Towards the end of the Second World War a young lad who was sent shopping daily, always took a shortcut to the village via the old boating pond, known locally as ‘the lake’.
Very often he would see an elderly gentleman talking to one of the gardeners and before long they were on nodding terms, not knowing then that were to become very good friends.
It all began the day the summer bedding geraniums were being lifted and the winter polyanthus planted. The lad had stopped to watch for a moment or two when the old chap offered the boy some geraniums, telling him how to store them over winter, and with that the friendship in the boy’s heart was cemented. It later transpired that the old chap was the Parks Superintendant, and almost unbelievably, his name was Mr. Muckcart.
Every spare moment from that time on he would seek out the Park Superintendant and hang onto his every word. The gardening bug was born, and by now growing like mad.
The war came to an end, he did his studying at every opportunity, in between National Service and finally purchased three acres of land, on which he started a propogation nursery.
This in turn led to landscaping private gardens which inevitably led to commercial works. By now he was employing over thirty people and was by this time very much involved with the design and consultancy which eventually brings us up to date where we are very happy to have him in the background as advisor. Although, more often than not he is alongside us as a crucial member of the Greencraft landscaping team.
We at Greencraft Ltd. have had a great deal of experience with the design, construction and planting of both commercial and residential roof gardens over the years. Sometimes referred to as "living roofs" or "green roofing" to name just two, many more clients seem to be considering utilising wasted space more effectively, be it above their own corporate HQ’s, office blocks, as well as a variety of residential developments both new and old.
I was recently working on a proposal, gathering the technical information, designing the structure and layout with the aid of my trusty CAD application, checking and re-checking a whole gamut of technical specifications that would ensure a successful planning application - when I began to think more deeply about the continuous surge in popularity for "living roofs", and thought I’d share my thoughts as to why I believe we will see a near revolution in the city’s rooftops over the next decade or so.
First of all there’s the sudden global decline in property prices, a disturbing trend that is affecting us all in this current recession, yes it is a recession, something that many "experts" believe stems from far deeper problems than a mere "credit crunch". As the financial industry licks its wounds, other industries are suffering, and the knock-on effect has begun to change the thinking of many powerful CEO’s, be they from the construction sector, retail corporations, even local government is due for a historical shakedown. In fact I doubt there are many of us unaffected by the economic collapse, and so we are all forced to take stock and analyse our assets for their true worth.
From young couples searching for a low-risk option to "bed down" and stick with their current home yet start a family, all the way to large corporations looking for ways to maintain a harmonious relationship with their employees, roof gardens have provided a novel solution to many complex and intrinsic problems regarding our personal environment, and hence our own and our companies’ well being. If one cannot afford to move, then redevelopment is usually the best and most viable option. Yet not all of us have the space or finance to dive headlong into a major reconstruction project. Living gardens are, relatively speaking, an extremely economic way of simultaneously increasing the value of a property, and at the same time improving the local environment.
Which brings me to my second point, inadvertently the looming economic crisis has forced many of us to consider something that until now has taken second place to the overriding necessity for making profit. There are ironically downsides in a buoyant economy, time is always of the essence, and with the past availability of credit, it was always viewed far easier to relocate, or develop a project from scratch, rather than redevelop what we have around us. The ecology, our climate, the lack of greenery in the cities around the world were seen as something more of a moral argument than a financial necessity. Now however things have changed, and I for one would say in the long term, for the better.
It may sound crazy to associate financial disaster with an environmental boom, with less available budget you would expect most people to excuse themselves from their personal and corporate environmental obligations, but in fact the truth is quite the opposite. We are learning to recycle, to buy less, and to use what we have around us. I remember hearing a rather shocking report a few months back about the amount of food wastage in the UK, how many of us ritually threw uneaten vegetables and fruit, dairy products, bread and fresh meat in the bin. It was blamed upon the deals offered by many of the supermarket chains, ironically at one point it was cheaper to buy more and dispose of what you didn’t need. Most of that food is now mulching in landfill sites across the nation, creating untapped methane, and creating a general eyesore and accumulative ecological time bomb for us all. Though now I’d guess more of us are watching the pennies, perhaps growing more of our own food, and most definitely throwing far less away.
