£5.00 - BALI

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£5.00 - BALI

Landscape
News
WINTE R 2 015
The official Journal
of the British Association
of Landscape Industries
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Dear Member
Following on from the AGM
in September, regional and
national events seem to have
increased in number.
More are planned through the winter and
I hope that more BALI members will try to
attend these events. They are put on for
you to keep up-to-date with your sector
and continue to develop skills, as well as to
network with like-minded colleagues.
I have joined Wayne and the staff from
Landscape House to man stands at shows
and exhibitions and to help put on BALI
workshops and forums. It was good to see the
CDM workshops sold out, and good numbers
attending the Affiliates and Designer Forums.
On a personal note, I was pleased with the
re-launch of the Domestic Forums, which
seemed well received by members in London
and Huddersfield. On the back of these we are
hoping to put more on in January/February
2016 at new locations and even combine one
at Landscape House later in the year, with the
Designer Forum welcoming Affiliates. Listening
to member feedback we will not be putting on
this type of event between mid-March and late
October as you have told us that you are all far
too busy during that period.
At our latest board meeting Board Directors
Nigel Bowcock and new boy David Dodd,
keen to make an early impression, raised the
issue of the disconnect between schools and
colleges when it comes to careers advice.
These two gentlemen are producing a paper on
the way forward to be put before our January
board meeting. In the meantime, I am asking
all members large and small, commercial and
domestic, Contractor, Designer and Affiliate,
to contact their local schools and colleges to
offer their time to talk to students about their
experiences so that a career in landscaping is
not one of last choice. If you have time to spare,
please give generously!
As I’m sure you will agree, a career in
landscaping is enjoyable, rewarding (even
financially) and is never dull. It’s a career that
allows people to flourish, both individually and
as part of a team, creating schemes that are
enjoyed by many people and that generally
provide a health benefit. There are not many
careers that allow you to appreciate the full
range of the seasons and the vagaries of the
weather! If we don’t encourage more youngsters
into our industry, in all its facets, these careers
will be lost forever. It is down to us to promote
our industry as a real career choice as we can’t
expect the Government to do it for us. That
said, BALI is lobbying hard for the Government
to recognise the chronic skills shortage that
is threatening the landscaping and grounds
maintenance industry and to urge them to make
policy decisions that will help deliver employerled training and apprenticeships.
Since the AGM I have attended the Palmstead
Soft Landscape Workshop, The Landscape
Show, the BALI Domestic Forums (South and
North), the Affiliates Forum, FutureScape, the
APPGHG planning meeting and the APPGHG
Annual Reception at the Houses of Parliament,
strategy meetings at Landscape House and
the BALI staff party! In the New Year we start
the round of Regional AGMs and I am looking
forward to seeing as many members at them as
possible.
Throughout the year in attending regional and
centralised events I am surprised that the same
faces keep appearing. It’s great that the events
are pretty well attended but a lot of members
do not appear to be interacting with their
association. Those that attend are working on
their companies and not just in them, and the
benefits can be great. At the recent Affiliates
Forum a supplier of wildflower turf was able to
introduce their turf grown on biodegradable
matting to the presenter who was not aware that
one existed and was lamenting that fact. If the
Affiliate hadn’t been there potential orders could
have been missed. And at a recent Domestic
Forum several companies indicated that they
weren’t aware that cancellation forms are now
required by law to be attached to all contracts,
whatever the format. Many members, worryingly,
weren’t aware of the changes to the CDM
regulations that came into effect in April this
year, despite articles in Landscape News and
alerts in the BALI e-newsletters.
Landscape House does try to advise you of
changes and updates but if you don’t read
emails or attend the relevant events put on for
you the consequence is that your company
could suffer. In addition to increasing your
industry knowledge you also make new
acquaintances and contacts at BALI events who
could help your business. Even by attending
your regional AGM, which sounds dull but
rarely is, you could start up new business
relationships.
The networking event of the year – the 39th BALI
National Landscape Awards – has just taken
place at the Grosvenor House in Park Lane,
London. I didn’t honestly think we could match
last year’s attendance but we were up there
again with numbers and we were rewarded with
yet another magnificent showcase of wonderful
schemes. I was immensely proud to be able
to congratulate all the National, Principal and
Special Award winners from the stage at the
close of the event and I would like to add my
sincere congratulations to the Grand Award
winner – Frosts Landscape Construction
– whose scheme at 3 Merchant Square,
Paddington, London is absolutely wonderful and
well worth a visit if you happen to be in West
London in the near future. 2016 will see the 40th
BALI Awards, and we can promise you a true
landscaping extravaganza. Make sure you put
2nd December 2016 in your diary now.
Finally I would like to wish you, your family and
your staff a very Merry Christmas and hopefully
a prosperous New Year.
Bob Field
BALI NATIONAL CHAIRMAN
BALI Landscape News | Winter 2015 | 3
CONTENTS
WINTER 2015
Editor Denise Ewbank
BALI, Landscape House
Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG
T: 02476 690333 F: 02476 690077
Editorial and News releases
ubiquita@btinternet.com
Copy date for Spring 2016 edition
Friday, 12th February
BALI Landscape News Winter 2015 is
also available online at www.bali.org.uk
CONTENTS
8
NATIONAL AGM REPORT
30
2016 EVENTS CALENDAR
11
INDUSTRY NEWS
34
MEMBER BENEFITS
16
CONTRACTOR NEWS
36
REGIONAL ROUND UP
20
TRAINING & TECHNICAL
42
PRODUCT & AFFILIATE NEWS
24
DESIGNER FOCUS
50
NEW MEMBERS
25
BALI NATIONAL LANDSCAPE AWARDS 2015
REVIEW
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Frosts Landscape Construction receiving the 2015 BALI Grand Award
Another year of landscaping
excellence celebrated at the
BALI Awards 2015
Each year BALI has the opportunity to
showcase its members’ outstanding
professional achievements at the BALI
National Landscape Awards. Many of our
members have reported business in 2015
to be much improved and the majority,
apparently, have had to turn work away!
And this state of affairs was evident at this
year’s Awards ceremony, which took place
on Friday, 4th December at the Grosvenor
House. The award-winning schemes
indicated renewed investment in private,
commercial and public realm projects and
a desire to celebrate the UK’s continued
economic recovery. What a difference a
year can make!
The importance of using skilled professionals
to undertake work was also evident. Whether
a small domestic garden or a large ground
maintenance contract, the breadth of skills and
knowledge required by landscape and garden
designers and contractors to create today’s
projects is extensive.
We saw a further increase in the number of new
entrants this year – the 39th year of the BALI
National Landscape Awards – and overall a
similar number of winning schemes compared
with last year. And just when you think the
standards or workmanship and service delivery
can’t possibly be bettered, another year of BALI
Awards shows that BALI members refuse to
rest on their laurels and are continually striving
to exceed the levels of attainment of previous
years’ award winners.
I would like to express our very sincere gratitude
to our Chairman of the Adjudication Panel, Greg
Allen, and to his panel of industry experts for
their professional commitment to the task of
selecting this year’s winners. They have judged
over one hundred and eight entries at locations
across the country and given time to detailed
desk studies of all the international projects
received. They undertake an enormous amount
of work on our behalf to maintain the reputation
and integrity of the BALI Awards and every
entry is given their fullest attention to ensure
the winners are those BALI members most
deserving of an award.
I would also like to congratulate every BALI
member who entered this year and acknowledge
the achievements of those who have ultimately
been successful. This year’s Grand Award
winner, Frosts Landscape Construction, is to be
applauded for delivering a stunning and quite
exemplary public realm scheme at 3 Merchants
Square, Paddington, London. The company is
a worthy winner of the Grand Award accolade
and will be an excellent ambassador for BALI
professionalism and expertise. A full report and
photographs of this year’s ceremony can be
found in this edition of Landscape News.
The Awards process has been very capably
co-ordinated and project managed by Angela
Donovan and without her passion and
commitment would not have run as smoothly
as it has for the five years of her involvement. In
fact, we have an extra special thank you to make
to Angela, not only for her dedication to the BALI
Awards but also for the hard work, commitment
and support she has afforded BALI and its
members during the eight years she has worked
for the association. Angela will be leaving BALI at
the end of this year, as Landscape News comes
off the presses, to concentrate on building her
own business as a specialist osteopath. I and
the BALI Board of Directors would like to thank
Angela on your behalf and wish her all the very
best in her future endeavours.
Member Engagement
2015 has, as ever, been a busy year for the
Landscape House team working on behalf of
BALI members. Some of our activity includes:
• Securing BALI membership as a PQQ
requirement on a large number of tenders
Presentation to BALI Awards Project
Manager Angela Donovan
• Representation at The Parks Alliance
meetings
• Continued work with the European Landscape
Contractors Association (ELCA)
• Support for BALI-NCF (National Contractors’
Forum), including hosting two successful
workshops
• The second of an annual meeting with the
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs, Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP
• Representation at the Ornamental Horticulture
Round Table meetings and working groups
• Continued input into the Horticulture Matters
report
• Development of the relationship with Perennial
as our chosen charity supporting those in
need within our industry
• BALI-NCF Landscape Summit at FutureScape
• Launch of the new BALI website
• Representation at the HS2 meetings
• Representation at the Trees and Design Action
Group
• Launch of the Domestic Contractor Forums
• Representation and co-ordination of the
Employer Apprenticeship Trailblazer meetings
for Horticulture and Landscaping
• Launch of the BALI HR & H&S helplines and
online facility with Qdos
• Launch of BALI Jobs
Shows and exhibitions include:
• RHS shows
– London Plant and Design Show
– Chelsea Flower Show
– Tatton Park Flower Show
• Ecobuild
• Harrogate Spring Flower Show
• Gardening Scotland
• Sustainable Green Infrastructure Conference
(APPGHG), a lobbying platform that includes
members from other industry bodies, and
cross-party Peers and MPs. I and members
of the BALI board have been attending a
wide range of events that place BALI in front
of ministers and parliamentarians to lobby
on issues raised through the Ornamental
Horticulture Round Table group that particularly
affect our industry and members, namely:
• A range of college and industry career events
– The industry skills shortage
I would encourage you to take part in these
forum meetings as they are a great opportunity
to share views and issues that we can champion
on behalf of your particular BALI membership
category and they are also a great learning
resource, given some of the subject matter and
the guest speakers we have attending many of
the meetings. Check the Events pages on the
BALI website for details of upcoming events at
Landscape House and across the regions.
We have also attended and presented at a
number of BALI member events across the
year and I would like to thank those members
for giving BALI the opportunity to promote the
association.
– National Living Wage
BALI Jobs
– Pesticide regulation
In addition, we have secured:
We have been busy throughout the year making
sure you are provided with a voice back into
BALI. Not only do you have representation
through the board members you elect at the
National AGM and through your Regional
Chairs and Vice Chairs elected at the Regional
AGMs each year, but you have also this year
had the opportunity to feed back directly at the
many forum meetings organised by BALI. The
following have been extremely well attended
and some have been fully booked with waiting
lists!
Please don’t forget that you can place your job
vacancies on the www.horticulturecareers.co.uk
website. Pro Landscaper (BALI Affiliate member
Eljays44) have agreed a special BALI Member
rate for advertising on the site and have reported
good success rates. £150 for on-line adverts
and £350 for online and print is a great deal and
I would encourage you to make the most of this
benefit.
• ScotHort
• Landscape Live
• Palmstead Soft Landscape Workshop
• The Landscape Show
• IOG Saltex
• Futurescape
• A 29% increase in visits to the BALI website
year on year
• A 30% increase in unique visits
• A 25% increase in both page views and unique
page views
• A 41% increase on Facebook ‘likes’
• A 36% increase in Twitter followers
BALI Regional AGMs 2016
Below are those Regional AGMs confirmed as at
the point of writing this article; do please try to
attend the AGMs and regional events if you can.
Not only are the events informative and useful
from a business point of view but they provide
a great opportunity to network with like-minded
colleagues in a whole range of businesses
throughout your region and, quite often now,
across the regions.
Political Lobbying
We have been working hard this year to take full
advantage of our membership of the All Party
Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group
– Parks and green spaces
BALI Member Forums
Affiliates Forums – 21st April and 20th
October at BALI, Landscape House
Designer Forums – 22nd April at
Landscape House and 16th September at the
Cosmopolitan Hotel, Leeds
Domestic Forums – 15th October at CED in
West Thurrock, Essex, and 12th November at
Johnsons Wellfield Quarries, Huddersfield
BALI-NCF Meeting – 9th September at BALI,
Landscape House
2016 Regional AGMs
Region
Date
Venue
Attended by
North Thames
12th January
Beales Hotel
Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9NG
Wayne Grills & Bob Field
South Thames
26th January
Merrist Wood College
Worplesdon, Guildford,
Surrey GU3 3PE
East Anglia
Details TBC
Yorkshire &
North East
4th February
Midlands
TBC
South West
10th March
Wales
TBC
North West
17th March
Scotland
TBC
Wayne Grills &
Paul Downer
BEST WESTERN Crown Hotel
Horsefair, Boroughbridge
North Yorkshire, YO51 9LB
Wayne Grills, Bob Field
& Paul Downer
JCB World Headquarters,
Lakeside Works Dunstone Road,
Rocester, Uttoxeter ST14 5JP
Salisbury Art Centre
Bedwin Street, Salisbury, SP1 3UT
Recruitment and Office Moves
As mentioned earlier, a huge thank you to Angela
Donovan for her hard work and support as she
moves on to focus further on her own business.
Meghana Badami will be joining us in the New
Year to support Ali Inskip with the processing of
ROLO and LISS/CSCS applications.
Finally, on behalf of the Landscape House team,
may I wish you and your families a happy festive
season and your business every success in
2016, in which I hope BALI can play a part.
Kind regards
Wayne Grills
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Myerscough College
St Michael’s Rd, Bilsborrow,
Preston PR3 0RY
Wayne Grills & Paul
Downer
Wayne Grills &
Paul Downer
Landscape
House hosts
BALI National
AGM
BALI’s 2015 National AGM took place
in the conference room at Landscape
House on Wednesday, 9th September. It
was expected that attendance might be
down on recent years, when the AGM was
held at Windsor Racecourse during IOG
SALTEX, and so it proved. There were 37
attendees representing 33 BALI member
companies; apologies were received from
representatives of 46 member companies.
BALI board officers
National Chairman Bob Field opened the meeting
by welcoming those present and then taking
members through the formal business of the
AGM. The minutes of the previous AGM on
3rd September 2014 were approved, with one
matter arising, which related to the question
of introducing a Design & Build membership
category. This was raised at last year’s AGM by
James Seymour of Seymour Landscapes. The
Chairman advised members present that James
had been invited to present his case at a ‘Quality
Standards Working Group’ meeting earlier in
the year. He said that, as the introduction of a
Design & Build category would be a fundamental
change to the structure of BALI membership,
with implications for vetting and standards, more
work on how this could be accommodated was
required and would need to involve consultation
with the wider membership. This matter was
therefore ongoing.
The National Chairman’s and Chief Executive’s
reports, which appeared in the formal Annual
Report and Accounts document sent to members
prior to the AGM, were both taken as read. Bob
Field then took the opportunity to congratulate
BALI members who had recently taken part in
the London to Brighton cycle challenge in aid
of Perennial, and Chief Executive Wayne Grills
expanded on his report by telling members about
the work he and the BALI board were doing
to lobby MPs and peers on industry concerns
BALI members attending the 2015 AGM at Landscape House
and, in particular, the skills shortage. A recent
APPGHG event had given Wayne direct access
to Baroness Janet Royall, who had expressed her
willingness to champion the landscape industry’s
skills shortage.
Richard Stone of Bawden Group has taken on the
role of Honorary Treasurer from Martyn Mogford.
Richard presented the accounts for the year
ending 31st March 2015 and reported that BALI
had had a very satisfactory year, with membership
up to 825. Whilst the financial surplus was lower
than expected, it was the result of an adjustment
to the revenue and expenditure of the delayed
BALI Who’s Who Directory, which will now follow
a more appropriate timeline and be published
annually in line with membership renewal. Richard
advised that revenue from the BALI Awards
and from advertising in BALI publications had
increased and that income from the ROLO
and LISS/CSCS schemes was exceeding
expectations. Whilst general costs were down
on last year, operating costs at Landscape
House were up slightly as a result of increased
staffing levels. Richard closed his verbal report
by formally thanking Martyn Mogford for his work
as a BALI board director and as Treasurer of the
association.
The nine BALI regional reports were taken as read
and those regional officers present gave members
a brief synopsis of their regions’ activities. Bob
Field thanked all Regional Chairmen and their
committees for their efforts over the past year and
looked forward to a busy year ahead.
The financial accounts for the year ending 31st
March 2015 were duly adopted before there
was a lengthy discussion on the proposal for
a mandate from the members to increase
membership fees by up to 5%. Wayne Grills put
the case to members, citing increased costs as
the prime driver. He also put forward a structured
table of increases per category of membership.
Following a thoughtful question and answer
session the Chairman asked members to vote
on the proposal but reassured those present that
the issue would be taken back to the next board
meeting for further discussion. The proposal
was carried with 26 votes for (17 from the room
and 9 proxy), 14 against (1 from the room and 13
proxy), with 8 abstentions. Following the vote the
Chairman asked for a show of hands to indicate
those in favour of a fair percentage increase
applicable across all membership bands (8 votes),
a flat fee for all members (6 votes), or a ‘dynamic’
approach (6 votes).
With the exception of Martyn Mogford, who had
advised he was standing down from the board,
those board members offering themselves for
re-election, namely Chris Carr, Clive Ivill and Neil
Huck, were duly re-elected. There remained
one vacancy on the board with two nominations
– David Dodd of The Outdoor Room and Phil
Jones of ISS Facility Services – Landscaping.
David Dodd was duly elected to serve on the
BALI Board of Directors by 29 votes to 18. The
Chairman thanked Phil Jones for standing for
election and said that he would be invited to
report at BALI board meetings in his capacity
as Chairman of BALI-NCF. David Dodd was
congratulated and welcomed to the board.
David Dodd addressing members
before election to the board
The following directors were nominated and
unanimously accepted as officers of the
association:
Robert Field
National Chairman
Paul Downer
Vice Chairman/Chairman Elect
Wayne Grills
Chief Executive
Richard StoneTreasurer
There were a number of general issues raised
in Any Other Business, largely relating to
promotional and marketing activity, including
the website and BALI’s presence at shows and
exhibitions.
Following the formal business of the AGM,
Wayne Grills gave an overview of the past
year’s activities, both within BALI and externally,
including collaboration with other industry bodies.
The minutes of the AGM are available
from Landscape House; please email
kirsty.wood@bali.org.uk
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Meet our
newest
BALI board
director
Obituary
Geoffrey T Naylor
BALI National Chairman 1980-81
David Dodd
David has worked in the landscape
industry since 1987, studying for three
years from 1989-1992 at Merrist Wood College and achieving a
National Diploma in Landscape Design & Construction. He founded
The Outdoor Room in 1995 to specialise in high end domestic landscape
design and construction and since joining BALI in 2005, the company has
won numerous BALI awards, including four Principal awards. It has also
built eight Gold and four Silver Gilt medal winning gardens at the RHS
Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows. This is an impressive
track record by any standards. In addition to The Outdoor Room he is also
a partner and director of landscape design practice Longview Design, and
property development company ODR Property.
David achieved a Post Graduate Certificate in Education in 1995 and for
over twenty years has lectured at various colleges, including Merrist Wood
and the Inchbald School of Design. He believes strongly that education is
of key importance in the landscape industry and that bodies such as BALI
must keep pushing colleges to maintain high standards in order to produce
graduates that are suitably equipped to face the demands of high quality
landscape design, construction and maintenance. He hopes to play an
active role as a BALI board director in helping to deliver a BALI outreach
programme to engage with young people in schools and colleges and
promote landscaping in all its guises as a career choice.
Having been an active member of BALI for the past ten years, including
serving on the BALI South Thames Region committee as both a member
and Chairman, David also wants to support BALI members working in the
domestic landscape sector.
