience – Where Do We Start, focused on practical, climate-positive urban design. The agenda explored how Blue-Green infrastructure, wildflowers, and nature-based solutions can be implemented to create more sustainable, resilient urban environments.

A highlight of the day was the strong sense of collaboration, with Aebhín Cawley, Founder and Managing Director of Scott Cawley, joining Green-tech on stage. Aebhín’s presentation was particularly well received, reinforcing the value of cross-business knowledge sharing within Origin Enterprises.

The speaker line-up also included Dusty Gedge. Dusty, a consultant with the Green Infrastructure Consultancy (GIC) and leading authority on green roofs, shared his insights on delivering practical, ecologically rich solutions in cities, including the implementation of green roofs and nature-based systems. His session sparked lively discussion and reinforced the importance of combining design, policy, and technical expertise to create resilient, biodiverse urban spaces.

Georgia Gilbert and Seraya Sigsworth delivered incisive sessions on behalf of Green-tech, with Georgia Gilbert commenting, “It was fantastic to be part of Green-tech’s first Ireland roadshow and to see such strong engagement from attendees. There is a real appetite for integrating biodiversity into urban design, and wildflowers have a crucial role to play in creating spaces that are not only resilient but also visually and ecologically rich.”

Seraya Sigsworth added, “The conversations throughout the day showed how important it is to take a joined-up approach to climate resilience. Blue-Green infrastructure is no longer a future concept, it is something we need to be implementing now. It was great to share practical insights and hear directly from professionals facing these challenges on the ground.”

The event concluded with a Q&A panel session, where all speakers came together to answer questions and discuss real-world challenges. This open forum encouraged meaningful dialogue and provided attendees with valuable, actionable takeaways.

With positive feedback across the board and strong engagement throughout, the roadshow represents a successful first step in a series of similar events for knowledge sharing and industry collaboration.

Green-tech now looks forward to building on this momentum, continuing to support Irish specifiers, designers, and contractors with innovative solutions that drive sustainable urban development.

To find out more about Green-tech Specifier and access guidance on climate-resilient urban design, visit www.gtspecifier.co.uk

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Birkdale’s new light grey urban slatted panel

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Birkdale’s new light grey urban slatted panel: Birkdale, the UK’s leading fencing and gate accessories manufacturer, has added a new colour to its DuraPost® URBAN Slatted Composite Panel range. Developed in response to customer demand – the new Light Grey Panel offers a contemporary fencing solution that mimics the appearance of timber without any of the maintenance requirements.

Already available in Natural, Charcoal and Brown, the new Light Grey DuraPost® URBAN Slatted Panel consists of six composite boards and two horizontal u-shaped rails at the top and base of the panel. The boards are manufactured using 60 to 70% recycled materials including a combination of HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and rice husks – a natural bi-product from the rice industry. This stable material will not warp or degrade over time, unlike timber, and it does not need to be painted or treated.

Furthermore, the panels have been tested to EN 1794-1-2018 and, to maximise longevity, the rails are made from galvanised steel – a strong, light and highly durable material – which is then nano-coated and powder coated for ultimate weather protection. As a result, Birkdale can guarantee its DuraPost® URBAN Slatted Panels for up to 15 years.

What’s more, the versatile panels can be used either horizontally or vertically. When paired with DuraPost® steel fence posts, a striking and contemporary solution can be achieved that will continue to look good long after traditional timber and concrete fencing systems have degraded.

John Abernethie, CEO at Birkdale, commented: “We are delighted to expand our stylish DuraPost® URBAN Slatted Panel range to provide even greater design flexibility. We highly value customer feedback and are always looking to improve and evolve our fencing range to ensure that we offer everything required to build a long-lasting and aesthetically pleasing fencing solution.”

To learn more about the URBAN Slatted Panel and the wider DuraPost® range, please visit: www.birkdalesales.com.

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Green-tech Specifier launch Urban Tree Planting Cell System

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Green-tech Specifier launch Urban Tree Planting Cell System: At 10am this morning (Tuesday 7th March) Green-tech Specifier launched their new urban tree planting cell system – TreeParker®, at the FutureBuild 2023 exhibition.

TreeParker® is a versatile urban tree planting cell system from TreeBuilders, a manufacturer of innovative tree planting systems, and will be distributed in the UK exclusively by Green-tech.

Green-tech Specifier launch Urban Tree Planting Cell System

Green-tech Specifier launch Urban Tree Planting Cell System

Speaking on behalf of Green-tech, Business Development Director Mark Wood comments, “I am delighted to announce that we have expanded our urban tree planting offering with the addition of TreeParker® – a modular structural soil cell system for planting trees in city centres and other urban environments. Our corporate vision and values are aligned with TreeBuilders and our collaborative approach to this joint venture is exciting for the industry.  The TreeParker® cellular system offers superior functionality and is a smart combination of Green, Grey and Blue. The system has already proven itself in numerous projects throughout Europe and the Middle East, so I am thrilled that its addition completes the urban tree portfolio for Green-tech Specifier, making this a unique offering to the UK market with a full product offering to satisfy any urban tree planting need.”

