Author: Whiting Landscape
On Friday May 20th volunteers from the Whiting team joined forces with client Prologis to make a significant improvement to the external environment at Exhall Grange School, Coventry.
In addition to building a new outdoor classroom in the wilderness garden they installed a raised planter, repaired the polytunnel and inserted a new path. They also installed a new shed and slabbed feature area.
The playhouse had a Juliet balcony added, was restrengthened and detail painted and an existing sculpture was restored by sanding down and spraying. Some pruning, strimming and general maintenance was also carried out.
Wayne Bridges, our Operations Director, would like to thank all our volunteers who helped out on the day, working flat out to achieve as much as possible for the school and help make the day such a success.
Client Urban & Civic are planning to deliver a high quality mixed use development in Cambridgeshire, blending an enterprise zone with over 700 acres of green open space.
One of the first areas to open to the public is the show home entrance for the first of the housing plots, and key to providing a high quality and established feel was the planting of semi mature tree stock. Along with 70 cm girth oaks and 90cm girth willows, three feature lime trees were planted at the entrance way. These Tilia platyphyllos had girths of between 110 and 120 cm and weighed in at around 8 tonne each. A 200 tonne crane was required to lift each of them into position.
The trees were transported to site on three articulated extra wide trailers.
We are currently landscaping four new industrial units at Heathrow Logistics Park, Bedfont, built by Readie Construction on behalf of developer Graftongate. In addition to the units the project also includes the enhancement of existing public open space and the creation of new community landscaped areas to the north of Bedfont Road.
Woodland planting, wildflower areas and new pathways have been installed to create a pleasant recreational area in which local people can relax.
Members of the Whiting team involved schoolchildren from nearby Fairholme School in the planting of trees in this area with a view to encouraging an understanding and appreciation of the natural environment and the importance of its preservation.
FM Contracts Supervisor Todd Jeffery completed a 20 mile Marathon in Milton Keynes last Sunday and raised a whopping £850 to help Macmillan Cancer Support. Todd lost his Dad to oesophageal cancer last year and his Mum is currently battling ovarian cancer, so it is a cause very close to his heart.
Supported on the day by his wife Alison, Mum Joan and brother Dan, Todd recorded a very tidy time of 3:24:28, braving freezing temperatures to achieve his goal.
Well done Todd – make sure you put your feet up this weekend!
Three 12 metre Thuja plicata ‘Excelsa’ were planted recently at a private residence in Central London by Whiting. Weighing 5 tons each they had to be lifted in using a special 16 ton heavy Manatu fork lift as access was restricted.
We were also instructed by the client to transplant a 9 metre Liquidamber styraciflua, which weighed in at 3 ton.
Despite traffic and access constraints everything went to plan and the installation was successfully completed within one day.
As part of the larger Alconbury development for Urban and Civic in Cambridgeshire Whiting were recently contracted to bulk up planting around what is to be the new site entrance. The Alconbury project as a whole includes new housing, a school, a business sector and green spaces but the Ermine Street scheme involved planting up the road side of the development.
Co ordinated jointly by Urban and Civic, the Local Authority and Whiting over 50 volunteers of all ages turned up to help, following the previous success of a community planting day three years ago.
Split into teams the volunteers were charged with digging holes, planting small trees and installing rabbit guards and by the end of the day in excess of 1,000 items had been planted.
All donations have now been collected and we are pleased to announce that the impressive amount of £3,150 was raised for the Snowdon Challenge in support of Pancreatic Cancer and Parkinson’s Disease. Although it was July, conditions in Snowdonia were miserable at times, with persistent rain and gusty winds on the first morning ensuring that everyone was soaked through not long after they had started!
Needless to say though, the Whiting team spirit was much in evidence and everybody completed the climb, making it back to the accommodation in good time for a welcome hot toddy before Dinner!
We have recently been involved in an ambitious tree translocation project in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, which involved the use of two of the largest tree spades in Europe.
Working for Urban and Civic plc on their large, mixed use scheme at the former airbase near Huntingdon, tree spades of 2.5m and 3m in diameter were employed to lift and transplant established, mature trees up to 15m tall. These trees would otherwise have been lost during the construction of the project which includes new housing, a school, green spaces and a business sector.
Owing to the site’s previous use as a former US Air Force Base, flying Liberators and B-17’s in raids against Germany in the Second World War, all trees identified for translocation and their new tree pits had to be scanned for unexploded ordnance. Originally in use by Bomber Command from 1939, and then the USAF, Alconbury Airfield was also instrumental during the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm. Flying finally ceased on March 31st, 1995.
On a bitterly cold Saturday January 10th, six of our staff volunteered to help in the Christmas Treecycling Project in aid of St. Mary’s Hospice in Birmingham. Along with several other contractors they trawled the streets of Birmingham suburbs Kings Heath, Hall Green, Acocks Green and Yardley, collecting Christmas trees for recycling.
A record-breaking 730 trees were collected in total and £8,887 was raised for the Hospice.
Community Fundraiser for St. Mary’s, Rhianna Cooper, explained: “It costs £1956 for us to be able to fully deliver specialist end of life care to a patient in their own home, through our ‘Hospice at Home’ team. It costs over £8 million a year to run the Hospice and to provide crucial specialist care within the community. Whiting’s support for the initiative has been vital in us developing our care for our current and future families across the city. Thank you so much for all you have done, and continue to do, to support our Hospice.”