He has a broad range of interests outside of his passion for landscaping,
including football, travel, fine dining and, unsurprisingly, gardening. He is
also known for his sartorial elegance, which comes to the fore each year at
the BALI Awards - his suit linings being a particular crowd pleaser. David
is keen to be accessible to BALI members who need his help or advice,
or who want to be involved with BALI’s schools and college outreach
programme. He can be contacted through BALI at
david.dodd@bali.org.uk
It is with great sadness that we heard of the death of former
BALI National Chairman Geoffrey Naylor in September at the
age of 88. He died following a short illness and his funeral was
held in Derby on 24th September.
of in
Timberplay
Geoffrey was a much respected and reveredImage
BALI courtesy
Chairman
1980-81 at a time when the association was beginning to change the
landscape industry for the better. His business, Hydraseeders Ltd,
had been truly innovative when it was first established in 1968 and
took a leap of faith by Geoffrey, as did being one of the early members
of BALI. His commitment to the association, which continues through
his son James as managing director of Hydraseeders Ltd, was
exemplary and he continued to follow BALI’s fortunes once he had
fully retired from ‘active duty’.
In the eulogy at his father’s funeral, one of Geoffrey’s two sons said:
“My father was a man of strong opinions and principles - he was a big
presence in his family’s lives and will leave a large void. He was, as
my cousin Julie described this week, ‘a wonderful, old-fashioned, true
gentleman; the last of his kind.’
As I think and remember him there is one thing that really stands out
- his tremendous zest for life. He loved his sport, being a lifelong fan
of Derby County, golf, and travel, taking us in the seventies to exotic
places such as the Costa del Sol and, later, taking my Mum and sister
Kate to the USA as the Chair of BALI, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Dad was born in 1927, just missing out on serving in World War Two.
He seems to have grown up in a happy family with his sister Marjorie
and brother David. He worked with my grandfather on the family
market garden in Coxbench. He loved to tell us stories such as on
a winter’s day being forced by his father to get up at 5.00am to pick
Brussel sprouts covered in ice - character building he would say to us,
his lay-about teenage sons!”
Geoffrey is survived by his wife, Mary, whom he married in 1951, and
by his three children and six grandchildren. We offer them all our very
deepest sympathies.
BALI board and members
lobby parliamentarians at
annual APPGHG reception
National Chairman Bob Field
headed up the BALI contingent
at the annual reception of the All
Party Parliamentary Gardening and
Horticulture Group on Monday, 23rd
November. Parliamentarians from
both Houses gathered in the Terrace
Pavilion in the House of Commons with
leading industry figures and gardening
celebrities to hear addresses from
Minister of State at the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
George Eustice MP, Lord Gardiner of
Kimble, Lords spokesman for Defra,
and Jim Carter, actor and Patron of
the Greenfingers charity.
A total of 146 guests were present and
conversations throughout the evening
indicated that Defra is starting to think
more holistically about the industry and is
using the Ornamental Horticulture Action
Plan – developed by the sector working
closely with Defra civil servants – as a
basis for discussion when thinking about
the future of the sector, which is a positive
development.
The event was an important opportunity
for BALI directors and members to raise
issues to be discussed at a forthcoming
dinner with the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills’ Select Committee,
which BALI is hosting in the spring.
Environment Minister George Eustice MP
speaking with BALI board members
National Chairman Bob Field, left,
talking with the Minister
BALI board director and
ELCA Vice-President Neil
Huck talking in Brussels
ELCA promotes the
benefits of urban
green infrastructure
at Open Day workshop
BALI’s Technical Director Neil Huck spoke
on behalf of the European Landscape
Contractors Association (ELCA) in his role
as ELCA Vice President at a workshop at
the Open Urban Day on 14th October – part
of the 13th European Week of Regions
and Cities, held from 12th-15th October in
Brussels.
The workshop, entitled ‘Green Infrastructure
– revitalizes cities and boosts sustainable
territorial development’, was attended by
over one hundred practitioners, experts and
city representatives from across Europe,
together with EU parliamentarians and EC
commissioners. In his presentation, Neil
discussed and promoted the benefits of
incorporating green infrastructure in city
planning, using his knowledge and experience
of the UK’s approach to incorporating green
infrastructure in urban planning.
Addressing delegates at the KBC conference
centre in the regenerated former industrial Canal
Area of Brussels, Neil explained that ELCA
represents some 80,000 small and medium
sized businesses operating in the landscape
gardening sector across Europe. The sector
currently generates an annual turnover of Euros
30 billion. ELCA has 23 European national
associations as members, including BALI
(representing the UK), and a further five partner
associations from outside of Europe. It works
tirelessly to ensure that EU legislation affecting
the natural environment, in which its member
companies in the landscape gardening sector
operate, is well thought through, practical and
can be readily implemented.
Continuing with the theme of the workshop,
Neil said that despite UN predictions that urban
populations are likely to increase by 75 per cent
by 2050, urban green spaces remain a relatively
low priority for political decision makers. He
argued that ‘green cities’ can only be considered
truly ‘green’ if, in addition to incorporating
‘green’ technologies such as solar cells and
electric cars, they offer a high percentage of
accessible green space in the form of parks,
sports grounds, playgrounds and leisure facilities
to mitigate the effects of CO2 emissions and
climate change. These green spaces will also
benefit the health and wellbeing of those people
living and working in cities and encourage flora
and fauna to establish and thrive.
As cities become more densely populated and
green spaces are lost to the built environment,
CO2 emissions are causing extreme weather
events. Long, hot, dry periods of weather
negatively affect those people who work
and live in cities and they drain global energy
resources. Heavy rainfall, storms and, in some
parts of Europe, hurricanes, cause urban
flooding. This can present a danger to life and
damage urban economies. Neil argued that
investment in the construction, development and
maintenance of quality urban green spaces will
pay dividends by reducing particulate pollution,
combating the urban heat island effect, reducing
damage caused by flooding, improving climatic
conditions in buildings, and improving air quality.
With the case argued for incorporating
green infrastructure in cities, Neil Huck
asked politicians, when they are considering
sustainable job creation and the ‘green
economy’, to include the many landscape
gardening businesses across Europe that create
and maintain urban green spaces. An investment
of Euro 1 billion in green infrastructure would,
he argued, deliver 13,000-15,000 landscape
gardening jobs and this should be considered
alongside the contribution of businesses
delivering low carbon technologies.
Neil then cited the European Commission’s
recent midterm revision of its biodiversity
strategy, which indicated that more work needs
to be done to reach its 2020 targets. He said
that ELCA strongly supported the strategy and
that increasing the amount of green space in
cities would make a major contribution to helping
the Commission reach those targets. He also
expressed ELCA’s commitment to contribute
to European policy making by communicating
the benefits of green infrastructure to decision
makers at a European and national level at every
opportunity.
Through its ‘Green City’ initiative, established
in 2002, ELCA has been instrumental in
demonstrating how living conditions in cities
can be improved by the inclusion of more public
and private green space. Individual countries
have subsequently adopted the initiative under
their own titles. In bringing his presentation to a
close, Neil Huck invited countries not currently
signed up to the ‘Green City’ initiative to join and
strengthen the cause for more green spaces in
cities across Europe and the world.
www.elca.info
New guide
to support
ethical
sourcing of
natural stone
Companies importing natural stone
from Rajasthan in northern India have
teamed up with the Ethical Trading
Initiative (ETI) to produce an ethical
sourcing guide. The guide is designed
to provide companies with practical
guidance on sourcing natural stone. It
looks at building the business case for
ethical sourcing, mapping the supply
chain and advises how to engage with
suppliers at the lowest levels of the
supply chain.
Every year, 280,000 tonnes of Rajasthan
sandstone are shipped to the UK, ending
up in patios, driveways and pavements.
ETI Head of Programmes, Debbie Coulter
advises that it makes economic and moral
sense for all importers to source ethically.
“We believe that gardeners care about
human rights,” she said. “They want to know
that the hard landscaping in our gardens and
commercial properties is produced ethically.”
Yet there have been a number of issues
linked to the sector, ranging from child and
forced labour to serious breaches in health
and safety standards.
“ETI and our member companies are
determined this should stop,” said Debbie
Coulter, “and we want the guide to be a really
useful tool for companies grappling with
upholding ethical principles.”
She said: “It is drawn from a practical workbased project ETI and our members are
running in Rajasthan where we are working
with processing sites, quarries, trade
unions and groups representing the local
community.”
For a copy of ‘A guide for the ethical sourcing
of natural stone from Rajasthan, India’, and
for further information including a list of
companies taking part in ETI’s programme
go to: www.ethicaltrade.org/stone
API supports call for
strategy for children
A clarion call to put play at the heart of
government policy on child health and
wellbeing has been welcomed by the
Association of Play Industries (API). It
supports the central recommendation of
the All Party Parliamentary Group on a Fit
and Healthy Childhood for government to
adopt a holistic strategy to support child
development.
Launching its report, the group’s co-Chair,
children’s advocate Baroness Floella Benjamin,
called on politicians from all parties to
acknowledge the vital role of play in children’s
lives and particularly in helping tackle the
physical inactivity crisis.
emotional consequences;
• Funding for play to be ring-fenced within
local authority budgets;
• Address barriers to outdoor play for children
of all ages and abilities;
• Extend the Sport England Primary Spaces
and Sport Premium programmes to all
schools with a broader scope to incorporate
a wide variety of physical literacy activities
including play;
• Communicate through public information
campaigns to parents and families the value
of active outdoor play, including benefit : risk
assessment;
Key recommendations for government in the
report that win API support are:
• Improve public sector procurement practice
for public play provision.
• Play to be embedded within a Whole Child
Strategy under the aegis of a Cabinet
Minister for Children responsible for crossdepartmental roll out and co-ordination;
In the House of Lords, Baroness Benjamin
asked what plans the government has to
introduce a national strategy for play as part
of a holistic approach to child health and
fitness, after which a number of parliamentary
colleagues agreed to convene a meeting
to discuss further the APPG’s report and
recommendations.
• Government to require local authorities to
prepare children and young people’s plans
including strategies to address overweight
and obesity with its physical, mental and
Parks Alliance takes a
step forward thanks to
National Lottery grant
Speaking at the report’s parliamentary
launch, API Chair Mark Hardy said: “This
comprehensive report covers many aspects
of play and play provision but a single unifying
message is that children will always play,
provided they are given the opportunity to
do so. We must ask ourselves if our children
today have the same or better opportunities to
play than we did. If they do not, then we must
address that. This report makes some strong
recommendations, which if followed will have a
positive impact on creating more opportunities
for children to play. High quality public play
facilities bring innumerable benefits to local
communities that reach far beyond simply
providing children with a fun place to play.”
Recent research by the API amongst families
shows that over 80 per cent of parents think
there should be funding for more high quality
public play facilities. The API campaigns at the
highest levels for policy recognition for play
and is a member of the All Party Parliamentary
Group for a Fit and Healthy Childhood,
Children’s Play Policy Forum and Federation of
Sports and Play Associations.
www.api-play.org
Image courtesy of
The Lanscape Group
The Parks Alliance (TPA), the UK’s voice
of parks, has been awarded £9,600 by the
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to establish
a not-for-profit membership organisation
that represents the people and
organisations that create, maintain, invest
in and use the public green spaces at the
heart of UK life. BALI’s Chief Executive
Wayne Grills currently sits on the TBA
board along with other professionals from
across the sector.
Alliance, said: “We know how much people value
parks as 68 per cent of users consider spending
time in their local park essential to their quality
of life. This project will take us one step closer
to ensuring parks in the UK are enhanced and
their contribution to quality of life is protected.
It will help all those organisations associated
with parks and green spaces to prosper, and
all those involved in maintaining and creating
parks and green spaces will gain new skills and
insight.”
The project, called ‘Creating a National Voice
for Parks’, will provide the basis for establishing
a wider and connected community network
of those who support the aims of The Parks
Alliance. The HLF grant will enable The Parks
Alliance to research best practice membership
models and recommend the best membership
model to achieve financial sustainability.
Drew Bennellick, Head of Landscape and
Natural Heritage at HLF, said: “Despite a major
renaissance, thanks in part to National Lottery
investment, parks face an uncertain future. This
money will enable The Parks Alliance to take
a strategic role in leading the sector through a
challenging financial landscape, ensuring parks
adapt and thrive.”
Speaking about ‘Creating a National Voice for
Parks’, Mark Camley, Chairman of The Parks
The Parks Alliance works to:
• Protect and improve the country’s public
parks for future generations.
• Increase understanding among national
politicians and policy makers of the value of
public parks to the current and future quality
of life and health in the UK.
• Increase understanding among national and
local politicians and decision makers that
parks are a crucial part of social and physical
infrastructure supporting education, flood
control, health improvement, social cohesion,
wildlife and helping us adapt to climate
change.
• Secure and boost the existing world-leading
skills and expertise delivering UK parks as
well as quality training and employment
opportunities.
• Influence national, regional and local policies
and funding decisions that impact on parks.
www.theparksalliance.org
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Public urged to
nominate their
local war memorials
Young Horticulturist
of the Year 2016
The Chartered Institute of Horticulture has
launched the 2016 Young Horticulturist of
the Year competition. Young horticultural
professionals working in the industry who
will be under the age of 30 by 31st July
2016 are eligible to enter and heats will be
taking place around the UK and Ireland. The
closing date for entries is 1st February 2016.
The winner of the competition will receive a
£2,500 travel bursary from The Percy Thrower
Trust, generously provided by the Shropshire
Horticultural Society. The bursary funds a trip
to anywhere in the world where the winner can
study a subject related to his or her chosen field
of horticulture.
Members of the public are being
encouraged by Historic England to
put forward their local war memorials
for listing. This follows the listing and
protection of all 44 First World War
free-standing memorials designed by
Sir Edwin Lutyens, architect of London’s
Whitehall Cenotaph.
Historic England’s pledge to list a total of
2,500 war memorials over the centenary
of the First World War is part of a wider
partnership forged by the organisation with
War Memorials Trust, Civic Voice and the
Imperial War Museums to help communities
discover, care for and conserve their local
war memorials.
Working with enthusiastic volunteers across
the country, the programme is providing
up to £2million in grants for war memorial
repair and conservation and hundreds of
workshops to teach people how to record
their memorials and put them forward for
listing. Historic England’s goal is to see that
as many war memorials as possible are in a
fitting condition for the centenary, and that
they remain cherished local landmarks for
generations to come.
Tracey Crouch, Parliamentary Under
Secretary for Heritage, said: “The
commemoration of the First World War
Centenary has inspired people all over
England to remember our shared history.
Our war memorials provide a lasting legacy
for those who sacrificed so much and I’d
encourage anyone to nominate their local
memorials for listing and preserve them for
generations to come.”
Visit www.historicengland.org.uk/
listingwarmemorials for information
on listing; www.civicvoice.org.uk/
warmemorials for information on training,
and www.warmemorialstrust.org/grants
for information on the grants available
Competitors can take part in one of three ways:
by attending one of the heats taking place in
colleges and venues throughout the Institute’s
eight branches; in a work-place with a Chartered
Institute of Horticulture approved supervisor;
or via Skype. With prizes at every stage of the
competition, competitors have a number of
chances to get cash rewards for their efforts,
plus there are lots of opportunities to meet and
network with other young horticulturists along
the way.
The competition is run in three phases: local
heats, regional finals and the Grand Final,
each with questions covering a wide range of
horticultural subjects. Heat winners go forward
to one of eight regional finals and the winner of
each regional final will progress to the Grand
Final, to be held on 7th May 2016 at the fabulous
Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, Dublin.
Andrew Gill C Hort FCIHort, President of the
Chartered Institute of Horticulture, said “As ever,
I am excited about the launch of the Chartered
Institute of Horticulture Young Horticulturist of
the Year competition, which just gets better each
year, and I am hugely looking forward to the
Grand Final in Dublin. Last year over 1,800 young
horticulturists from around the UK and Ireland
competed for the title. Since the competition
started in 1990 an incredible estimated 25,000
people have participated in this prestigious
annual competition, which attracts more positive
coverage for the profession each year.”
The competition is supported by the following
sponsors: Main sponsor the Shropshire
Horticultural Society, recruitment company
MorePeople, the Agriculture and Horticulture
Development Board and Wyevale Garden
Centres. In addition to many regional and local
sponsors, the Horticultural Trades Association will
be a Gold national sponsor for 2016.
To find out more about the competition visit
www.horticulture.org.uk or email
cih@horticulture.org.uk
IOG industry awards honour the best
More than 640 of the UK’s and Europe’s
leading groundscare experts from
both the professional and volunteer
sector, as well as dignitaries from the
governing bodies of sport and influential
sports administrators, honoured the
expertise, dedication and passion of
the country’s grounds profession at the
Institute of Groundsmanship’s annual
Industry Awards, held at the Birmingham
Metropole hotel during this year’s SALTEX.
Now in its seventh year, the sell-out event
hosted by talkSPORT Radio presenter Mark
Saggers, recognised leadership, innovation and
outstanding achievement across every aspect
of groundscare - from grassroots pitches to
professional stadia. The prestigious awards
ceremony also celebrated the quality standards
of groundscare achieved in public and private
sports venues, and highlighted the progress of
young/student grounds professionals as well as
entrants’ environmental considerations.
The full list of winners can be found at
www.iog.org/news but the winners of
categories sponsored by BALI Affiliate
members are as follows:
IOG Kubota Rugby Union Grounds Team
of the Year – BT Murrayfield Stadium
IOG Rigby Taylor/Top Green Young
Groundsman of the Year –
Ryan Powell, Everton FC
IOG Ransomes Jacobsen Environmental
Project of the Year – St George’s Park,
Burton upon Trent, Staffs
IOG Charterhouse/Kubota Best
Maintained Artificial Pitch of the Year –
Manchester City FC
IOG Alex R Millar DLF/Ransomes Jacobsen
Groundsman’s Groundsman of the Year Award
– Jim Dawson, BT Murrayfield Stadium
www.iog.org
“Very professional - easy to communicate with. Understanding of our requirements.
A pleasure to work with.”
Siddeley Landscape Designs Ltd
contact@sureset.co.uk 0800 612 2083 www.sureset.co.uk
BALI-NCF sets out its
strategic objectives
Mount Street
Gardens, Mayfair,
voted favourite
public space
Mount Street Gardens in London’s
West End, which are managed by BALI
Registered Contractor Continental
Landscapes, has been voted as the
favourite public space of readers of
The Mayfair Magazine, a high quality
lifestyle magazine that targets affluent
visitors to and residents of the exclusive
Mayfair area of London. The award, which
was presented to a delighted Westminster
City Council, recognizes those who are
committed to excellence in their field and
who contribute to making Mayfair a highly
regarded destination for luxury, commerce
and culture.
The gardens offer an oasis of calm for those
escaping the hustle and bustle of Oxford
Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and boast
an abundance of ornamental bedding plants,
shrubs, formal lawn and a number of mature
London Plane trees. They also include a
striking bronze drinking fountain of a rearing
horse, designed by Sir Ernest George and
Harold Peto.
Steve Mills from Continental Landscapes
said: “The award is recognition of the high
standards of maintenance achieved by our
dedicated team. It is heartening to know that
the site is so loved by residents and visitors
to Mayfair.”
www.continental-landscapes.co.uk
Fenland District
Council awards
contract to ISS
BALI Registered Contractor ISS Facility
Services – Landscaping has begun a new
five-year contract to provide horticultural
services to Fenland District Council. It is
worth £500,000 and comes with an option
to extend for a further five years.
Looking after the District’s open spaces,
cemeteries, play areas, sports pitches and
award-winning Green Flag parks will require a
broad range of grounds services, including the
maintenance of grassed areas, herbaceous
Following the election
earlier this year of Phil
Jones, Managing Director
of ISS Facility Services –
Landscaping, as Chairman
of BALI-NCF, the Forum is
already gaining momentum
and answering the call to
action.
The first step for the organisation, which currently
comprises larger landscaping and grounds
maintenance contractors, was to ascertain from
the membership the common issues affecting
the sector. With this achieved, a clear set of
strategic objectives has been agreed to ensure
key challenges are clearly communicated to those
who directly affect how the industry is operated,
for example government bodies.
The agreed strategic objectives are:
• To achieve a consistent approach to the
procurement and tendering process, which
would include a suite of standardised
documents for use by public sector clients
and contractors across grounds maintenance
contracts – a methodology already adopted
this year by the Highways Sector.