The combination of financial and environmental benefits in creating more green space are exponential. Besides improving each of our own "personal environments", increasing property value, and in the case of commercial living roofs, improving the quality of life for our respective workforces, we are collectively improving the earth’s environment as a whole. Green roofs are far more than merely "pretty", they are a sink for pollution. New outdoor spaces enhance bio-diversity and literally generate cleaner air as well as provide a natural sound barrier from the continuous barrage of noise of city life. They can absorb heavy rainfall, reducing the risk of flooding, and provide a cooling-effect for the summer, whats’ more they provide an "open living space", somewhere to potentially capture the sun’s energy throughout the year. I’ve helped work on green roofs that provide families with an opportunity to grow their own organic food in the heart of the city, whilst other more ambitious projects have provided a vital communal space for office workers in need of more sunlight, S.A.D (Sunlight Affective Disorder) is a known contributor to employee abstention, something that corporations can most definitely not afford in the current financial climate.
Many clients we have worked with, here at Greencraft Ltd., have been surprised at the low costs, relatively simple construction techniques, and wonderful benefits installing a roof garden can offer. Many of our projects have been completed in a relatively brief period, and with the right expertise can be "up and running" providing a green space so sorely needed in many polluted cities, without the intrinsic complications that can arise from most forms of development. Ironically repairing a roof can cost as much if not more than developing a green or living roof.
Roofgarden Design:- over the years we have sourced the best of the best, be it suppliers, products, techniques or materials, and even if I do say so myself, I think we’ve built some of the best in London, and I’m glad! I know we shouldn’t have personal favourites when it comes to different landscaping projects, but roof gardens have always filled me with a sense of satisfaction beyond the notions of quality, service, and a job well done. I honestly think every time we create a new green and living space amongst the bare and drab grey roofs of London and major peripheral towns, we are actually helping the environment in some small way.
We make a point of showing as many ecological options for our clients, capturing grey water means you’ll never need to drain resources from the mains, and of course with the application of solar and wind technology (however small), the financial as well as environmental benefits exceed the greatest expectations of many of Greencraft’s customers.
If you’d like to see an example of our work, take a look at this roof garden we developed for William Verry Construction as part of the Thames Gateway Project.
– Christina Odell.
We at Greencraft can lead you through every stage of a roof garden development, from advice and design, to project management and construction, we’ll even make sure your planning application will be approved. But what’s most important, together we can hopefully make a little difference to this world and ensure in some small way, that the environment will be able to one day breathe a sigh of relief. Look up to the sky, the rooftops are the answer!
Our Day With The Celebs At The Dartford Bridge Project (Queen Elizabeth II Bridge)
Sat 18th October 2008 was a very special day for Greencraft Ltd…
As a local landscaping company imagine our delight when we became involved in some remediation works to a brand new cutting edge housing scheme which is part of the Thames Gateway Development, Dartford Bridge, Kent built by Taylor Wimpey.
Heralded as a new wave in housing, inspired more by European new builds which emphasise community and public transport over cars and privacy, Dartford Bridge stands out from the rest by its clever use of public spaces introducing Pocket Parks around which houses are built, thus allowing parents to watch over children, rather than being paranoid of letting them out of sight.
We had originally tendered for the softscape contract but lost out as we were fractionally too expensive. It seems this cost saving exercise had not really paid off as when the designer, Wayne Hemingway revisited site to inspect his vision, he had been disappointed with the overall landscape appearance and requested some bulking up.
So together with our major supplier, Palmstead Nurseries of Ashford and the new residents of the project we all set to digging and planting in order to bolster up the scheme.
Wayne became the chef for the day supplying a delicious barbecue, incidentally built by Greencraft, as we had won the hard landscape portion of the works, whilst his partner Geraldine directed us with ideas as to where we should enhance the planting.
Luckily, the weather was on our side and we enjoyed a glorious Indian Summer afternoon in shorts and t-shirts with our hands in the earth. What could be more rewarding!
For me the highlight of the day was chatting to another happy volunteer enrolled by Nick of Palmstead Nurseries Ltd the highly respected designer Andy Sturgeon. It was great for me and Tom to swap anecdotes with Andy and get some plant design tips, too.
Andy’s top tip for any fans out there – apparently ericas are due are revival soon – watch this space!!!
We look forward to working together with Andy on his Future Gardens Project next May. – www.futuregardens.org
Hi!
In the coming weeks and months, I (Christina Odell - Commercial Director for Greencraft.co.uk) will endeavour to keep you updated on all the news and events at Greencraft, as well as share tips and advice on gardening in general garnered from our highly skilled horticulturally obsessed team!
In the meantime I’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused as we proceed to update our website over the next few weeks. Bookmark our site, blog or subscribe to our RSS feed to keep updated on all the latest news and views at Greencraft.
– Chris Odell