TreeParker® has been developed from extensive trials, projects and feedback from landscape architects, clients, contractors, and nurseries to provide the most cost-effective, fit-for-purpose solution for growing large trees in urban environments.

The system provides optimum rooting space below pavements subjected to heavy traffic loads. It maximises the space available for the growing media and is in contact with surrounding soil to ensure a natural growth environment.

Through a simple and smart design, the TreeParker® system can be installed into any tree planting space. It is easy to customise a tree pit design to meet individual needs, working just like a LEGO system. Each independent unit has sufficient load-bearing capacity, so units do not need to be linked. The load is transferred from the pavement to underlying foundations via the system and avoids soil compaction to ensure optimum root growth.

The TreeParker® system can accommodate variable heights between 400mm and 1500mm. Its top 10 benefits include:

  1. Support heavy traffic loads (up to 550 kPa and an axle load of up to 15 tonnes) whilst maintaining pavement integrity.
  2. Providing unhindered root growth for large species of trees.
  3. Quick and cost-effective installation and is easy to fill with soil.
  4. Made from 100% recyclable, long-lasting and inert plastics.
  5. Modular system for design flexibility.
  6. It can be installed in curves down to a 5m radius without additional products.
  7. Utility friendly – the open structure is easily adjusted on site to accommodate new and existing utilities and provides easy access for utility maintenance and repair.
  8. Combines stormwater management and root growth, up to 25% of the volume is available for water infiltration.
  9. Up to 95% volume available for soil infill.
  10. Withstands vertical and lateral loads.

Elco van Uden, Managing Director from manufacturer TreeBuilders, adds, “I am delighted to be working with Green-tech to bring TreeParker® to the UK market. Our two companies share a similar philosophy and are closely aligned in the way we do business and our passion for innovation and offering customers a robust and flexible solution to urban tree planting challenges.”

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Green-tech’s urban tree system

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Green-tech’s urban tree system: The Battery Retail Park at Selley Oak is located on the former site of the Birmingham Battery and Metal Company steel factory, first established in 1798. The term battery, referring to the method of forming metal, not the manufacture of batteries as commonly thought.

Located approximately three miles from Birmingham city centre, the site has undergone a recent refurbishment, including the development of a new retail park, Sainsburys Superstore, and student accommodation, all sited around the main customer carpark.

Green-tech’s urban tree system

Green-tech’s urban tree system

A major part of the project for the contractors was the reclamation of the ground and cleaning up a very toxic site, before any development could commence.

Green-tech’s involvement:

The project comprised of nearly forty tree pits over two phases between 2018 and 2020. The first phase was contracted to Bernhards Landscapes of Warwickshire, and the second to McPhillips (Wellington) of Shropshire; both of which Green-tech has worked with for around fifteen years.

The tree pits were set into soft central reservations around the main car parking area, although to get the required rooting volume to ensure healthy establishment and future growth, the tree pits extended out under the parking bays to some extent.

Green-tech has been manufacturing its range of Green-tree soil for nearly twenty years, and over 400 tonnes of clean, manufactured ArborRaft topsoil, and subsoil was supplied for the tree pits. In order to use a nice friable, organic topsoil underneath the paving, the contractors opted for Green-tech’s ArborRaft tree pit support system, rather than a traditional, plastic-heavy, deep-pit system.

The ArborRaft acts as a sub-base replacement, supporting the paving above, pedestrian, or vehicular, whilst protecting the soft soil below from risk of compaction. It has three big advantages over traditional deep-pit crate systems. Firstly – it sits over the top of the tree pit, taking its structural support from a 500mm wide ledge cut into the surrounding formation ground, meaning there is no plastic whatsoever in the actual rooting area of the tree pit. Secondly – its shallow profile, just 150mm deep means that there is rarely any conflict with underground services, it isn’t deep enough. And third – ArborRaft uses less than a third of the plastic of traditional crate-style tree pit systems, so it’s better for the budget and the environment.

Each tree pit also contains a strap anchor to keep the trees stable during the all-important establishment phase, along with a mona irrigation rings. In this instance, to provide even more protection from the risk of vehicular damage, the trees were also stabilised with double-staking, cross-bar, and soft rubber ties.

Alasdair Innes – Green-tech Specification Advisor comments, “We were delighted to contribute to such a high-profile scheme. We recently visited the site nearly four years after the first trees were planted, and although it was autumn, the trees still look happy and healthy. It is nice to see Silver Birch being used, as the white bark helps to lift the muted colours of the ground planting.”

For any further product information or to request a CPD in person or remotely on any of our urban or rural modules please contact Green-tech on 01423 332100

green-tech.co.uk

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