• Benchmarking of Health & Safety statistics,
using an independent third party to
anonymously collect and collate this
commercially sensitive information. Benefits will
include improved compliance, the cutting of
costs and the sharing of best practice across
the industry and, most importantly, ensuring
that our industry’s employees return home
safely each day.
• Amendment of HM Revenue and Customs’
Memorandum of Agreement, which prevents
landscaping contractors from using rebated
red-dyed diesel to fuel machinery – “At a time
when local authorities are suffering a reduction
in budgets and the government is trying to
encourage greater investment in parks and
green spaces, it would seem to make little
sense to continue to increase the tax burden
on the grounds maintenance sector” said Phil
Jones.
• Lobbying of government bodies to find a
fair solution to the negative effects that the
borders, hedges, bowling greens and equipped
play areas. Additional services to be delivered
by ISS include tree works, woodland and
copse management and the undertaking of
specific operations for special events such as
the Chatteris Festival and the Wisbech Yule
Fayre. Throughout the contract ISS will be
working closely with Fenland District Council
and community groups such as Street Pride
to improve the quality of life for the District’s
residents.
Key to the success of the contract will be
the utilisation of ISS’s fully customised,
web-enabled software, which captures and
records required critical data in real time.
This data field solution allows for the most
effective use of the workforce by creating an
introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW)
will have on grounds maintenance contractors,
particularly those locked into long-term
contracts. The NLW will see the minimum wage
rate rise to £7.20 an hour for people aged over
25 in 2016, ultimately reaching £9.00 an hour
by 2020. Earlier this month BALI-NCF and BALI
sent a joint lobbying letter to the Chancellor, the
Secretary of State, senior Government officials
and civil servants in the Treasury and at the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills,
the Chairman of the Low Pay Commission
and the CBI highlighting the serious impact
that the introduction of the National Living
Wage will have on those grounds maintenance
contractors working on local authority
contracts.
Raising the BALI-NCF profile and sharing its
aims and objectives is a crucial step in gaining
momentum and it was with particular pleasure
that the Forum was able to work in association
with Eljays44 and Pro Landscaper to host the
Landscape Summit at this year’s FutureScape
event at Sandown Park Racecourse, Surrey. The
Summit, themed as ‘Planning for the Future’,
opened with an introduction by Phil Jones, who
focused on BALI-NCF and its key objectives and
role within the wider industry. This was followed
by expert talks from Andrew Gill, President of the
CIH, and Mike Windsor, Principal of Mike Windsor
Associates, who highlighted some of the core
issues facing the grounds maintenance industry
today, particularly within the public sector. This
was a great opportunity for industry professionals
to learn more about this valuable sector and to
contribute their thoughts, which will be used by
the Forum to shape a future course of action.
BALI-NCF would like to extend its thanks to both
Eljays44 and Pro Landscaper for making the
Landscape Summit possible.
It is BALI-NCF’s intention to continue to expand
the membership, welcoming both smaller
contractors with national aspirations and larger
main landscape contractors to the Forum, giving
one clear voice to the industry and encouraging
a more collaborative way of working. This, in turn,
will ensure a sustainable future for both our parks
and green spaces and the industry that maintains
them.
inventory of all sites and associated assets
and calculating the most logical, efficient and
environmentally appropriate routes for the
grounds maintenance teams. Live links to
work programmes and audit reports will also
be facilitated, promoting full transparency of
contract delivery to Fenland District Council
and its officers.
www.isslandscaping.co.uk
Ground Control completes
landscaping at new
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
The much anticipated Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, known as
Alder Hey in the Park, was unveiled last month, welcoming patients
and families into brand new surroundings. As a part of the £250m
rebuild, BALI Registered Contractor Ground Control, on behalf of
Laing O’Rourke, won the contract to carry out the entire hard and
soft landscaping across the site.
Covering an area of 61,000m2, the hospital includes clinical facilities, an
energy centre, atrium, a helipad and a 1,778 space multi-storey car park.
There are 270 beds (75 per cent en suite), 13 imaging rooms and 16
operating theatres.
Designed through the eyes of a child, the new hospital is an exciting place;
inviting, warm, happy, calming and educational, offering children a ‘homefrom-home’ when they need it most. Aside from the new clinic areas,
New park for Telford as work
to village moves forward
A new park has
opened recently in
Telford as part of
the latest phase of a
£45 million housing
development
dubbed the
‘second Bournville’.
Croppings Park is
the second park
to open in Lightmoor Village, which is currently home to over
1,000 people and is managed by Bournville Village Trust.
The Park is being maintained by BALI Registered Contractor
Bournville Village Trust and has been developed by Keepmoat and
funded by the Homes and Communities Agency through its Public
Land Initiative. Designed to cater for children ranging from toddlers
to teenagers, the 3.5 acre park features a multitude of swings, slides,
climbing frames and springers. For older children there is a hardsurfaced ball court where they can play football, basketball and
netball, and a new shelter for teenagers to get together with friends.
operating theatres and research facilities, the hospital offers children access
to play areas, outdoor spaces and striking views of the park.
Taking on the external grounds, Ground Control carried out all hard and soft
landscaping across the site, which included bulk excavation, surface water
drainage, bespoke timber planters and pergolas, colour macadam, natural
and pcc paving, timber decking, play equipment, street furniture, topsoil
installation and tree and shrub planting.
Specialist elements included the Ground Control fencing team installing
bespoke estate railing, a specialist drainage layer and completing works
to podium slabs and courtyards. Additionally, the team installed surface
finishes to the second storey courtyard garden, approximately 2000 m2
coloured macadam in courtyard areas, hardwood bespoke planters and
high specification granite paving. Over 2000m2 of turf was laid on reinforced
soil to provide access routes for emergency vehicles.
Ground Control’s Construction Manager, Steve Yates, who managed the
project commented: “It’s been great to be involved in such an exciting
project that really will provide a much more enjoyable experience for patients
and families. Although challenging at times, we completed the work on
schedule so that the patients and staff would have access to the outside
areas from day one and I feel that the overall look of the landscaping
compliments such a distinctive building.”
www.ground-control.co.uk
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The park also features new trees, plants, bins and benches, and
pathways linking it to a network of footpaths and open spaces,
including an orchard where fruit trees are planted for each new baby
born in the Village. An official opening of the park saw local families
come along to enjoy a picnic
Becci Youlden, Head of Stewardship and New Communities at
Bournville Village Trust, said: “We are really pleased to officially open
up this fantastic facility to the Lightmoor community. It is already
proving very popular with children and importantly it’s also providing
outdoor facilities for older children, which we haven’t had in the Village
before. Going forward, we hope the park will support families to enjoy
an active lifestyle, embrace the outdoors and spend time together as
a community.”
Inspired by Bournville model village in Birmingham, which was
developed by chocolate-maker George Cadbury, Lightmoor Village
currently features 500 homes, a primary school, nursery, retail units,
medical centre, community centre and an extra-care housing scheme.
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7528_Coles Advert 91x118 Portrait 2015-16.indd 2
12/08/2015 16:03
Connecting with BALI’s domestic
contractors through the BALI
Domestic Forums
National Chairman Bob Field stated, when elected in September
2014, that he wanted to make sure BALI members working
predominantly in the domestic market were properly supported.
True to his word he has instigated two Domestic Forums this year.
Here, Bob reviews both events and promises more to come…
The Outdoor
Room celebrates
20 years in
business
Award-winning BALI Registered
Contractor The Outdoor Room
celebrated its 20th anniversary in
October with a party at Cisswood
House Hotel, West Sussex. One hundred
guests, including current and former
staff members, clients, designers and
suppliers, joined managing director
David Dodd for the celebration.
Addressing the assembled guests David
explained how in 1995, at the age of 25, he
had just finished as a full time lecturer at
Merrist Wood College when he decided to
set up The Outdoor Room. With an old pickup truck, a few tools and a labourer who was
an ex-student, the fledgling company turned
over £47,000 in its first year. “I was delighted”
said David, “and I knew I’d need more staff.
This year we have a turnover of nearly £2
million! I could have expanded the company
to a far larger scale but I’ve deliberately
kept it small with only 17 full-time staff. This
way I can keep it manageable with a more
personal service to our customers.”
David put the company’s success down to
his staff and their commitment to quality
landscaping and he finished with a toast to
them all, saying he was very much looking
forward to the next 20 years. During the
evening £555 was raised for the industry
charity Perennial and was duly handed over
to a delighted Kate O’Shea.
www.theoutdoorroom.co.uk
This autumn we have put on two forums
aimed at BALI members working in the
domestic market. Our first was held at
BALI Affiliate member CED’s premises in
West Thurrock, Essex, and the second at
BALI Affiliate member Johnsons Wellfield
Quarries’ site in Huddersfield, West
Yorkshire. For inaugural meetings they
were well attended.
• case studies of contract disputes
The aim was to provide topics that would help
domestic contractors, particularly smaller or
newer members, and plenty of opportunity to
network. Our main themes for both events were
Contract Law and ‘How to grow your business’.
• legislation updates
The providers of BALI’s HR/H&S helpline and
legal support, QDOS, provided an insight
to Contract Law before Bob Field briefly
went through the standard documents most
commonly used for domestic work, i.e. the BALI
Form of contract; JCLI Landscape Contract for
Home Owner / Occupier issued by SGD; and the
JCT Minor Works Building Contract 2011. There
was a good discussion at both events about
terms and conditions, deposits for contracts and
whether start and finish dates should be entered
into contracts.
The second part of each forum saw Ed
Belderbos of Belderbos Landscapes (Essex
event) and Mark Gregory of Landform
Consultants (West Yorkshire event) talking about
their own businesses, in particular how they ran
them and built them up. As you can imagine,
there was much discussion about the pros and
cons of each speaker’s methods!
The Q & A sessions discussed the National
Living Wage and its effect; travelling distances;
clients’ requests for price breakdowns; the
BALI Awards; training for small companies; how
to inspire staff; dealing with new members of
staff; and how to focus clients on the value of
landscaping rather than just on the cost.
Both days finished with a feedback session
to determine what members want from this
type of forum and how these events should be
advertised and the comments included:
• Better to hold the forums from November to
February
• SGD and other non-BALI members should be
invited
• BALI Affiliates could sponsor the events
• Promotional flyers could be ‘jazzed up’
and the events should be advertised in Pro
Landscaper magazine.
Future topics requested included:
• a layman’s guide to CDM
• project problems
• sealing stone and the modern way to lay and
point
• H & S for domestic contractors
• principles of pricing and costing
• planting large trees
•recruitment
• marketing and social media.
We are planning to run two more forums in
the early New Year at different locations, with
possibly one at Landscape House and one
further down the country in the South/South
West, so do keep an eye out for emails and for
details on the events pages of the website. If
these two planned events are as well received
as the first two forums then we are likely to open
future forums up to others, including designers
and SGD members, as well as having Affiliate
members in attendance.
I am conscious that if the forums become too
big the interaction between those members
attending may diminish and this could be to the
detriment of the events. To prevent this we will
seek your feedback after each event and tailor
future events to make sure they are delivering
what our members want.
I would like to thank CED and Johnsons Wellfield
Quarries for hosting the inaugural forums, and
Emily, Carly and Diane at Landscape House for
their organisational input.
Contractor Focus
Leicestershire Garden
Design Company
BALI Registered Contractor
Leicestershire Garden Design Company
is based near Leicester and joined
BALI in 2014. Owners Barry and Jeff
Randall have over 22 years’ landscape
contracting experience and in the
relatively short time the company has
been operating they have taken it to an
annual turnover of £1m, with the aim of
growing the business to a turnover of
£2.8m in the next two years.
Barry and Jeff’s focus is very much on
delivering quality domestic hard and soft
landscaping by investing in and developing
their staff. “It’s our responsibility to grow our
team so that they can grow our business”
commented Barry. “From the beginning
we built the business on hiring apprentices
and training them alongside some more
experienced team members. Three of those
trainees have gone on to achieve NVQ level
2 Team Leader qualifications this year with
a further two passing their horticultural
apprenticeships. We currently have four more
first year apprentices, and three more joining
the company in February 2016, bringing
our workforce up to a total of 24, including
management.”
The company’s highly skilled landscape
contractors and management staff provide a
strong mentoring base for the trainees. Barry
explained: “We train our team internally and
allow them to flourish and grow, giving them
the opportunity to lay paving, build walls and
fit artificial lawns, with our clients approval. We
understand that they won’t be perfect so we
Barry (left) and Jeff Randall
accept the loss of time (and short term profit)
to give them the chance to become skilled
landscapers.” Keen to encourage their staff to
develop, the company holds internal awards to
reward achievement.
Leicestershire Garden Design Company
has big plans for the future, which includes
expanding into the commercial sector. To this
end it has just achieved CHAS accreditation.
Barry and Jeff also want to work with external
garden designers, landscape architects and
other BALI contractors. They’ve already built
a garden for BBC One’s DIY SOS programme
alongside multi Chelsea Gold medal winning
designer Peter Dowle and are keen to look at
all opportunities to expand their portfolio of
quality schemes.
www.leicestershiregardendesign.co.uk
LGD apprentices
EFSA concludes
glyphosate safe
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and
the EU Member States have finalised the
re-assessment of glyphosate, a chemical
that is used widely in pesticides. The report
concludes that glyphosate is unlikely to
pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans and
proposes a new safety measure that will
tighten the control of glyphosate residues
in food. The conclusion will be used by the
European Commission in deciding whether
or not to keep glyphosate on the EU list of
approved active substances, and by EU
Member States to re-assess the safety of
pesticide products containing glyphosate
that are used in their territories.
A peer review expert group made up of
EFSA scientists and representatives from risk
assessment bodies in EU Member States has set
an acute reference dose (ARfD) for glyphosate of
0.5 mg per kg of body weight, the first time such
an exposure threshold has been applied to the
substance.
Jose Tarazona, head of EFSA’s Pesticides Unit,
said: “This has been an exhaustive process – a full
assessment that has taken into account a wealth
of new studies and data. By introducing an acute
reference dose we are further tightening the way
potential risks from glyphosate will be assessed in
the future. Regarding carcinogenicity, it is unlikely
that this substance is carcinogenic.”
Unlikely to be carcinogenic
The peer review group concluded that glyphosate
is unlikely to be genotoxic (i.e. damaging to DNA)
or to pose a carcinogenic threat to humans.
Glyphosate is not proposed to be classified
as carcinogenic under the EU regulation for
classification, labelling and packaging of chemical
substances. In particular, all the Member
State experts but one agreed that neither the
epidemiological data (i.e. on humans) nor the
evidence from animal studies demonstrated
causality between exposure to glyphosate and the
development of cancer in humans.
EFSA also considered, at the request of the
European Commission, the report published by
the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC), which classified glyphosate as probably
carcinogenic to humans.
The evaluation considered a large body of
evidence, including a number of studies not
assessed by the IARC which is one of the reasons
for reaching different conclusions.
As well as introducing the ARfD, the review
proposed other toxicological safety thresholds
to guide risk assessors: the acceptable operator
exposure level (AOEL) was set at 0.1 mg/kg body
weight per day and an acceptable daily intake
(ADI) for consumers was set in line with the ARfD
at 0.5 mg/kg body weight per day.
Dr Tarazona added that EFSA will use the new
toxicological values during its review of the
maximum residue levels for glyphosate in food,
which will be carried out in cooperation with
Member States in 2016.
Next steps
The EFSA conclusion will inform the European
Commission in deciding whether or not to retain
the substance on the EU’s list of approved active
substances. This is a condition for enabling
Member States to authorise its continued use in
pesticides in the EU.
For an explanation of the main findings of EFSA’s
Conclusion on glyphosate, please consult the
organisation’s special non-specialist summary.
EFSA has also produced a supplementary
document that takes an in-depth look at some of
the scientific issues that were highlighted during
the assessment.
Background
Glyphosate is an active chemical substance
widely used in a number of pesticide products and
its use in Europe is subject to strict regulation. The
EFSA peer review was carried out as part of the
legal process required to renew authorisation of its
use in Europe.
Following standard procedure for such renewals,
the applicants supplied a dossier of relevant
scientific information to a Member State – known
as the rapporteur Member State (RMS) – to
carry out an initial assessment. The dossier was
assessed by the RMS, in this case Germany, and
passed to EFSA to make a final evaluation of the
evidence and conclusions in the file. This process
is carried out by a peer review group made up
of EFSA scientists and representatives from risk
assessment bodies in all EU Member States.
What are maximum residue levels?
A maximum residue level (MRL) is the highest
concentration of an active substance that is
legally tolerated in food or feed when pesticides
are applied correctly. EFSA is responsible for
proposing MRLs in the EU, assessing the safety
for consumers based on the toxicity of the
pesticide, the levels expected to be found in food
and the different food consumption habits of
Europeans. The safety assessment is carried out
using toxicological reference values such as the
acute reference dose (ARfD).
What is an acute reference dose
(ARfD)?
An ARfD is an estimated intake of a chemical
substance in food, expressed on a bodyweight
basis, that can be ingested over a short period of
time, usually during one meal or one day, without
posing a health risk.
www.efsa.europa.eu
Spectacular giant
tree ferns arrive at
Pershore College
redevelopment
A set of 100-year-old tree ferns have been
delivered to Pershore College as part of the
£5.8m redevelopment of the campus.
The tree ferns (Dicksonia squarrosa - common
name New Zealand Tree Fern), which originated
in Tasmania but were sourced from Holland,
arrived at the college in October. The 5.5m tall
plants provided a logistical challenge for the
college’s horticultural team but with a lot of
manoeuvring were transferred from the delivery
lorry to the new Collections House, where they
are now a central feature of the college’s new
building. As well as these, the Collections House
will have some rare fast-growing ferns called
Cyatheas, one of which, Cyathea dealbata, is
the tree fern you see as the All Blacks rugby
symbol.
The £5.8m redevelopment has transformed the
college with a new contemporary glass building
housing the Collections House, teaching rooms
and project spaces as well as a new library
area. BALI Chief Executive Wayne Grills visited
the new building on 11th November when he
gave a presentation to students on BALI and
the support the association offers to students
as they move into employment and build their
careers in the landscaping and horticulture
industries. He said:
“The new building at Pershore College is very
impressive and the teaching facility that the
Collections House provides is a wonderful
resource. With plants such as the New Zealand
Tree Fern being used increasingly in amazing
projects in the UK, such as the Sky Garden
at the top of the Walkie Talkie building in
Fenchurch Street, London, students should
regard them amongst the natural resources
available to them and not simply exotic
specimens in collections. I am sure Pershore
College’s new building will be a huge draw to
students from across the country.”
www.pershore.ac.uk
Concerns over alleged CSCS card
scheme training and testing fraud
A recent ‘Newsnight’ programme raised
concerns over alleged unscrupulous
practices by training providers involved
with the testing and course certification for
CSCS cards. To the best of BALI’s knowledge
this has not affected nor involved the LISS/CSCS
cards that are available through BALI/CSCS
and we have every confidence that CSCS, in
conjunction with CITB and the awarding bodies,
will be ensuring that action is taken against any
training provider proven to have engaged in
fraudulent activity where other card schemes are
involved.
There are positives to be taken from the
programme coverage, however. For example:
• CSCS principal objectives get mentioned
and the fact that the vast majority of industry
expects employees to carry a CSCS card;
• Smartcards are featured with the comment that
this makes it more difficult to forge cards;
• Legitimate test centres deliver tough tests
under invigilated conditions;
• Confirmation from the guilty parties that the
awarding bodies will close them down if they
are caught and the qualifications issued would
be revoked.
CSCS and CITB – next steps
• All cards issued as a result of training and
assessment delivered by Wep:HSE (featured
in the programme) are being traced and
withdrawn. Cardholders will be required to retake the relevant qualification.
• CSCS will be reviewing training centre security
and audit procedures with all 24 awarding
bodies at their next forum;
• All CSCS cards issued as a result of tests
completed at these centres will be revoked and
all cardholders will be required to re-take the
test. As some of these cardholders will have
CIRIA publishes
updated SuDS manual
CIRIA has launched the most
comprehensive industry SuDS guidance
available in the UK, focusing on the costeffective planning, design, construction,
operation and maintenance of sustainable
drainage systems.
The SuDS Manual (C697), first published by
CIRIA in 2007, is the one-stop-shop for delivering
SuDS and it is this guidance that has been
significantly revised. The updated version (now
C753) incorporates the very latest research,
industry practice and guidance.
In delivering SuDS there is a requirement to meet
the framework set out by the Government’s ‘non
achieved their cards by completing a legitimate
test the re-test charge will be waived by CITB.
• CITB have confirmed that security and audit
arrangements will be strengthened. Currently
any new applications to run a test centre are
required to install CCTV. This will now be
extended to existing test centres. CITB have
also confirmed they carry out unannounced
audits on every test centre and this will be
increased.
• SSSTS and SSMTS. CITB will be tracing
and cancelling all certificates issued by the
offending company and reviewing security
arrangements. Note; as these certificates
are not required by CSCS withdrawal will not
cancel the CSCS card unless either their VQ
and/or HS&E test was also fraudulent.
Should BALI discover any similar practices
relating to the ROLO Health and Safety
Awareness course, appropriate action will
be taken and the relevant authorities notified
immediately.
CSCS Construction Related
Occupation (CRO) cards
Please be aware that all CRO cards, including
LISS/CSCS white/grey Ecologists’ cards and
white Basic Chainsaw Users’ cards, issued from
1st October 2015 will expire on 30th September
2017 and will not be renewable. The CRO card
is no longer fit for purpose and CSCS and BALI
have consulted with industry to determine the
best way to address this issue.
If you have questions or concerns regarding
the BALI Health and Safety Awareness course,
the LISS/CSCS scheme or any other training
or qualification questions, please, in the first
instance, visit www.bali.org.uk and should
you need further clarification please contact
ali.inskip@bali.org.uk
statutory technical standards’ and the revised
SuDS Manual complements these but goes
further to support the cost effective delivery of
multiple benefits. Earlier this year a ministerial
statement made by the Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government made it
clear that SuDS must play a greater role in the
planning system, and to that effect it was made
a requirement that sustainable drainage systems
will be provided in new major developments
wherever appropriate.
SuDS recognise the value of rainwater, seeking
to capture, use, delay or absorb it, rather than
reject it as a nuisance or problem. Sustainable
drainage delivers multiple benefits. As well
as delivering high quality drainage whilst
supporting areas to cope better with severe
rainfall, SuDS can also improve the quality of life
IOG lobbies for pitch
grading framework
The response by the Institute of
Groundsmanship (IOG) to the Government
consultation on its ‘New Strategy for Sport’
includes calls for the introduction of a
national framework for grading natural turf
pitches and for the Sportsmatch scheme
to be accelerated and extended to include
sports turf suppliers.
By assessing playing surfaces, all stakeholders
would then have a realistic benchmark for pitch
quality combined with an objective framework
for appropriate levels of training and education
that would result in more effective maintenance
routines to help improve playing surfaces.
“Improvements in pitch quality, especially at
grassroots level, would then enable more fixtures
to take place and therefore encourage increased
participation at all age groups and across all
sports,” says chief executive Geoff Webb in the
IOG’s submission to the Department of Culture,
Media and Sport. He adds: “Parks should
be the lifeblood of participation and activity,
and new and improved maintenance routines
arrangements can breathe new life into local
community pitches – of which there are more
than 33,000 in England alone – that have been
left redundant for too long.
“The IOG accepts the provision of synthetic turf
but also argues that the year-on-year investment
made in natural turf should rise and be more
widely promoted than is currently the case.
Natural turf technology has moved on rapidly
since the stereotypical mud baths of the 1970s,
and Government and the national governing
bodies of sport must acknowledge both this
and the fact that education is key to promoting
the benefits of natural turf.”
Commenting that the Government’s
Sportsmatch scheme was highly successful in
encouraging sponsorship for grassroots sports
and new participation, Geoff also adds: “The
IOG would like to see the scheme accelerated
and for sports turf suppliers to be included so
that clubs can access kit and equipment to help
towards better pitch preparation.”
www.iog.org
in developments and urban spaces by making
them more vibrant, visually attractive, sustainable
and resilient to change by improving urban
air quality, regulating building temperatures,
reducing noise and delivering recreation and
education opportunities.
The updated SuDS Manual is collaboratively
funded and is free to download, available from
the CIRIA website (www.ciria.org). CIRIA also
manage the susdrain website (www.susdrain.
org) that provides a range of resources and
information for those involved in delivering SuDS.
Beware fake topsoil test reports Tim O’Hare has issued a warning to
contractors and landscape architects
regarding the circulation of fake topsoil
test reports. His consultancy (TOHA)
undertakes routine topsoil testing for a large
number of topsoil suppliers and contractors
throughout the UK and has recently been
made aware that some of their routine Topsoil
Test Reports have been copied, altered, and
reproduced by a third party, containing false
information and/or test results. This practice has
potentially costly and damaging implications for
clients, landscape architects and contractors.
These reports do not represent an actual source
of topsoil and they are now circulating across
the landscape industry and being presented to
suppliers, contractors, regulators and designers
as genuine TOHA reports.
pleased to confirm whether or not the document
is genuine.
What to look out for
TOHA soil reports will always contain the
following:
These fake versions have a number of subtle
inconsistencies when compared with bona fide
TOHA reports, e.g.:
• No client name
• No date
• No job reference number
• Missing results
• Inconsistent font size/spacing
If you receive a TOHA soil test report and you
are unsure of its authenticity, please email
info@toha.co.uk and the TOHA team will be
1.2-4 pages of written comment/advice and
a test certificate as the last page of the
document. TOHA never issue test certificates
without a written report so if you just
receive the certificate, please request the
accompanying report.
2.Each page, including the test certificate, will
include the Client Name, Date and a unique
TOHA reference number.
3.All pages will have a watermark of the client’s
name.
Industry conference elevates soil to its
rightful place in the landscape hierarchy
blending operations to produce BS3882 topsoil,
and the future of designer soils to meet individual
project requirements. The London Olympics was
used as a ‘best practice’ case study.
An innovative conference for landscape
professionals, ‘Soil – meeting the challenges
of a changing landscape’, took place on 14th
October at the Howbery Park Conference
Centre in Wallingford, Oxfordshire to mark the
UN’s International Year of Soils. Six industry
experts, including conference organiser
and BALI Affiliate member Tim O’Hare and
past president of the Landscape Institute,
Sue Illman, presented to 90 delegates, who
included landscape architects, garden
designers, landscape contractors, topsoil
suppliers and tree nurseries.
John Melmoe, Commercial Director of multiaward winning BALI Registered Contractor
Willerby Landscapes, gave the contractor’s
perspective on selecting and applying the correct
soils for the job, discussing the importance of
pre-construction planning, advance procurement,
site testing of soils, correct handling, and hold
points during installation. He highlighted projects
where soils have had a significant importance and
bearing on the contractor’s programme, including
Jubilee Park, Chavasse Park, Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park South Park and, more recently,
Cubitt Park, King’s Cross.
The conference was the brainchild of soil scientist
Tim O’Hare, who has provided soil science
consultancy to some of the country’s highest
profile public realm landscape schemes, including
the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, The Garden
Bridge, Jubilee Park, Chavasse Park, Battersea
Power Station and King’s Cross Regeneration.
His objective for the conference was to provide
a platform for debate by the landscape sector
on the issues around soil, to give delegates a
practical soils tool kit to which they can refer
when they next embark on a landscape project,
and to ensure soil is elevated to its rightful place in
the landscape hierarchy.
First to speak, on the significance of soil in
Environmental Impact Assessments, was Senior
Associate at Tim O’Hare Associates, Rob Askew.
A nationally recognised and industry-accepted
standard set of Significance Criteria to help
assess the potential impact of infrastructure
projects on Greenfield soil resources (topsoil and
subsoil) does not currently exist. Rob presented
examples of bespoke Significance Criteria for
assessing agricultural land and soil resources,
which have been used on recent major national
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) projects,
including HS2 Phase 1 (London to Birmingham).
Sue Illman of Illman Young Landscape Design
presented on the many aspects of Sustainable
Drainage System (SuDS) design, and how soils
are a fundamental part of their function. The
presentation covered a number of practical
aspects, including the need to understand the
geology in SuDS design, the soils required
for different sorts of SuDS, issues relating to
contaminated land, and point source and blanket
infiltration.
City silviculture and the dynamics of the urban
landscape was the subject addressed by
Johanna Gibbons. From John Evelyn to the
rapidly evolving field of urban forestry and
expanding urban populations, Jo drew from the
foundations of the notion of sustainability rooted
in forestry practice through to the current call
to arms by pressure groups such as Trees and
Design Action Group (TDAG) through publications
such as ‘No Trees, No Future’. She argued for a
cross disciplinary collaborative approach from soil
science, community engagement, engineering
and ecology in realising the value of the urban
forest.
Tim O’Hare’s presentation ‘Practical applications
of soil science for today’s landscape’ gave
delegates useful, practical information they could
take away and apply to their future landscape
projects. Drawing on his 23 years’ experience
working within the landscape industry he
clarified some of the more common soil issues
and misunderstandings that arise on projects,
including ideas on tree pit design, his opinion
on urban tree soil systems, soil requirements for
species-rich grasslands, understanding soil pH,
and the new 2015 version of BS3882.
One surprising theme that emerged from all of
the presentations was the need to specify soils
on a ‘project-specific’ basis and to not rely on the
British Standard for Topsoil (BS3882).
Speaking after the conference, Tim O’Hare
commented: “I am delighted with how well the
conference was received by all the delegates. We
have had tremendous feedback on the quality
and relevance of the speakers’ presentations
and I really do believe we have put soils back at
the top of the landscape agenda. If this means
that soils form part of the very early planning
stages of future projects – as they should – then
this conference will have achieved one of its key
objectives.”
www.toha.co.uk
With the engaging title ‘The Topsoil Journey –
from lovely drop of gear to exact science’, George
Longmuir reflected in his presentation on how
natural topsoil was bought and sold in the past
when greenfield sites were abundant, the ‘muck
away’ influence, today’s established topsoil
Conference speakers, from left: John Melmoe,
Sue Illman, George Longmuir, Tim O’Hare,
Johanna Gibbons and Rob Askew
Transform your business
landscape with coaching
Maggie Newton of Red Clematis Coaching
Services recently presented to BALI Regional
Chairs and Vice Chairs at one of their bi-annual
meetings at Landscape House. She explains
below the value of coaching, particularly to
businesses in the landscape sector, which she
knows well.
What do coaching and landscaping
have in common? Both offer
the opportunity to create a new
perspective, and encourage growth
and development. 80 per cent of
businesses in the landscape sector
employ fewer than five staff, and
competition is stiff. In order to grow,
businesses need to innovate; using
new skills such as coaching can make
a real difference.
Running a business on your own can
be stressful and lonely. There’s no-one
to bounce ideas off, point you in the
right direction, help you focus on the
most important issues, support you to
overcome challenges, and congratulate
you on successes. A coach can
support, guide and motivate you to
achieve your business goals much
faster than you would be able to on
your own.
Coaching provides a non-judgemental
and confidential space for reflection,
enabling you to be completely open
and honest about the challenges facing
your business. By setting clear goals,
outcomes and measures of success
at the outset, a coach will help you
overcome barriers and generate new
ideas, giving you the confidence to take
action to make things happen. A coach
won’t tell you what to do or give advice
but they will ask you the right questions
to enable you to gain clarity on specific
issues.
Case study
Here’s a situation where coaching
was successfully employed by a
landscaping business.
David founded his business more
than thirty years ago; it now employs
over ten staff and has a very well
established local reputation. He wanted
to start stepping back from managing
the day to day tasks but neither of his
children was interested in taking over
from him. After much consideration
he decided to employ a new general
manager, Peter, to bring fresh insights
and develop the business further.
Peter has a horticulture degree and
lots of technical knowledge but limited
experience of managing people.
Within the first few weeks it was clear
that problems were arising. Peter
adopted a very directive approach with
the team and didn’t listen to what they
tried to tell him. Members of the team
were constantly complaining to David,
which resulted in him having to spend
considerable time intervening and
trying to keep the peace. The impact
was a very demotivated team, conflict
and poor communication, which
resulted in wastage as orders weren’t
being coordinated correctly. Peter was
also getting frustrated at the lack of
progress.
In desperation David decided to
employ the services of a coach to work
with Peter. During the sessions, Peter
worked on building his confidence and
expertise in managing and relating to
staff members. He was able to identify
both his own and the team’s strengths
and skills and then implement changes
to maximise the effectiveness of his
new-found awareness. As a result the
team can now work independently,
without David being dragged into
operational issues, and Peter has been
able to get the staff fully on board with
his ideas for growing the business.
It has also led to better utilisation of
resources, reduced wastage costs and
a more pleasant working environment
for everyone with less stress.
Coaching is a tool that can be used
for far more than just addressing
performance issues, and everyone can
develop coaching skills. Start by using
more open questions in conversations,
such as how, what, where, why, when
etc. and see what happens. Here
are three of my favourite coaching
questions:
DESIGN & MANUFACTURE SINCE 1954
GARDEN
STRUCTURES
ARCHES • PERGOL AS • OBELISKS
FRUIT C AGES • RAISED BEDS & PL ANTERS
FL OWER SUPPORTS • FENCING • G ATES
Trade
Brochure
& Price List
available
• UK made designs with
RHS endorsement.
• Quality materials
with guarantees.
• Planning & consultation.
• Standard sizes &
bespoke designing.
2014
PRINCIPAL
AWARD WINNER
National
Landscape
Awards
• What’s the biggest challenge facing
your business currently and what
impact is this having?
• What’s stopping you from making
progress?
• What one action could you take now
to reduce the impact?
In summary, coaching can alter
behaviours, drive change, transform
the way your business operates and
help you gain a competitive advantage.
www.redclematis.co.uk
TRADE BROCHURE: 0845 218 2120
TRADE ENQUIRIES: trade@harrod.uk.com
www.harrodhorticultural.com
DESIGNER FOCUS
Janine Pattison
Studios expand
Janine Pattison, BALI board director
with responsibility for BALI designer
membership, has announced that her
company, Janine Pattison Studios, is
relocating to much larger freehold premises
in Poole, Dorset, in the spring of 2016.
Sensitive garden design
BALI Registered Designer Chris Parsons
of Hallam Garden Design is no stranger
to awards ceremonies. She has won
several BALI awards for Landscape
Design Excellence, three of them Principal
Awards, as well as National Awards from
other bodies. She was, however, surprised
and delighted to learn of the short-listing of
Ashfurlong Farm for ‘Medium Residential
Garden’ in the prestigious Society of
Garden Designers 2015 awards.
An old apple tree in the middle of a large sloping
grassy area was retained and made a focal point
by the addition of a lovely hardwood tree-seat
in a style in keeping with the house. A neatly
trimmed old bay tree and a shed in the corner
were retained with the lawn shaped around the
tree. Mixed borders were added all around with
trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses; a gravel
path accessing a gate at the bottom of the
garden; compost bins; and a lower sitting area
for evening sun.
This project had already won a BALI Award for
its contractors in 2013, as well as being finalist in
the Northern Design Awards. Chris Parsons has
been working with BALI contractors David and
Peter Cooper at Axholme Landscapes for fifteen
years and many of their joint projects have won
BALI Awards over this time. As with the other
award winning gardens, Ashfurlong Farm was a
great example of good teamwork, with designer
and contractor working collaboratively at the top
of their game, with a client who was clear about
the brief and trusted them to do the job well.
The client brief was for a garden that suited the
house and site and that would provide a level
terrace for sitting quietly in the sun and a place
to enjoy some shade. Thus a natural, formal,
traditional, cottage garden was created. The
clients wanted a very particular look to the hard
landscaping, especially the new retaining walls.
The garden is in Yorkshire with the old house
built of local stone. Chris Parsons visited the
quarry just a few miles away and Peter Cooper
of Axholme Landscapes had to work hard at
dressing the stone to get it exactly right.
Ashfurlong Farm, a converted 200 year old
farmhouse, is on the edge of Sheffield, close
to the Peak District. The client engaged Chris
to complete all the design work, including full
specifications, tendering, project monitoring and
planting design.
The clients, a middle aged couple, each had
different requirements about the planting; one
wanting ferns, hostas, grasses and box hedging,
with the other preferring softer, cottage garden
plants in pinks, blues, purples and whites. This
worked well with an L-shaped site. The back
garden is mainly sunny and now has masses
of flowering shrubs, perennials and grasses
with structural box globes and cones, and yew
blocks for winter structure. The front garden is
more cool and shady, giving the opportunity
for ferns and hostas and thus addressing both
clients’ requirements, as given in the brief.
The back garden sloped away to 2 metres lower
than the house with the sitting room apparently
teetering at the top of the slope. There was a tiny
old seating area, partly in shade, near the house.
This was replaced by a better proportioned
York stone terrace at a higher level, bringing it
closer to the sitting room and extending further
out from the house into the sun, with local York
stone retaining walls and well-proportioned
steps; a raised fish pond near the sitting room,
and pretty perennial borders. This terrace
provided a more solid ‘base’ for the house,
effectively anchoring it into the garden.
They love their new garden with a passion and
it has improved their quality of life. It attracts
wildlife, is colourful, very relaxing and interesting
to work in. The greatest compliment is paid by
friends who have known the garden for many
years; when they visit they say how much better
the garden looks but also ‘…..amazingly, how
it looks like it has always been there’. The old
gardener, now retired, will still come and sit
quietly contemplating on a sunny day; praise
indeed. If good design is about appropriateness,
and if the best gardens look as though they have
not been ‘designed’ because they sit so well in
the site, then this garden is indeed a winner.
www.hallamgardendesign.co.uk
The bright new space will incorporate a state-ofthe-art Landscape Design studio, client consultation, conference and samples rooms. There
will also be a team ‘chaos’ studio, for letting the
creative juices flow with sculpture, model-making
and painting. This move will facilitate better client
servicing and give the JPS team greater space to
bring their ideas to life.
The company has also announced the internal
promotion of two key team members. In keeping
with its ethos of developing home-grown
talent Luke Mills has been promoted to Senior
Landscape Designer for Commercial Clients
and Melissa King has been promoted to Senior
Landscape Designer for Private Clients. Together,
they form the new JPS Management Team, and
working alongside the Directors, will oversee the
next exciting phase of growth at JPS, including
the relocation to the new premises.
Luke joined the practice in 2013 with a Distinction
from the Oxford College of Garden Design, and is
also a highly qualified landscape gardener. With a
background in constructing large-scale, high-end
gardens for commercial and private clients, Luke
has brought a wealth of practical knowledge
to the company. He has excelled at project
management, developing highly-detailed solutions
for complex sites and has been instrumental in
the creation of the new JPS Specification Pack.
Melissa graduated from Falmouth University with
a BA (Hons) in Garden Design and joined JPS in
2014, bringing experience from both design and
practical areas of the industry. An exceptional
horticulturalist with a real passion for plants,
Melissa has transformed the standards in both
the creative and technical aspects of the JPS
planting schemes and their implementation by the
company’s planting team.
As a result of the recent creation of new
departments within the business, JPS are
currently recruiting again for a landscape
designer. The whole team is excited about the
move to their new HQ, which coincides with the
company’s upcoming 15th anniversary.
www.janinepattison.com
1.
The 39th
BALI National
Landscape Awards
Our grateful thanks to:
AWARD
SPONSORS
2.
Just when you think things can’t get any
better, the latest and 39th BALI National
Landscape Awards break another
attendance record with nearly 900 BALI
members and industry guests present for
the luncheon and Awards ceremony. It
was a really wonderful celebration of BALI
members’ professional achievements,
topped off by Frosts Landscape
Construction winning the Grand Award
for a stunning public realm project in the
Paddington area of London.
This year our Awards host was actor, stand-up
comedian and TV and radio presenter Miles Jupp,
who appears regularly on shows such as Never
Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You
and Mock the Week. In June 2015 he took over
from Sandy Toksvig as presenter of The News
Quiz.
Guests were once again treated to a wonderful
showcase of the country’s finest landscape
3.
schemes – the work of BALI designers and
contractors at the top of their profession. BALI’s
International members, too, submitted stunning
schemes, and the Affiliate Exceptional Service
Award was well supported by entries from BALI’s
supplier membership, with the Principal Award
being won for the second time by BALI Affiliate
member Harrod Horticultural.
Guests arriving at London’s Grosvenor House on
Friday 4th December for the pre-luncheon drinks
reception were welcomed by BALI’s National
Chairman Robert Field, Chief Executive
Wayne Grills and members of BALI’s Board
of Directors. With so many guests attending
this year, including a number of industry leaders,
moving around the reception was quite a
challenge but added to the excitement, which
was running at fever pitch. Just before midday,
guests were invited to find their way down to
The Great Room for the luncheon and Awards
ceremony.
Andersplus Horticulture
Bourne Amenity
Bradstone
Brett Landscaping
British Sugar TOPSOIL
CED Natural Stone
Crowders Nurseries
Easigrass
Europlants UK
Green-Tech
Harrowden Turf
HorticultureWeek
Johnsons of Whixley
Kubota
Lateral Design Studio
Makita UK
Marshalls plc
MCM
Paynes Turf
Penter Wienerberger
Quadron Services
Quinton Edwards
Ransomes Jacobsen
Springbridge Direct
Tarmac Topsport
The Landscape Group idverde
Top Green/Rigby Taylor
Willerby Landscapes
4.
6.
8.
5.
7.
Amongst the VIP guests hosted by BALI Board
members and staff this year were Mark Camley,
Executive Director of Park and Venues at the
London Legacy Development Corporation;
Carol Paris, Chief Executive of the HTA; Philippa
O’Brien, Chairman of the Society of Garden
Designers; Andrew Gill, President of the
Chartered Institute of Horticulture; Paul Todd,
Green Flag Award Scheme Manager; gardening
writer and journalist Steve Bradley from the Sun
(who taught many of the Award winners in his
tutoring days); TV presenter and Ground Force
star Tommy Walsh; Deborah Skillicorn, Managing
Director of the Greenfingers Charity; and senior
executives from Haymarket Group, publishers of
HortWeek.
In his welcome speech, Wayne Grills praised
this year’s Award winners for achieving excellence
in spite of the challenges faced by the landscape
industry. The skills shortage continues to be a
major concern, he said, and the introduction of
the National Living Wage could have a serious
impact on some BALI members, particularly
on those contractors working on local authority
contracts. He highlighted the importance of
the lobbying work carried out by BALI and
BALI-NCF in collaboration with other industry
bodies, to put these and other issues at the top
of the Government’s agenda. He also promoted
BALI’s outreach programme, which will see BALI
members going into schools and colleges to
promote careers in the landscaping industry.
In closing, he thanked Chair of the
Adjudication Panel, Greg Allen, and his fellow
awards judges for their dedication in visiting
every scheme and then convening to select the
winners. He also thanked this year’s headline
sponsor Green-tech for its support for BALI,
for the Awards, and for the wider landscape
industry. In thanking the team at Haymarket
Events and Landscape House for organising a
wonderful 2015 BALI National Landscape Awards
ceremony, he saved a very special ‘thank you’ for
Awards Project Manager Angela Donovan.
The 2015 BALI Awards were her last as she has
now left BALI to follow a career as a specialist
osteopath, running her own business. Wayne
thanked her for organising five successful Awards
since she took on the project management role in
2011 and, presenting her with flowers, wished her
every success for the future.
Following Kate Lowe’s speech on behalf of
Award partners HorticultureWeek, well known
announcer Alan Dedicoat, who provided the
commentary during the event, delivered the
charity appeal on behalf of the BALI Chalk Fund
and Greenfingers Charity. The collection during
the luncheon raised the magnificent sum of
£4634, to be shared equally by the two charities.
Managing a room full of excited guests is no small
task but Miles Jupp’s cynical humour struck a
note with the guests. He soon had them laughing,
in spite of themselves, at his observations of the
industry. One can only hope that, by the time his
hosting of the Awards Ceremony had come to an
end’, his impression of what our members do for
a living had changed somewhat!
The BALI members who enter the Awards each
year deserve enormous praise, regardless of
whether or not they are ultimately successful.
Putting your work forward for scrutiny by your
industry peers takes professional courage but the
rewards that come from winning a BALI Award, in
terms of industry profile and increased business,
are well worth it. The contractor and designer
categories were judged by chair of the awards
judging panel Greg Allen, a senior lecturer
in landscape studies at Writtle College,
fellow judges Andrew Legg and Steve
Roberts, well known landscape designers
and lecturers Robin Templar Williams and
Jason Lock, RHS Associate of Honour, show
judge and MD of Hillier Landscapes Richard
Barnard, and John Melmoe, Commercial
Director of multi award winning contractor
Willerby Landscapes and Honorary Member
of the Kew Guild. The Employer of the Year and
Affiliate Exceptional Service awards were judged
by Director of Lantra’s Skills Partnerships,
Madge Moore, Lantra Investor in People
specialist Tony Walmsley, and former BALI
member, National Chairman and current
Chair of the BALI Chalk Fund, Peter Jennins
OBE.
Once again all entries were visited by the
judges and the Principal and Special Awards
were presented on the day to the winners by
the commercial sponsor of each category. The
9.
11.
10.
13.
12.
The 39th BALI National Landscape Awards
ceremony culminated in the announcement
of the winner of the BALI Grand Award.
This is awarded for the project that, above all
the year’s Principal Award winning schemes,
exemplifies outstanding professional
landscaping. The 2015 project deemed by the
judging panel to be the worthy Grand Award
winner was 3 Merchant Square, London
W2 by Frosts Landscape Construction.
This scheme won the Principal Award in the
Hard Landscaping Construction (NonDomestic), cost over £1.5 million category,
sponsored by Bradstone.
Aidan Lane, Director at Frosts Landscape
Construction, said: “Receiving the Grand
Award for the Merchant Square scheme is a
fantastic accolade for Frosts and for the whole
team and came as a complete surprise. It was
quite a challenge on a number of fronts and
we are extremely proud that the BALI Awards
judges have chosen one of our projects over
and above the other great Principal Award
schemes this year. Winning the Grand Award
topped off a great day.”
Other Award winners were equally proud of
their achievements and were keen to express
their delight:
Northumbrian Landscaping won the
Principal Award for Domestic Garden
Construction, cost under £30,000,
sponsored by MCM, collected by owner
Peter Cunliffe, and the Special Award:
Design & Build, sponsored by British
Sugar TOPSOIL and presented by TOPSOIL
Manager Andy Spetch to one of Peter’s
younger members of staff, for a beautiful
private residence – The Clock House – in
Wylam, Northumberland. Peter was overjoyed
to receive the two awards, particularly as his
guests at the ceremony this year included his
Mum, his daughter and the owners of The
Clock House: “I am absolutely bowled over
by winning not only the Principal Award but
also the Special Design and Build Award,
which was a very welcomed surprise. In my
opinion, this has been the best BALI Awards
ever and I would like to congratulate BALI and
the main sponsors Green-tech on a fantastic
day. It was the perfect opportunity to reinforce
relationships with colleagues, suppliers and, of
course, our clients. We can feel a little isolated
up in the North East so being amongst so
many of our peers was a great thrill. It was a
wonderful day.”
BALI Registered Designer Rosemary
Coldstream won the Design Excellence
Award, overall scheme under £50K,
sponsored by Lateral Design Studio,
for The River Garden. She also received the
Special Award: Best Newcomer to BALI. After
collecting her awards, Rosemary said: “I was
thrilled to win the Design Excellence Award,
and to win the Best Newcomer to BALI Award
as a designer means a lot. It’s a great start to
2016!”
1. The Great Room
2. Guests arriving at the Grosvenor House
3. Sponsors’ reception
4. Presentation to BALI Awards Project
Manager Angela Donovan
5. Chief Executive Wayne Grills
6. Awards host Miles Jupp
7. Grand Award winners
Frosts Landscape Construction
8. Second time winners of the Affiliates
Exceptional Service Award, Harrod
Horticultural
9. Rosemary Coldstream MBALI receives
the Best Newcomer to BALI Award
10. Andy Spetch of British Sugar TOPSOIL
presents the Design & Build Award to
Northumbrian Landscaping
11. Community and Schools Development
Award presented to Ground Control
12. Quadron Services celebrate their
Employer of the Year Award
13. Anthony George and Richard Fry
15.
17.
16.
19.
20.
18.
20.
The 39th BALI National Landscape Awards
The Principal Award for the BALI Registered
Contractor’s and Designer’s Joint
Submission, sponsored by EasiGrass, was
won by Oak View Landscapes and Jason Lock.
Managing Director and BALI Vice Chairman Paul
Downer and Jason Lock, together with members
of the Oak View Landscapes team, collected
the award. Jakki Jenner, Oak View Landscapes’
Business Development Manager, said: “Oak
View Landscapes is extremely delighted to
have received a Principal Award, jointly with
Jason Lock, in this relatively new and very
worthy category. As a landscape contractor we
value immensely the relationships and strategic
partnerships we have with our BALI Registered
Designers and this award shows how key a close
joint working relationship is between designer
and contractor to delivering exceptional awardwinning schemes for our clients.”
Ground Control won the Principal Award
for Community and Schools Development,
sponsored by Brett Landscaping.
Alistair Wallace, Ground Control’s Director of
Construction, said: “We are very honoured
to have achieved a BALI Principal Award for
our scheme at St Giles’ Churchyard. It gives
great recognition for all our teams’ hard work,
dedication, expertise and passion for the project.
We were delighted to celebrate this achievement
with our craftsmen, supervisors, managers, client
and project architect. We look forward to bringing
our inspired team to the BALI Awards next year.”
Harrod Horticultural won the Principal Award
for Affiliate Exceptional Service sponsored
by Kubota for the second year running. The
Award was collected by Harrod Horticultural’s
Managing Director Stephanie Harrod and Trade
Manager Andrew Barringer. The judges cited
exceptional levels of customer service and
satisfaction and strong internal and external
communications amongst the many attributes
displayed by the company. Andrew Barringer
said: ‘’Having received the Principal Award for
Affiliate Exceptional Service Award last year we
really did not expect to win second year running,
especially with such fierce competition from
Makita and SureSet. We really cannot describe
how pleased we are to receive the award again
– the BALI awards are the highlight of our year,
recognising the very best in the landscape and
design industry. We pride ourselves on offering
exceptional products and services to all our
customers and it is fantastic for our staff to be
recognised at this level for their hard work and
dedication.”
Quadron Services, based in Weston-superMare, Somerset, won the Principal Award
for Employer of the Year, sponsored by
Andersplus. On receiving the award, Managing
Director and BALI Board member Clive Ivil was
quick to praise his employees: “I am delighted
that Quadron has been recognised as BALI’s
Employer of the Year. We have developed a
real focus on our people in recent years and
have been working within Quadron to improve
communication and continue to develop our
training and development opportunities at all
levels of the organisation, from apprentices to
managers. Special thanks must go to the HR,
Training, Health and Safety, and Compliance
teams for their dedication in ensuring our
staff enjoy a safe working environment and
opportunities to continually develop their skills.
Most of all this award belongs to every single
person at Quadron for the hard work and positive
attitude they demonstrate every day, which is
what makes Quadron such a great place to work.
Congratulations to the whole Quadron team!”
21.
22.
15. Oak View Landscapes and Jason Lock
MBALI share the Joint Submission Award
16. Helen Elks-Smith MBALI, Chairman of the
Adjudication Panel Greg Allen, and Bob Field
17. National Chairman Bob Field
18. Paul Cowell, centre, with Andy and Jane
Spetch
19. Jack Dunckley with Chairman of the SGD
Philippa O’Brien MSGD
20. Members of the Landscape House Team
21. David Dodd’s amazing jacket lining
22. Awards sponsors, Europlants, host
their guests
The Awards brochure, containing all the winners on the day, has been sent to all
BALI members. Next year’s BALI National Landscape Awards will mark the 40th
anniversary of the Awards and will take place on Friday 2nd December. The deadline
for entries is Friday 20th May for BALI Full Contractor categories and Friday 29th
July for all other categories, so start the process of deciding which of your current
schemes are potential award winners and make sure you get your entries in. We look
forward to celebrating with you at a magnificent 2016 40th anniversary BALI National
Landscape Awards in association with HorticultureWeek!
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2016 EVENTS CALENDAR
15 January
Party for Perennial, Skyloft, Millbank
Tower, London
Visit www.perennial.org.uk
6-7 September
16-17 February
RHS London Plant and Potato Fair,
RHS Horticultural Halls
Visit www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/
12-14 September GLEE, NEC Birmingham
Visit www.gleebirmingham.com
18 February
The Garden Press Event, Barbican
Exhibition Centre, London
Visit www.gardenpressevent.co.uk
8-10 March
Ecobuild, ExCeL, London
Visit www.ecobuild.co.uk
18 March
Greenfingers Garden Re-Leaf Day 2016
Visit www.gardenreleaf.co.uk
1-2 April
RHS Great London Plant Fair
15-17 April
RHS Show Cardiff, Bute Park, Cardiff
Castle
21-24 April
Harrogate Spring Flower Show, Great
Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate
Visit www.flowershow.org.uk
5-8 May RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Three
Counties Showground, Malvern,
Worcestershire
24-28 May
RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Royal
Hospital, Chelsea, London
3-4 June
The Arb Show 2016, Westonbirt National
Aboretum, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Visit www.trees.org.uk 16-19 June
BBC Gardeners’ World Live, NEC,
Birmingham
Visit www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com
21-23 June
Facilities Show, ExCeL, London
Visit www.facilitiesshow.com
5-10 July
RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
20-24 July
RHS Flower Show Tatton Park,
Knutsford, Cheshire
Four Oaks Trade Show, Macclesfield,
Cheshire
Visit www.fouroaks-tradeshow.com
15-17 September APF 2016, Ragley Estate, Alcester,
Warwickshire
Visit www.apfexhibition.co.uk
20-21 September Landscape, Battersea Park, London
Visit www.landscapeshow.co.uk
2-3 November
SALTEX, NEC, Birmingham
Visit www.iogsaltex.com
2 December
40th BALI National Landscape Awards,
Grosvenor House, London
Visit www.baliawards.co.uk
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SALTEX feedback
confirms success of move
The IOG’s decision to move both the location and timing of its SALTEX event has been
vindicated with the unprecedented success of its 70th anniversary event. Over 270
exhibitors and more than 8,000 attendees showed their support for the exhibition, held in its
new location at Birmingham’s NEC and at a later and more convenient time for many in the
industry – 4th-5th November.
In addition to attracting visitors from across the
UK, a high number of overseas visitors from
Europe, Asia, America and Africa also attended,
assisted by the venue’s proximity to national and
international transport links. The new show format
and venue also encouraged serious business
leads and significant sales, with exhibitors
reporting that a substantial number of visitors
were high-quality buyers with serious intent.
David W Jenkins, managing director at DJ
Turfcare Equipment gave similar feedback:
“Windsor had always been successful for us but
I have to say that we had double the amount of
serious enquires as we would have expected in
previous years.” Derek Smith, sales and marketing
manager at DLF & Johnsons Sports Seeds, said:
“There was a real buzz about the event! I lost
track of how many new faces we saw. As well as
picking up several new accounts there were some
really informative educational presentations on the
show floor.”
SALTEX visitors also benefitted from attending
the LEARNING LIVE programme over the two
days. Mike Cartwright, a greenkeeper from
Bournemouth, said: “I was interested in the
extensive range of seminars on offer and also
attended the show to see what was happening in
the grounds care market. We only work with four
or five suppliers so it’s nice to see what else is out
there. Our trip turned out to be half a buying day
and half an educational day. I didn’t know what to
expect, but next year I’ll be going to both days so
that I can attend more seminars.”
SALTEX proved the ideal platform for the IOG
to reinforce its encouragement of bringing
young people into the industry. The Young
Groundsmen’s Conference, sponsored by BALI
Affiliate member Rigby Taylor and Top Green,
offered a fantastic opportunity for those looking to
develop a rewarding career in groundsmanship.
Luke Devlin, 26, from Weybridge, Surrey, said:
“I’ve been in the industry for two years now and
I came to SALTEX to meet the IOG Young Board
of Directors and find out a bit more about what
they do. I definitely took a few things away from
the conference. I’m ambitious and would like to
think that in a few years’ time I could be running
my own site. So the motivational talk and the
discussion on morale were particularly helpful.”
BALI’s stand at the show was busy throughout
with enquiries from potential contracting
members. SALTEX 2016 will be held at the NEC,
Birmingham on 2 and 3 November 2016
www.iogsaltex.com
FutureScape
a resounding success
This year’s FutureScape event, held at Sandown Park Racecourse,
Surrey, on 17th November, was a resounding success with more than
1400 industry professionals attending.
BALI was one of 160 exhibitors at
the show and Ross Hutchinson,
who manned the BALI stand
throughout the day, was impressed
with the number of people coming
onto the stand and passing through
the exhibition area.
Organised by BALI Affiliate
member Eljays44, publishers of
Pro Landscaper, FutureScape
offered a new and extended
seminar programme, which was
very well attended with some rooms
having standing only. The lively
debates were also jam packed,
with Eljays44’s Jim Wilkinson firing
questions at the panellists in The
Beauty is in the Build, The Detail
is in the Design, The Passion is
in the Plants, and the new Show
Garden debate. He also conducted
a personal interview with award
winning garden designer Ann-Marie
Powell in Let’s Hear It Live. At the
end of each debate, there was an
opportunity for the audience to
take part in a question and answer
session, all of which raised some
very interesting talking points.
Jim Wilkinson said: “We are really
proud of this year’s FutureScape
and overwhelmed by the number
of visitors. The feedback so far has
been amazing both from visitors
and the exhibitors. Our social media
has being going mad about how
great the show was; we can’t wait
to start planning 2016.”
www.futurescapeevent.com
8-10 March 2016, London ExCel
Ecobuild is the leading exhibition and conference
event in the UK construction calendar, inspiring over
40,000 industry professionals from across the entire
supply chain to interact with over 800 exhibitors.
And with 50 per cent of visitors not attending any
other trade show, it is the perfect platform for BALI
members to get their message across to landscape
architects, clients, architects, developers,
contractors and more.
Get ready for
Ecobuild 2016
For any BALI member wishing to put its
business in front of thousands of industry
professionals and potential clients,
Ecobuild is a must-attend event. There are
still a number of exhibition shells available
in the BALI Pavilion – reintroduced for the
2015 show and extended in size for 2016
due to its success – where BALI members
can benefit from a 20 per cent discount on
standard exhibition rates whilst ensuring
they stand out from the crowd.
The BALI Pavilion is a combination of 3m x
3m stands all taken by BALI members, which
for 2016 includes SureSet, Nidaplast, Penter,
Hahn Plastics and Instarmac. With these five
companies already confirmed to exhibit, the
Pavilion will once again draw large crowds and
heavy footfall throughout the three day event.
“Ecobuild has established itself as a key event in
BALI’s annual calendar of shows and exhibitions
and we are extremely excited about its new
look and focus for 2016,” said Ross Hutchinson,
Communications Officer at BALI. “Visitor
numbers each year are impressive and the
show layout ensures the BALI pavilion attracts
entirely the right target audience, with specifiers,
landscape architects, contract managers and
local authority buyers well represented.” He
added: “For BALI members who can take
advantage of enquiries from across the country
and, indeed, from overseas, Ecobuild is an
excellent exhibition.”
Other BALI members confirmed to take a stand
at Ecobuild include ACO, Addagrip Terraco,
Bauder, Green-tech and Mobilane.
provocative keynote addresses on a range of
design challenges. Lastly, the ‘Next Generation’
day looks to the future, considering how smart
technology, changing demographics and
wellness will drive design and construction in the
future as well as how we will address the skills
gap.
The six learning hubs will be providing evidencebased content covering energy, building
performance, design, build circular, infrastructure
revolution and digital building as well as a
dedicated offsite construction zone.
A number of landscape specific conference and
seminar sessions will provide focus for BALI
members and audiences. These include a key
seminar session entitled ‘Making landscape
central to development success’, which will
explore the financial and social value of urban
landscape and how to turn it into an integral
part of the design and delivery process. Other
sessions include a masterclass on ‘Creating
places that are special’.
A smarter exhibition
With the global market for smart building
technologies set to triple in size to £14 billion
by 2019, Ecobuild has announced a new show
feature that will focus on this growing industry
trend. Designed with architects, landscape
architects, housebuilders, specifiers, developers,
energy assessors and sustainability specialists
in mind, SMART will be a centrepiece of the
exhibition, demonstrating how smart technology
New in 2016
Ecobuild has evolved for 2016 to put the
emphasis on enabling continued growth in the
construction sector. Following a survey of 2,500
exhibitors and visitors, as well as input from focus
groups, Ecobuild 2016 features a new, improved
show layout, increased capacity conference
arena and six learning hubs.
The high-level conference is themed for 2016.
The first day’s theme of ‘Homes’ includes a
strong focus on delivering the Government’s
ambitious new homes target whilst maintaining
quality and enhancing consumer well-being.
The second day covers ‘Architecture’ and
features leading architects giving inspiring and
Visitors at Ecobuild 2015
can provide an enhanced user experience in real
world settings.
DISCOVER is another new addition where
visitors can experience, first-hand, the latest and
most innovative materials for constructing the
buildings of the future. Featuring a central bar and
networking space, the DISCOVER feature is set
to be the social hub of the forward-thinking show.
For Ecobuild 2016, the event has once again
teamed up with Marks and Spencer to provide
a platform for companies to pitch innovative
building products and solutions in the hope of
becoming a potential supplier to the retailer. The
Big Innovation Pitch is open to any company
operating in the UK sustainable built environment
market and has been created to unearth
innovation across the design, construction and
energy sectors.
The Big Innovation Pitch presents two prime
opportunities for entries to be seen at the event.
The shortlisted entries will be displayed at
Ecobuild’s new central social hub the DISCOVER
bar alongside the shortlists for the Architect of
the Year Award. The selected finalists will also
get to make their final pitch to the judges in the in
conference arena.
For details of the BALI Pavilion shells available,
contact Ross Hutchinson on 02476 690333 or
email him at ross.hutchinson@bali.org.uk. For
further information about Ecobuild 2016, please
visit www.ecobuild.co.uk
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BALI’s new website goes live!
BALI’s new website at www.bali.org.uk is now live and open for business. Following an 18
month specification, design and testing period, the new website, which incorporates a
complex membership management database, is now the hub of BALI’s operations.
The new site, which is deliberately imageled to promote the work of BALI members
in the public, commercial and private/
domestic markets, makes finding a designer,
landscaper, grounds maintenance contractor
or product/service supplier much easier for the
public and for commercial clients searching
the site. Amongst the site’s features are the
facility for clients to upload tenders to solicit
quotations from BALI Registered members,
and comprehensive BALI member portfolios
to help clients choose a designer or contractor
whose work they like.
The project was managed by BALI’s Angela
Donovan, with input and support at the
specification stage from Chief Executive
Wayne Grills and BALI board members
Chris Carr of Q Lawns and Richard Stone of
Bawden Contracting Services. The testing
phase was protracted and complex and
involved almost the entire BALI team at
Landscape House, overseen by Emily Feeney,
with BALI members then being invited to
add editorial, images, awards, testimonials
and team profiles to their own pages on the
website. A snagging period then commenced,
using valuable member feedback and
incorporating many of their observations and
suggestions to ensure the site operated as
efficiently and effectively as possible.
Commenting on the new site, BALI National
Chairman Bob Field said:
“This has been an enormous undertaking
for BALI, both financially and in terms of
the staff resource required. The integration
of the membership database with the
website software to incorporate the many
facets of BALI’s membership operation,
Designer Forum
Designers from across the North of
England joined BALI Registered Designers
and SGD members at the Designer Forum
in Leeds in September. This was the
second of the Designer Forums and with
five industry speakers and a designer/
contractor panel discussion during the
afternoon it proved a huge success.
including membership enquiries, invoicing
and payments, vetting and standards, event
registration, and a host of functions required
by modern membership bodies, has been a
monumental challenge.”
He continued: “On my own behalf and on
behalf of the BALI board all BALI members I
must offer my sincere thanks to BALI’s project
manager Angela Donovan, to Emily Feeney,
and to the BALI team for their commitment to
completing this challenging task. We can now
move forward knowing that we have a robust
and appropriate website and CRM system fit
for the 21st century.”
As with all major technology upgrades the
BALI team anticipate a few teething problems
with the new site but are ready to help
BALI members, industry professionals and
members of the public navigate their way
through them. To report an issue with the site,
to provide the team with constructive input,
or to offer positive feedback, please email
contact@bali.org.uk or call 02476 690333.
Affiliates
Forum
BALI National Chairman Bob Field
attended a recent Affiliates Forum at
Landscape House and reports back on
the event, below, to encourage other
Affiliate members to attend future events.
23 companies attended our last Affiliates Forum,
which was held at Landscape House in October.
Nigel Coultas stepped down as Chairman and
was replaced by Simon Headley of Boughton
Loam; Vince Edwards of James Coles Nurseries
kindly agreed to act as Vice Chairman.
Landscape architect Robert Bray, a SuDS
consultant and expert, gave a very interesting talk
on SuDS. This showcased both hard and soft
situations where surface water can be dissipated
through beds and swales to reduce the amount
of water going into the mains drainage system. I
think several BALI members in the room hadn’t
realised that SuDS was not just about front
gardens and drives! A very enlightening talk, and it
was interesting to note a bonus for some Affiliates
who attended as they were able to introduce their
products to the speaker!
After lunch, members discussed a number
of issues where they had common concerns,
including:
The skills shortage – Even our Affiliate
members are suffering from the skills shortage
and believe that the image of the whole industry
needs improving to encourage young people in.
They agreed that this can only be achieved by
going into schools and colleges and explaining
our industry and the career potential.
Pallet sizes – The size of pallets couriers are
prepared to move was raised again but it now
seems that electric ‘pump trucks’ are being used
so that loads on pallets may stay as before.
Contract and tender lead times – There was
a discussion regarding the reduced lead in times
on tenders, which was putting pressure on supply
and affecting stock levels. These levels seem to
be now rising, however, with companies investing
more in their own infrastructure allow them to
meet demand.
National Living Wage – The National Living
Wage was mentioned and the general feeling was
that it wouldn’t have too much of an effect on the
Affiliates, apart from wages possibly increasing
due to differentials.
No firm topic was requested for the theme of
the next Affiliates Forum on 16th April, 2016, but
we will try and find a cracker! This was another
example of a successful forum where members
supplying the same market sector were able to
network and discuss the issues that matter to
them; one of the benefits of BALI membership!
Spread the word – it’s there to
support those in need this winter
Peter has worked in the industry for over
thirty years. He contacted Perennial in 2014
following a serious accident at work that left
him severely injured and unable to work. He
describes the help he and his family have
received as invaluable and believes more can
be done to raise awareness of the support
services Perennial provides:
During the winter months, it is time to
spare a thought for our colleagues who
are less fortunate and who need support.
Perennial helps all horticulturists and their
families throughout the year when they
have nowhere else to turn and, at this time
of year, help is needed all the more.
“I’ve worked in horticulture for over thirty
years, as a garden centre manager and selfemployed gardener. I have also worked as
a broadcaster on local BBC radio stations.
I was aware of Perennial through my work
on radio gardening programmes but never
dreamed I would need their services or help.
But 18 months ago I suffered a double spiral
fracture in my leg when I fell at work. It put me
completely out of action for ten months. I am
self-employed and as the main wage earner,
with a young family, the loss of income was
devastating.
“My physical state affected me mentally and I
became depressed – I was used to having a
Perennial sees an annual uplift in calls from
physically demanding job that kept me outside
those struggling to keep warm and fed during
for most of the day. Being cooped up inside as
the winter, particularly the self-employed and
I recovered, unable to support my family, was
the elderly. With generally less work available
almost too much to bear. It was during one of
at this time of year money can be tight and
my really low points that I was reminded about
people may also have Christmas debts to
Perennial. I knew by this point that I needed
deal with. Perennial would like to appeal to
help – I was eligible for tax credits and financial
everyone in the landscape industries to help
help but I couldn’t face filling in the forms and
spread the word about its services and how
really didn’t know where to start. I made a call
it can help.
and it changed my life.
Harrowden_BALI_Landscape_Ad_Layout 1 09/11/2015 17:44 Page 1
“The Perennial caseworker who was assigned
to my case seemed to swoop in and sort us
out. She was brilliant. She helped with statutory
benefits, made an immediate financial grant
payment to help with debts that had built up,
helped us buy our children a Christmas present
and helped with winter fuel costs. Even after
I returned to work, she stayed in touch and
made sure we were safe and well.
“Looking back I know I have seen my darkest
days – it’s a period of my life I am very pleased
is behind me. But I’ve come out the other
side having re-evaluated my priorities, with
the help of my amazing family and Perennial. I
would urge anyone who is struggling to make
ends meet, or is worried about their financial
situation, particularly over winter, to make the
call to Perennial as every little bit helps. Their
advice is completely confidential and free –
you won’t regret it.”
If you would like to show your support for
Perennial, why not become a Perennial
Partner? This is a simple way for all employers
and suppliers to show your year-round
support for your trade charity at a level that
suits your business. You will get a “Proud to
be a Perennial Partner” logo to display on your
email sign off and website.
For further information about Perennial and
joining the Perennial Partners Scheme,
please contact Kate O’Shea at koshea@
perennial.org.uk, call 0800 093 8510 or visit
www.perennial.org.uk.
Range of quality turf
Southern Office
Q Lawns - Norfolk
01842 558012
Sedum Roof / Ground Matting
Northern Office
Turfland - Lancashire
0333 4560012
Scottish Office
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Stewarts Turf - Edinburgh
0131 2151001
Wildflower turf
REGIONAL
ROUND UP
North
West
This year has been amazing for BALI
members, with lots of new members joining
the association and lots of medals over the
country at RHS shows; Chelsea will be here
again before we know it!
The 2015 North West Region committee has
been busy behind the scenes, albeit we haven’t
held any events this year. We have, however, been
active, analysing the needs of BALI members.
We have taken the feedback and now look
forward to a Regional event in March – ‘Trade
skills and business development’. The event is
aimed at landscapers, designers and suppliers.
It’s a chance for everyone who attends to acquire
some serious, valuable information and ‘hands on’
learning for you and your business.
I know it’s hard to set aside time to attend events
but the content for the day makes it an event not to
be missed. The day will cover topics such as using
social media to promote your business, business
law, general bookkeeping, and hints and tips
Peter Cunliffe and his guests on the Northumbrian
Landscaping table at the BALI Awards
P Casey (Land Reclamation)
receiving their BALI Award
seminars. Detailed information will be sent out to
members and available on the BALI website.
We look forward to a simplified presentation about
contracts and the revised CDM regulations, and
the annual AGM, which is a great opportunity
for contractors to meet future employees! The
day is set to be popular so early booking is
recommended to ensure your place.
The BALI Awards ceremony has just taken place
in London and I would like to congratulate North
West region member P Casey (Land Reclamation)
Ltd for winning the Restoration and Regeneration
Scheme category – another Principal Award for
them!
I look forward to seeing members at future events
and wish you a prosperous and successful 2016.
Belinda Belt | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
Scotland
Our Regional Vice Chairman Colin Smith,
of BALI Affiliate member Mactus Ltd,
attended the Chair/Vice Chairs’ meeting at
BALI Landscape House, Stoneleigh Park, in
October. This meeting takes place every six
months and gives the BALI regional officers
the opportunity to talk to their colleagues
in other regions and compare notes. Colin
found the event very beneficial and will
hopefully bring some ideas to the Scotland
Region.
Many congratulations to Scotland Region
members Land Engineering and Rob Flavell
Landscapes who both scooped BALI Principal
Awards at the BALI National Landscape Awards in
London on 4th December.
Land Engineering won in the Hard Landscaping
Construction (Non-Domestic) – Construction cost
between £300k-£1.5m category with their Burns
Statue Square, Dumfries project, and Rob Flavell
won the Interior Landscapes – Maintenance Only
category. This is a terrific result for Scotland Region
– well done to both member companies!
Yorkshire &
North East
Our annual networking dinner in Harrogate
on the 15th October was once again a great
success. Our guest speaker, Dusty Gedge,
delivered an engaging speech explaining
the origins of green roofs through to some
of the fantastic installations of green roofs
and walls being implemented today. The talk,
which targeted functional landscapes in urban
areas, offered a good insight to how we can
influence greater sustainability in urban areas.
The event was very well supported by a range
of sponsors with the raffle raising £335 for Little
Ted’s Room at Preston Hospital; many thanks to
MKM Creations for donating planters and a log
burner as raffle prizes.
Our Christmas party was due to be held at the
Glenridding Hotel on 12th December. During the
Cumbrian floods the hotel was inundated and the
event cancelled. Our thoughts are with everyone
in Glenridding village.
Yorkshire & North East members did brilliantly
at this year’s BALI National Landscape Awards,
with regional members winning all but one of the
Domestic Garden Construction categories! Many
congratulations to the following members on
receiving Principal Awards:
BALI Award winners PWP Landscape
Land Engineering (Scotland)
with their BALI Award
One of our Training Provider members, Central
Training Services, has introduced a new fleet of
Toyota hybrids as part of its commitment to being
an environmentally focused business. Company
director Allan Thomson said: ‘We are proud to
present ourselves to clients across Scotland as an
environmentally focused business, with protection
of the environment being an important element
in much of the training we provide. By choosing
Auris Hybrid for our vehicle fleet, we can develop
this commitment further, also gaining realworld benefits in reducing our carbon footprint.”
Something we should all be thinking about.
My best wishes to all Scotland Region members
for a happy festive season - news of upcoming
events will be on the new-look BALI website.
Jimmy Gilchrist | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
Northumbrian Landscaping Ltd, Principal
Award in the Domestic Garden Construction –
Construction cost under £30k category; James
Bird Landscapes Ltd, Principal Award in the
Domestic Garden Construction – Construction
cost between £60k-£100k category; and PWP
Landscape Ltd, Principal Award in the Domestic
Garden Construction – Construction cost between
£100k-£250k category.
As 2015 draws to a close the committee are busy
pulling together a line-up of events for 2016. These
will commence with the AGM, to be held at The
Crown Hotel, Boroughbridge, on 4th February,
timings and details will be made available shortly.
The committee requires new members and I
would be pleased to discuss the role and what is
involved with anyone who is interested in joining
our committee.
As always please feel free to contact myself or
the committee if you have any ideas for events or
requirements for technical workshops and we will
endeavour to put these in place over the next 12
months. Ending on a high note, I wish all members
and their businesses a successful 2016.
Joe Zazzetta | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
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East
Anglia
BALI East Anglia Region is the Phoenix rising
from the ashes back to glory! 2015… what a
great year it has been so far and as a region
and as a team we have grown in confidence,
popularity and business over the past
twelve months. The numerous businesses that
make up the BALI East Anglia Region and other
regions/industries around the country are now
communicating with each other. They are working
together and using each other’s strengths to grow.
Our members are now showing other businesses
what quality workmanship and products we
individually provide, while highlighting what a great
region we are.
Our committee, as always, has worked hard
over the past two years to change attitudes and
perceptions through holding different events and
giving out a more pro-active marketing strategy
that engages with its members. Here’s a re-cap of
what we’ve been up to:
Jason Lock (right) holds the Joint
Submission award with Paul Downer
from Oak View Landscapes
April – Cambridge Trinity University Gardens
Tour & Guided Punting Day. What a glorious
day in the East Anglian sunshine it turned out to
be as our members were treated to an amazing
behind the scenes historical garden tour of the
prestigious Trinity College, Cambridge. The tour
not only showed off the amazing formal lawns,
colourful flowerbeds and wildflower gardens but
we were also treated to the heritage, traditions
and architecture that was created so many years
ago by King Henry VIII. Following our tour of Trinity
College our BALI group moved to the quayside
punting station where we boarded a large punt
and reclined and lounged our way slowly up
and down the river whilst tucking into the most
amazing picnic hampers. We highly recommend
it to anyone who is visiting Cambridge, as you get
to see the historical colleges and universities from
a whole new angle, and are treated to the stories
and facts that surround them.
June – ROLO training at Bury St Edmunds
Rugby Club. As a result of the interest shown
at this year’s AGM, and recent enquiries, East
Anglia Region was happy to organise a ROLO
Health & Safety Awareness course. Several of our
members attended this one day course, which I
am pleased to say produced a 100 per cent pass
rate. These training courses will be taking place
a little more often in our region in 2016, so watch
this space.
Midlands
July – The Beast in the East Go-karting/
Networking event. This was a fantastic day
for our region as 34 teams, plus people from
businesses all around the country, turned up to
support this amazing event and push it forward
to the next level from the success of the 2014
event. The day was split into two two-hour team
endurance races and both were a massive
success. There was a huge increase in interest
and participation this year and the number of
businesses who were there to exhibit increased.
Interest in next year’s event has already begun
and East Anglia Region has bigger plans for
the 2016 event that will pull in a lot more teams,
exhibitors and sponsors to our region for the day
the “beast raises its head again”!
November – East Anglia Region 2015 Dinner.
This took place at Jimmy’s Farm in a restored
200-year-old barn. It was an amazing night with
amazing food, great company and a tipple or
three. This year’s dinner was accompanied by
an Aspall cider tasting event to help get the party
spirit going. There were also some hilariously
funny goings on as the “Spanner in the Works”
team weaved amongst the tables causing
deliberate chaos! And the vision of watching Chris
Carr (Q Lawns) and Emily Feeney (BALI) taking
part in the sausage making challenge was worth
every penny. It was an hilariously shocking twist
in expectations for our end of year meal but, to
quote a phrase: “if you do what you’ve always
done, you’ll get what you always got!” Our new
motto for BALI East Anglia Region is “Dare to be
different!”
Following a busy spring and summer
period with Regional events and tours at
Vizion development in Milton Keynes, the
Prince of Wales’s home at Highgrove in the
Cotswolds, and Shakespeare’s Garden in
Stratford upon Avon, the remainder of the
year has been quiet.
The indomitable Tom O’Connell organised and
ran the BALI Trout Fishing Competition Day
at Eyebrook Reservoir on the Leicestershire/
Rutland/Northants border for the fifteenth
successive year – an incredible achievement.
Numbers were slightly down after some late
cancellations, but representatives from Horizon,
Nurture, Tim O’Hare and Evergreen had a
wonderful day out on the water with glorious
sunshine reflecting off the water. This is Tom’s
report:
“Fishing conditions were quite good, made
even better with the encouragement we had
from Andy Miller and staff at Eyebrook, plus
the Tackle Shop. All came ashore at midday for
the barbeque. This was very successful and
welcomed by everyone. At 5 p.m. we concluded
the day with the weigh-in and, although no
records were broken, all had fish. The awards
were as follows:
Crowder Kingfisher Cup: Alistair Read
(Horizon Landscapes)
Best Individual Winner: Tim O’Hare (Tim
O’Hare Associates)
Best Pair: Tim O’Hare and Adrian Freer
(Evergreen)
Presentation Flask Sets: Greg Basire and
Nick (Nurture Landscapes), plus Adrian Freer
(Evergreen).
Eyebrook Day vouchers were awarded to: Kevin,
Mick and Hugh from Horizon Landscapes
Wine and Beverages were awarded all round
and everyone got home safely.
The great sausage contest
What a great year for our region - and the BALI
National Landscape Awards have finished the
year’s events off in style. Congratulations to BALI
Registered Designer and East Anglia Region
member Jason Lock who won Principal Award
with Oak View Landscapes in the category
‘BALI Registered Contractor’s and Designers’
Joint Submission; great work and many
congratulations.
Once again a massive ‘thank you’ for your
support over this year and let’s make 2016 even
better.
Kevin Harden | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
Tom O’Connell (centre) with
members at Eyebrook Reservoir
On a personal note, this has been at least my
fifteenth successive year organising BALI Trout.
I’ve enjoyed every one of them and made many
friends. I hope I’ve inspired a few. Sooner or
later I’ll be heading for Fiddler’s Green. Make my
wake, when she comes, a jolly one.”
Congratulations to Alistair Read of Horizon
winning the Crowder Kingfisher Cup, and Tim
O’Hare winning the overall Individual prize. Tom
keeps saying that this will be his last event, but
I hope that he will keep it going, as I know that
those that do attend have a very enjoyable day
with a few drinks and a great deal of laughter;
thank you Tom.
I attended the BALI National AGM in September
on behalf of the Region, and would suggest to
you all that you keep up-to-date with the goings
on of the Association by reading the BALI News
and the BALI Website.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome
Alex Wright from Instarmac to the Regional
Committee; we have a lot of things to organise
for next year, so expect to be busy!
As I type this we are hoping to arrange an
informal get together for the Region’s Members
before Christmas for a few drinks and a light
bite to eat.
Next year we are looking to hold our AGM at
JCB HQ. The day will be different from how we
have done it in the past, as it will focus on what
JCB wish to show and talk to us about with
the AGM meeting squeezed in during the lunch
break period.
The Committee are hoping to arrange another
tour with Shakespeare’s Birthplace when they
open another garden in Stratford. There is a
possibility of a tour of a Bradstone facility and
also a visit to the Laskett Gardens.
In conclusion, I would like to congratulate
Midlands Region member The Landscape
Group who bagged not one but two Principal
awards at the BALI National Landscape
Awards. They won in the Hard Landscaping
Construction (Non-Domestic) – Construction
cost under £300k category and the Grounds
Maintenance – Free Public Access category.
The Landscape Group with one of their BALI Awards
Please contact me or any of the Committee
Members if you want an event to be added or if
you wish to raise an issue with BALI HQ. We will
do as much as we can to give you interesting
things to see and do and the networking
with other members is invaluable. I hope that
everyone has a busy and prosperous winter
season.
James Coles | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
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South
Thames
2015 has seen a significant rise in
commercial activity for our Region’s
members, including those members on the
South Thames committee. Take a quick look
at the London skyline and you will see a forest
of cranes (which are now in short supply!) where
there were only a few over a year or two ago.
Whilst this has been good for business, ‘day job’
pressures have impacted on your Chairman and
committee members and on the events we had
hoped to organise for the Region. A planned
event with Affiliate member The Lapa Company
in July to investigate their outdoor kitchens and
interesting garden buildings had to be cancelled
due to lack of bookings – again because many
of our members were so busy. Many members
did, however, manage to get to the successful
Palmstead Soft Landscape Workshop on
sustainability in September.
Recently we have had a productive committee
meeting and plan a series of events from January.
Our AGM takes place in January and will include
a talk on the implications of the CDM Regulations
on garden scale work. This is now impacting
Linden Landscapes Domestic Gardens Ltd
with their BALI award
South
West
the smaller contractor and especially the garden
designer. If there are candidates amongst you
interested in joining the regional committee,
please let us know.
A CPD session to update and inform on resin
bound surfaces is planned for February and visits
to gardens and landscape schemes such as the
Sky Garden and Canary Wharf Station garden are
planned for the longer daylight times. Details will
be on the events page as soon as possible once
dates have been finalised.
And finally, after a fabulous Awards ceremony
in London on 4th December, very many
congratulations to the following South Thames
members who won Principal awards: Creative
Landscape Company in the Domestic Garden
Construction – Construction cost between
£30k-£60k category; Linden Landscapes
Domestic Gardens Ltd in the Domestic
Garden Construction – Construction cost over
£250k category; Gavin Jones Ltd in the Soft
Landscaping Construction (Non-Domestic)
– Construction cost under £300k category;
Willerby Landscapes Ltd in the Soft Landscaping
cost over £1.5m category; Integritas Landscapes
in the Grounds Maintenance – Limited Public
Access category; Nurture Landscapes in the
Interior Landscape – Installation Only category;
Bartholomew Landscaping in the Best innovation/
technology used in a landscape scheme
category; and Blakedown Landscapes (SE) Ltd in
the Green Roof Installations and Roof Gardens.
In June around twenty South West members
met for a guided tour of Hestercombe with
the Head Gardener, followed by a trip to the
pub. In September numbers were swelled
to over thirty, with a good number of SGD
designers joining BALI members to visit
Horatio’s Garden in Salisbury. November
saw a drainage talk by BALI Registered
Contractor MJ Abbott, which attracted a
number of new faces.
The next event is the AGM, which will be held
on 10th March 2016 at Salisbury Arts Centre.
Following the formal business of the evening
there will be a talk by designers Cleve West and
James Alexander Sinclair on ‘Healing Gardens’.
This part of the evening is an open event, with
all profits being donated to Horatio’s Garden.
We fully expect it to attract many designers and
members of the general public – so it is great
publicity for BALI and for BALI members. James
and Cleve are also renowned speakers so make
sure you book your ticket early.
If you have any ideas for events or training that
you would like to see or offer in the South West
please let me know. Have a great festive season
and I look forward to seeing you in early March.
Helen Elks-Smith | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
With every good wish for a great business year
ahead.
Nick Coslett | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
North
Thames
The North Thames Region’s clay pigeon
shooting event in August at the Lea Valley
Shooting Ground, Hertford, was a great
event. Twelve members turned out from
various companies to enjoy shooting at
different skill levels, including a difficult
double clay challenge at the end. The
shoot was split into two teams of six, which
were then led around the traps by experienced
helpful instructors to battle it out over 40 rounds
each, with the score was totalled at the end.
Surprisingly, both teams scored the same
amount so a draw was declared. The overall
individual highest score was won by Craig
Gibson from Dagenham Landscapes. There
were rumours that he had been there all week
practising but he denied this when questioned!
After an afternoon’s hard shooting and banter,
a well-earned pint was the order of the day.
For further information regarding clay pigeon
shooting at Lea Valley please contact darren@
skidmores.co.uk and he will be happy to pass
on the details.
North Thames members have excelled at
this year’s BALI National Landscape Awards.
Congratulations to the following North Thames
members who have won Principal awards:
IN-EX Landscapes in the Soft Landscaping
cost between £300k-£1.5m category; Frosts
Landscape Construction Ltd in the Hard
Landscaping Construction (Non-Domestic)
– Construction cost over £1.5m category;
Ground Control Ltd in the Community and
Schools Development category; Oak View
Landscapes, who won the BALI Registered
Contractor’s and Designer’s Joint Submission
category with Jason Lock; and designers
Rosemary Coldstream, who won the Design
Excellence Award – Overall scheme under £50k,
and Patricia Fox (Aralia), who won the Design
Excellence Award – Overall scheme over £50k.
And if seven Principal awards in one region
aren’t enough, Frosts Landscape Construction
Ltd brought home the Grand Award for their
3 Merchant Square, Paddington, scheme! A
fantastic achievement by BALI North Thames
Region – what a way to end the year!
David Houghton | REGIONAL CHAIRMAN
Regional AGMs in 2016
Region
Date
Venue
Attended by
North
Thames
12th January
Beales Hotel
Hatfield, Hertfordshire,
AL10 9NG
Wayne Grills
& Bob Field
South
Thames
26th January
Merrist Wood College
Worplesdon, Guildford,
Surrey GU3 3PE
Wayne Grills
& Bob Field
East Anglia
TBC
Yorkshire &
North East
4th February
BEST WESTERN Crown
Hotel
Horsefair, Boroughbridge
North Yorkshire,
YO51 9LB
Wayne Grills,
Bob Field
& Paul Downer
Midlands
TBC
JCB World
Headquarters,
Lakeside Works Dunstone
Road, Rocester, Uttoxeter
ST14 5JP
Wayne Grills
& Bob Field
South West
10th March
Salisbury Art Centre
Bedwin Street, Salisbury,
SP1 3UT
Wayne Grills
& Bob Field
TBC
North West
17th March
Scotland
TBC
agd (2).pdf
1
14/02/2014
Wayne Grills
& Paul Downer
Wayne Grills
& Bob Field
Myerscough College
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Preston PR3 0RY
Wayne Grills
& Paul Downer
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16/07/2014 12:37
Green-tech 2016
British Sugar
Product Catalogue TOPSOIL ends a
out now
great year with
record sales
The new 2016 Green-tech printed
catalogue is now available for
landscaping contractors, architects and
garden designers across the UK. This
year’s catalogue is crammed with over
6000 products for rural and urban tree
planting; ground, wind, weed and erosion
control, as well as grounds maintenance.
There are also comprehensive sections
on soils, growing media and barks
and also wildflower seed and wildlife
conservation.
Each year BALI Affiliate member Green-tech
donates 10p to charity for each catalogue
distributed. This year’s beneficiary, chosen
by managing director Rachel Kay, is Support
Dogs, a national charity that trains and
supports specialist assistance dogs to
increase independence and quality of life for
people with various medical conditions. Their
dogs help with everyday tasks for people with
physical disabilities, give advance warning of
seizures for people with epilepsy and provide
safety and support for children with autism and
their families.
Green-tech’s sales director Ian Rotherham
commented:
“2015 has been a bumper year for us, full of
firsts. We hit the £10milion turnover mark and
have built brand new offices and warehouse
facilities, which we are in the process of
moving into. We are now headline sponsors of
the BALI National Landscape Awards, winners
of the BALI Awards Employer of the Year, and a
finalist in the regional Press Business Awards.
It’s a great time for Green-tech and the
industry. 2015 has also seen our team exceed
50 people and we have ambitious growth
plans for 2016, which will see this number
increase. I’m anticipating 2016 to be even
bigger and better with increased investment
in staff training, research and product
development.”
www.green-tech.co.uk
BALI Affiliate member British Sugar
TOPSOIL, the UK’s largest supplier of
topsoil to the construction, landscaping
and amenity sectors, has ended 2015 on a
high note having achieved a record increase
in year on year sales of 8 per cent. This
performance comes in the same year that
the company was rated by 98 per cent of
respondents to its annual customer survey
as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very Good’ for customer
service, and its Landscape20 topsoil won
Housebuilder magazine’s External Product
of the Year Award.
Commenting at the BALI National Landscape
Awards on 4th December, where British Sugar
TOPSOIL sponsored the Design & Build category,
National TOPSOIL Manager Andy Spetch said:
“This has been a terrific year for British Sugar
TOPSOIL with our sales performance topping
off a number of successes. We were the first
Andy Spetch (left) presents the British Sugar
TOPSOIL sponsored Design & Build Award
at the 2015 BALI Awards
topsoil manufacturer to be included in the NBS
BIM Library; we won External Product of the
Year at the Housebuilder Product Awards, and
we have shown our support for the landscaping
and amenity sectors by sponsoring the IOG,
APL, SGD and BALI awards. The sales team
has worked tremendously hard throughout the
year to make sure we took full advantage of a
buoyant housing market whilst continuing to
meet demand from landscapers and our clients
in the sports and amenity sectors. We’re looking
forward with understandable optimism to 2016!”
British Sugar TOPSOIL will continue its support
for awards schemes in the landscape sector
and has confirmed its sponsorship of the BALI
National Landscape Awards in 2016, the 40th
anniversary of the BALI Awards.
www.bstopsoil.co.uk
Mobilane strengthens Approved
Supplier and Installer Network
BALI Affiliate member Mobilane has
strengthened its Approved Supplier
and Installer Network for 2016 following
continued expansion throughout 2015, with
new, high quality installers joining from as far
afield as Bristol, Manchester, Cambridge and
Northern Ireland.
Amongst the companies joining the scheme during
2015 are Vantage (Leeds), Just Plants Bristol Ltd,
Inleaf Limited (Manchester), The Plant Man (central
London) Cambridge Plant Interiors, BalconyScape
(Kent), Hedges Direct, AC Rentaplant (Northern
Ireland), and Exubia (Abingdon).
Installers who are part of the Mobilane Approved
Supplier and Installer Network benefit from their
own Account Manager support, exposure to
potential clients through the ‘Where to Buy’ section
of the Mobilane website, and marketing support in
the form of literature and other promotional tools.
Explaining the improvements to the network, Paul
Garlick, National Sales Manager for Mobilane
said, “Mobilane prides itself on attracting the UK’s
leading experts in the field of landscaping and
living systems, so it is crucial for the credibility of
the scheme that all installers can demonstrate the
very highest standards required before acceptance
onto the network.
“The Approved Supplier and Installer Network has
proved very attractive for installers since it was
set up and the companies that joined during 2015
are broad and varied in their offers. To ensure real
value for our chosen installers we are putting in
place even more rigorous joining criteria. We want
to ensure those companies that are accepted
have vast experience, represent a wide range
of services, and display only the highest levels
of professionalism. Ultimately we are looking for
those installers who can become ideal partners
for Mobilane and who will be able to promote
Mobilane systems across the UK from a position of
service and quality.”
To join the Mobilane Approved Supplier and
Installer Network, suppliers will have shown the
highest levels of professionalism in services,
technical ability and customer support. Mobilane
partners are fully experienced in the installation
of its LivePanel living wall system, LivePicture,
Green Screens, MobiRoof, and the NoiStop noise
reducing acoustic fencing.
For more information on the Mobilane Approved
Supplier and Installer Network, as well as details
on all of the Mobilane living systems, visit
www.mobilane.co.uk
Sustainable plant wall
6,3 cm
8,4 cm
40 cm
40 cm
40 cm
48,4 cm
5,6 cm
18 cm
6,6 cm
Profiel minimum 40 cm - maximum 520 cm
Advice
• A drainage point is compulsory for indoor installations.
• For larger walls, it is advisable to install an automatic irrigation unit. An average water consumption of 5 litres/m 2 of
landscaped surface per week must be taken into account. This depends on local conditions such as the type of
plants, surrounding temperature, air-conditioning and light levels.
• Water-resistant foil on the rear wall is recommended for indoor use.
Specifications of LivePanel
Product
LivePanel
Profile length
Variable, max. 520 cm
Number of cassettes
Depending on dimensions
Weight (incl plants and water)
Max. 40 kg / m2
of living wall
Available colours
The optional frame is delivered as standard in blank anodised aluminium.
Other colours are possible on request.
Country Supplies celebrates 25
years in the landscaping industry
Michael Bryant of BALI Affiliate member
Country Supplies is celebrating 25
years’ trading in the landscaping supply
industry. Over that period, his company
Country Supplies has built its reputation
and customer base by reliably delivering
high quality, consistent and competitive
products to both site and home. With an
extensive range and stock holding, the
company has grown into a true ‘one stop
shop’ for both the landscaping and fencing
trades.
In 1990 Michael left school and joined his brother
David in his business, hand packing sacks of
mushroom compost at the family’s farm just
outside High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.
Through drive, hard work and constantly building
relationships with the top manufacturers in the
UK, the business experienced rapid growth
and over the following years the site evolved to
provide room for fencing, decking and paving
products.
The company’s online presence - www.
CountrySupplies.uk.com - was launched
in 2008, increasing still further its industry
reputation and sales.
In 2012, the original site in High Wycombe was
joined by a site a few miles down the road to
provide extra storage for an even wider range
of landscape supplies. The number of staff
employed by Country Supplies also increased
and the company now boasts dedicated sales,
HR, accounts and marketing teams along with a
fleet of drivers and yard people, each with broad
product and landscaping knowledge.
Approximately half the residents at Aster
Living’s Delphis Court in Poole are wheelchair
users. Now, after a year of hard work and
dedication by able bodied residents and
volunteers, a party has been held to mark the
official opening of the new-look garden.
Poole Borough Council and Aster
Communities’ local neighbourhood panel
helped pay for the garden scheme with two
separate grants, augmented by donations
of plants and materials by four local garden
centres and by Eco Sustainable Solutions, who
donated quantities of its popular Eco Mix soil
improver.
The garden includes a sensory garden for
residents with limited or no sight; three brick
raised beds for growing vegetables, which can
be accessed by wheelchair users; a wheelchair
accessible raised decked area, planted with
roses as a remembrance garden; and colourful
FC Juniors and are involved with a number of
local schools and charitable projects.”
The future bodes well for the team at Country
Supplies with important announcements coming
in the following months on new products, new
technology and further business expansion.
Michael Bryant never loses his enthusiasm for
the company and the industry it services: “It
doesn’t feel like it was 25 years ago that we
started. I guess I am a bit older and wiser with
a more sensible haircut but I still get excited
coming in every day and seeing how we can
improve and grow.”
Country Supplies also do their best to help
out in the local community. “Recently we have
been a part of the Speen Festival and made a
big contribution to the building of Project Lacey
Green [http://wrkshp.org/lacey-green/]”, says
Richard Sparkes from the company’s marketing
department. “Along with that we sponsor Naphill
New garden goes down a treat
with green-fingered residents
Award-winning BALI Affiliate member
Eco Sustainable Solutions, based in
Christchurch, Dorset, has won praise for
working with other companies in the area
to help create a new inclusive garden for
elderly and vulnerable people.
Michael Bryant
“I have always treated Country Supplies as a
family business” explained Michael. “In the early
days it was me and my brother delivering bags of
compost around the area in the back of my old
Nissan. Some of the guys I employ have been
with me for twenty years and it’s great to be in
the position to be able to employ local people.
We have a team of about 25 now, which is
amazing and we are always looking to expand.”
borders, which can be seen by residents
who rarely leave their flats. Niki Simmons,
Aster Living Extra Care’s area manager, said:
“The new garden looks absolutely stunning.
The group has done a wonderful job in
transforming it and we know all the residents
will enjoy spending time out there.”
Peter Hardy, Commercial Director, Eco
Sustainable Solutions, said his company
was delighted to help out. He added: “It’s
good to be able to put something back into
the community and if we can help a worthy
cause, as on this occasion, then we’re only too
delighted to do so.”
www.countrysupplies.uk.com
Eco Sustainable Solutions, which was
founded in 1993 by managing director
Trelawney Dampney, now employs 46 people
and has an annual turnover of £11m. It is
one of the country’s leading independent
recycling companies, processing 150,000
tonnes of material at its facility at Parley, near
Christchurch - the UK’s leading purpose-built
site for organics recycling and renewable
energy. End products include enriched topsoil
for landscaping and construction, compost
and woodchip. A recent extension to the
company’s core business is energy generation
through both an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant
and a solar farm. In addition, the company has
received planning consent to build a biomass
to energy plant.
www.thisiseco.co.uk
Eco’s Peter Hardy, left, with Delphis Court residents
and volunteers
retail customers to enter their postcode to find
their nearest stockist or garden designer. The
focus of the site will be on past projects, giving
customers inspiration when choosing pots
and giving our designers exposure. This will be
supported with blogs and featured projects.
All change at The Pot Company
This year marked the 30th anniversary of
BALI Affiliate member The Pot Company
and riding high on the success of 2015,
changes are afoot. Founded in 1985,
recent years have seen the company
establish itself as a market leader in the
supply of garden planters and features.
Its ease of service and diverse range of
products have proved a hit with garden
designers, landscapers and garden
centres alike
The Pot Company sets itself apart from the
competition with its clear and catch-free ‘no
minimum order’ so, whether just one pot or
pallet loads, customers have the choice to
order what they want and only in the quantities
they need. The company has announced
some significant changes for 2016, building on
the successes of the past year:
British Flora
prepares for a
third successful
year in the new
nursery
Target market – From 2016 The Pot
Company will become a purely trade and
wholesale supplier. There has always been
a retail element to the business but the
decision has been made to forego this market
in order to better serve trade and wholesale
customers. With this change landscape
design and contracting professionals can
offer their customers the entire collection with
confidence. Whilst retail enquiries will still be
welcome a ‘recommended supplier’ concept
will ensure this business is passed directly to
trade customers.
New website – To support the move
to trade and wholesale supply only,
www.thepotco.com will be completely redesigned. This will include features such as a
customer login, which will allow customers to
see their trade price and place orders online
whenever convenient, and a facility allowing
“One worthy cause we have supported was the
scheme at Leighton Buzzard Railway Station’s
wildflower and wildlife area where we supplied
wildflowers as plug plants to South Bedfordshire
Friends of the Earth. We have continued to
support ‘Put the ‘buzz’ back into Leighton
Buzzard’ over the last year.”
After the success of launching the jumbo plug
sizes for wildflowers as a standard plug size this
autumn, British Flora, together with ecologist Liz
New products – The Pot Company has
over 30 ranges to choose from and is the
sole UK agent for the Adezz collection, which
includes planters, burners and water features
in materials such as Corten steel, aluminium
and fibreglass. 2016 will see the introduction of
several new products, including a new range
of fibreglass with bespoke options for size and
finish, new planter accessories, and a new
line of glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC)
planters. The Pot Company has also been in
talks with a number of European brands of
garden features, planters and accessories with
a view to working together next year.
New brochure – The new brochure is filled
with the company’s existing core ranges plus
a wealth of new products and information. The
brochure comes in an A4 binder with easyto-navigate dividers and is the perfect source
of information for designers, landscapers and
garden centre buyers.
Stock levels – The Pot Company holds
over 150,000 pots in its 45,000 square foot
warehouse in the Kent countryside. This
enables it to hold stock of larger planters and
to despatch certain products on a ‘next day’
basis if required. With further stock on order a
mezzanine level has been erected and further
expansion plans are in the works.
If you would like to request a brochure, get
product information or become a supplier of
The Pot Company’s products visit
www.thepotco.com
Powell, has released a new and comprehensive
Green Roof Guide. Chris Baker considers it very
important that British Flora supports green roof
specialists by providing them with a distinctive
advice guide and reference to British Flora’s
extensive range of bio-diverse green roof plants.
Visit www.britishflora.co.uk to download your
copy, available now.
British Flora’s 25 year heritage is being put
to good use by the current management,
sales and nursery teams as they prepare
for a busy 2016. Planting is underway in
the nursery, thanks to 2015’s seed harvest,
and everyone is working hard to fulfil
the growing demand for native British
plants, including more than 300 species of
wildflowers, aquatics, marginal, sedges,
biodiverse green roof plants and British
Flora’s range of wildflower seed mixes.
Rigby Taylor’s tetraploid grass mix
solves problems for winter pitches
Latymer Upper School is a coeducational independent school in
Hammersmith, West London. Last year,
Head Groundsman Dale Gleed instigated
a major renovation of the winter pitches
and took the opportunity to make
dramatic improvements to the quality of
the playing surfaces.
To eliminate the massive build-up of organic
matter that was causing major infiltration
issues, the school’s four rugby/football pitches
were subjected to ‘Koroing’. The existing
sward was then removed and the switch to
Rigby Taylor’s R140 tetraploid Transitional
Perennial Ryegrass blend was instigated.
The result, Dale says, is that he now has
playing surfaces that “are much more wear
tolerant and they maintain both better colour
throughout the year and good winter growth”.
He continues: “With four winter sports pitches
and two cricket squares as well as cricket/
netball nets and a sand-filled synthetic floodlit
pitch, the school’s sports ground here in
Wood Lane is in constant use all year round.
Indeed, during school term time alone, the
natural grass pitches are used six days a
week.
“The 10-acre [three hectares] site was
redeveloped in 2004 at a cost of £4.3 million,
and on joining the school in 2013 I found I had
inherited pitches that had developed major
issues with drainage due to the heavy buildup of organic matter on their constructed
rootzones [70:30 sand-soil, which itself is
naturally free-draining].
“The surfaces also suffered poor wear
tolerance and coverage after such heavy
usage so a major renovation in 2014 to
remove the top 30 mm layer [532 tonnes in
total were removed] was long overdue and, of
course, was also an opportune time for us to
seriously re-assess exactly what sort of grass
seed would best suit our needs.”
Over recent years the pitches, which were
a mixture of ryegrass plus smooth stalk
meadowgrass, had also become increasingly
infiltrated by poa annua.
Dale again: “I have dealt with Rigby Taylor for
a number of years; the company is contacted
whenever there is a need for grass seed,
pesticides, chemicals or sports equipment
because it is essential that I’m constantly
aware of the latest, quality products. It is also
critical that I deal with suppliers that provide a
good back-up service and, importantly, also
offer value for money.
“After discussing the situation with my
assistant, Ben Smallwood, and analysing
our needs in terms of the winter pitches, I
contacted a number of potential suppliers.
I settled on R140 after in-depth discussions
with Jayne Leyland, Rigby Taylor’s grass seed
Research & Development Manager, who fully
explained the benefits I would obtain.
“Once we had Koroed and power harrowed,
we overseeded with the new seed during the
first week of July and played our first game on
the new sward during the last week of August.
Since then R140 has certainly lived up to
expectations.”
BALI Affiliate member Rigby Taylor is a
company at the forefront of supplying
innovative products for the successful
management and maintenance of turf
surfaces. R140 is a member of the
company’s ‘iCON’ programme offering a
host of advanced and unique specialised
characteristics, including high tolerance to
wear, drought and disease.
It is a new Transitional Perennial Ryegrass
blend containing the tetraploid cultivars Fabian
and Tetragreen. Tetraploids have double the
number of chromosomes in comparison to
diploid perennial ryegrasses, which result in a
range of extraordinary benefits, including:
• Higher energy seed for rapid germination;
• Cool temperature shoot recovery with
upright growth habit;
• Exceptional stress tolerance, including
tolerance to Microdochium Patch
(Fusarium), Leaf Spot and Rust, and
drought conditions;
• Enhanced depth of colour that blends in well with
an existing perennial ryegrass sward;
• Robust re-growth for extended seasonal
performance;
• Stronger, deeper roots for greater stabilisation.
“Combined with a regular maintenance programme
of vertidraining/aeration, R140 has established an
excellent root development in terms of root depth
and structure – so much better than we ever had,”
Dale adds. “In fact, if I had to make the choice
again, I would go for exactly the same seed.”
For rugby the sward is kept at 30 mm high; 25 mm
for football; and the cricket outfield is maintained
at 15 mm.
Today, the ground continues to enjoy constant use
and not only from the school pupils, who during
term times use the pitches on every afternoon
Monday-Friday and on every Saturday, often for up
to three hours non-stop.
Dale adds: “Everyone’s expectations for the quality
of our playing surfaces are increasingly being
raised, including, of course, mine and those of the
school governors, let alone the players. R140 is
definitely helping us to meet those demands. I also
think the fact that we’ve hosted training sessions
for the Barbarians, the All Blacks and Australia
also says so much about pitch standards. These
professionals have sometimes used the pitches for
up to three hours at a time and I’m glad to say the
surfaces have withstood the heavy wear and tear
that such sessions create.”
www.rigbytaylor.com
Fencing supplies from AHS
fencing has been specifically developed
to provide a permanent solution to these
challenges:
• Manufactured from high tensile line wires,
with 8cm vertical wires, to provide the
high level of resistance necessary to keep
badgers out;
• Fencing should be dug in to a depth of
600mm and folded outwards to prevent
badgers from burrowing underneath;
• To prevent the fence being climbed, the
top can be finished with barbed wires,
electrified wires or cranked outwards;
• Available in a variety of heights, not only for
keeping badgers at bay, but keeping your
animals fenced in.
BALI Affiliate member AHS supplies
every type of fence panel and post, along
with everything required for installation,
including tools and Postmix. With over 20
years in the industry, AHS has become a
well-respected, go-to supplier of products
to multiple sectors including landscaping;
construction; horticulture; engineering;
and play safety and sports field surfacing.
From panels and posts to wire netting and
mesh panels and all associated installation
accessories, all of AHS’s fencing products
are designed to deliver high quality at the
best prices. As with all of AHS’s products, its
fencing range has been built and developed
in consultation with industry specialists and its
customers to ensure it meets the needs of the
market and provides an enduring solution to a
range of issues faced by fencing contractors,
landscapers, farmers, estate managers and a
host of other customers.
Closeboard and Closeboard Wave fence
panels – Heavy duty closeboard panels,
densely packed with boards and framed all
round, are one of AHS’s strongest fence panels
for those who put security at the top of their list.
The Wave version offers all the same benefits of
the standard Closeboard panels whilst offering
a decorative backdrop to any setting. Finished
with a factory-applied surface treatment.
Lap fence panels – AHS offers two types of
lap fence panels; Standard, which is a sturdy,
well-built example of a traditional overlap dip-
treated panel, finished with a factory-applied
surface treatment, and Premium, a super strong
panel with an extra upright in its construction
on both sides to provide additional stability. It
is manufactured from pressure-treated timber,
removing the need for a gravel board and giving
the panel longer life, with no need for annual
re-treatments.
Kyoto fence panels – These attractive panels
offer a contemporary design with a quality finish
and feature a slatted screen design to the top
section. They are pressure-treated and come
with a 15 year anti rot guarantee.
Europa Hamburg screen – AHS offers a few
varieties of screen fence panels. This version is
an attractive smooth planed timber lattice garden
screen set into a mortise and tenon-jointed
rebated framework. It is pressure-treated and
guaranteed against rot for 15 years.
Stock fencing – Available in mild steel and
high tensile options, AHS’s stock fencing is
robust, high quality, easy to install, lasts for
decades, versatile (designed to contain a range
of livestock, from sheep to deer), keeps out
badgers, otters and other unwanted animals,
and is available in a wide variety of specifications
to suit different animals and applications.
Badger fencing – Keeping out badgers is a
notoriously difficult challenge and a standard
stock fence acts as little deterrent against these
determined creatures who will make every effort
to follow their established routes. AHS’s Badger
Deer fencing – AHS supplies a range of
industry-leading permanent deer fencing
for protecting forestry, for keeping deer
away from roads, and for managing farmed
deer. Manufactured from high tensile steel,
it offers unrivalled strength, security and
comprehensive protection and has long been
the first choice for forest managers looking to
protect and preserve their valuable forestry
and for farmers looking to protect their stock.
Used across the world and selected for many
high-profile highway developments, these
deer fencing products are also the choice
of highways agencies, rail networks, civil
engineers, local authorities and conservation
groups seeking the best solutions for their
unique requirements.
Rabbit fencing – It is estimated that
rabbits cost the British agricultural industry
£100million a year in crop damage. The mesh
size used in AHS’s rabbit fencing products
has been proven to be the most effective size
for excluding rabbits - 1.2mm diameter wire,
as specified by the Forestry Commission and
Highways Agency.
Chestnut fencing – Handmade, using cleft
chestnut pales wired up with high quality
galvanised wire, AHS’s Chestnut fencing is
supplied in rolls for easy transportation and
installation. Strong, durable and difficult to
climb over, Chestnut fencing lasts for many
years and is repairable if damaged. Quick
to erect and easy to move, re-use, take
down and store, it is versatile temporary or
permanent fencing. It is used extensively
for dune stabilisation as well as erosion
protection and the stabilisation of riverbanks.
Manufactured to BS 1722 Part 4, with FSC
certified wood.
For more information or to download a brochure visit: www.ahs-ltd.co.uk
Tobermore
paving for
£10m Bishop
Wilson School
The stunning £10 million Bishop Wilson
Church of England Primary School in
Birmingham, delivered by Morgan Sindall,
is one of many additions to the North
Solihull School improvement programme,
forming a key element in the North Solihull
Partnership’s social and economic
regeneration of Chelmund’s Cross Village
Centre.
BALI Affiliate member Tobermore, the world
class paving and walling manufacturer founded
in 1942, supplied a large quantity of block paving
products that have been used to create the
school’s striking new landscape. Tobermore’s
Fusion paving in Graphite and sparkling Sienna
paving in Silver, have helped achieve a chic,
futuristic look, complementing the modern new
school building beautifully.
Installed by Interlock Paving, Fusion and
Sienna emulate traditional natural granite with
their exposed granite aggregate surface. Both
products are hugely popular and offer the
aesthetic qualities that can be easily incorporated
on any application.
The school was designed by Glancy Nicholls and
funded by Solihull Council and the Birmingham
Church of England Diocese. It not only provides
education for local 3-11 year olds but is also at
the heart of the Chelmund’s Cross community,
as it includes the brand new St. Andrew’s
Church, an adult learning centre, community
space and health facilities.
www.tobermore.co.uk
Brett continues its
commitment to its merchants
Brett Landscaping is continuing its
commitment to providing only the highest
level of service to its merchants by improving
safety and building brand awareness. The
ability to provide an efficient, effective and
excellent service whilst still retaining high
levels of health and safety is of paramount
importance to both BALI Affiliate member
Brett and to its customers.
Simon, who has extensive experience in
supplying heavy side building products, will be
working closely with the Brett client base to build
and retain relationships and enhance customer
satisfaction. At Wienerberger, Simon was most
recently Director of Sales – Brick Division; prior
to that his roles at the firm included Supply Chain
Director and Key Account Director.
Simon will report directly to Brett Chief Operating
Officer, Alan Smith, who has welcomed his Nick
Moore, Stock and Yard Manager with Brett at
its Barrow depot, is a perfect example of this
dedication and the company’s ongoing efforts to
improve yard safety. Nick is the recent recipient
of the inaugural Safety Champion Award from
the Fork Lift Trust Association (FLTA). He was
nominated by his SHEQ Manager, Rachel Stone,
for his work in improving safety at the Brett eight
hectare site in Barrow-upon-Soar.
The FLTA award recognises those who have
shown exceptional commitment to positive
change at their site, making it safer for all
who work on, or in close proximity to, fork lift
trucks. In addition to developing an improved
traffic management system, Nick secured over
£100,000 in capital to implement this and other
safety projects. The result was an additional
3,450m² of useable stockyard space following
re-surfacing work, wider roadways, enclosed
pedestrian walkways, improved road markings
and the elimination of vehicle queuing on roads.
Brett Landscaping’s marketing manager Andrew
Gill explains: “We are extremely proud of Nick
and his fantastic achievement. He has created
a much safer site, with far fewer incidents being
recorded, demonstrating the pride that our
workforce has in their site. He has also helped
improve efficiency – another extremely important
consideration for our merchants.
“The changes to the site are enabling us to
significantly decrease our turnaround times,
helping to get drivers back on the road much
more quickly without comprising their safety.”
The company has also recently invested
significantly in new livery for its fleet of delivery
lorries making them instantly recognizable. As
well as building the Brett brand the new livery
Brett’s new vehicle livery
also promotes a professional image, providing
additional peace of mind to merchants that
they are dealing with a highly professional
company. The new livery is being supported
by contemporary branded point-of-sale, sales
literature, and a targeted advertising campaign
to help drive business in partnership with our
builders’ merchants’ customer base.
Andrew Gill continued: “We are dedicated to
providing our customers with a safe, professional
service and our yard and safety improvements
are just one example of this. We are also
continuing with our ongoing investment in
marketing, PR and advertising, with our 2016
Gardens & Drives literature due to be released
very soon, providing even more high quality
paving inspiration. Not only does this help to
raise awareness of the Brett brand and products
with the end user but it will also benefit our
merchants further down the line.”
www.brettpaving.co.uk
Wyevale Nurseries roots for
‘The Great British Hedge’
BALI Affiliate member Wyevale Nurseries
has started an initiative to promote
the benefits of the British hedge to the
horticultural retail and amenity and
landscaping sectors.
Adam Dunnett, Sales and Marketing Director at
Wyevale Nurseries, said: “Hedges are nature’s
fences – natural boundary markers, privacy
givers and security providers. Not only do they
work for us, they also make a living corridor for
birds and animals, offering nesting and food
throughout the year.
“Hedges have been used as field boundaries
in England since the times of the Romans and
we feel Britain and its patchwork of hedges are
iconic. We want to see them continue to flourish.
“There are many benefits to hedges, for example
walls or a fence will only divert wind, whereas
a hedge filters and calms it, improving air
circulation and forming sheltered microclimates
for other plants to grow. Hedges can also be
planted for sound proofing and to absorb air
pollution. They are ideal for use near busy roads
or in industrial areas.
“The best hedges are planned. Knowing what to
plant and where to put it can make a significant
difference to the initial impact as well as the
desired long-term appearance.”
Wyevale Nurseries say whatever the
circumstances, be it a hedge in rural land, a
town house or rooftop garden, there are options,
which will provide the best result. People need
to choose the right plant, for the right place,
with the right maintenance regime, and staff at
Wyevale Nurseries are happy to offer guidance.
Adam continued: “Planning and planting a
hedge can be a daunting prospect for the
average gardener. For retailers we have put
together a comprehensive range of varieties,
available in both three litre and five litre pots,
giving them all they need to build a fantastic
hedging offering right through the autumn and
winter.
that produces a flat frame creating a twodimensional effect with branches spreading
sideways in one plane (i.e. flat) held on top of a
central tree stem. These are commonly used to
create a green screen above a fence level or a
raised wall.
Wyevale Nurseries is one of the largest familyrun wholesale nurseries in the UK. It was
established in 1930 by Harry Williamson, a
horticulturist and entrepreneur. It became the
company it is today under the leadership of his
son, Peter, who sadly passed away in 2011.
“Each plant is supplied with extra-large, fully
informative picture labels and support with a
giant Corex board classifying each product line
by its characteristics. By following our simple
classification chart retail customers will be able
to select the variety which best suits their needs.
The Williamsons’ saw the opportunity to sell
their product to an undeveloped retail market,
creating one of the first garden centres, followed
by a chain. In 1987, the retail side needed to
expand and the 19 garden centres were sold as
a PLC.
“For amenity and landscaping customers we
offer hedging supplied in three ways – bare root,
rootball and container grown. Each method of
supply has certain seasonal limitations. We are
one of the only UK suppliers to offer ‘All Year
Round’ availability on hedging.”
The family then turned its focus to Wyevale
Nurseries Ltd. It continues to be a family-run
business with ownership and joint chairmanship
currently being held by the third generation,
Heather and Simeon Williamson, with plans for
the fourth generation to takeover in the future.
Wyevale Nurseries is also developing more
‘Specialist Hedging Forms’ – pleached and preformed. Pre-formed hedges are plants that have
been intensively pruned and trimmed into shape
to give an instant desired effect of a finished
hedge.
Wyevale Nurseries has a significant product
range and is regularly introducing new plants. It
offers a large variety of trees, shrubs, hedging,
herbaceous and specimen plants to garden
centres, landscape contractors, local authorities,
foresters and landowners.
Pleached trees is a technique of pruning
www.wyevalenurseries.co.uk
Wyevale employee wins IPPS International Exchange Award
Wyevale Nurseries’ Product Development
Co-ordinator Ben Gregory has won the
International Plant Propagators Society
(IPPS) International Exchange Award.
The 23-year-old is currently in America
as part of the award win, joining the IPPS
International Tour visiting some of the
most innovative nurseries and research
stations in the US.
Ben explained: “I am
ecstatic to have won
the IPPS International
Exchange Award.
It is an amazing
opportunity for me
as the IPPS tour is
attended by growers,
researchers and
business owners from across the world. It will
be a fantastic platform for me to network and
share knowledge, techniques and experience.
Ben started the tour on 3rd October in
New Orleans, travelling on to Biloxi, Mobile,
Tallahassee and Tampa. He then joined the
IPPS Southern Region Conference in Tampa
from 10th-14th October, again visiting world
class nurseries in Florida and attending a
great range of lectures and presentations from
speakers from across the world.
“The Young Horticulturist Six-Pack Award is
the opportunity for six young adults to travel,
expenses paid, to the European Region annual
conference. Ben was chosen as one of the
winners and attended the 2014 conference
in Denmark. He was then selected as the
overall winner to take part in the international
exchange scheme. Entry to the award each
year is open to anyone either already working
in commercial ornamental horticulture or
studying to enter the industry, either from the
UK or Europe, who is under the age of 30.
The IPPS members read each application
and professional nomination from employers
or lecturers and as a successful candidate
Ben was required to assist the conference
organisers throughout the duration of the
2014 event and carry out various duties. The
IPPS members got to know each of the six
packers as they helped with the conference
and then picked Ben as the winner of the IPPS
International Exchange Award.
Tim Lawrance-Owen, Vice-President of IPPS
European Region, who was on the panel
that interviewed the applicants during the
conference last year, explained: “Ben showed
himself to be highly motivated with a desire to
develop a career in the industry combined with
a readiness to get involved and participate in
many aspects of the conference.
“He will gain greatly from his experiences
visiting nurseries in the Southern USA and
apply them in his work. We look forward to
hearing his report at next year’s conference.”
NEW MEMBERS
New Members (as at 18.11.15)
Full Contracting
North Thames
Diversity Gardens
MBS Grounds Maintenance Ltd
Total Protection T/A Total Protection
Landscaping Ltd
East Anglia
All Seasons Landscaping
South West
Millgrove Construction Ltd
Yorkshire & North East
Coldicott Tree & Garden Care
Freedom Group (Grounds and
Landscaping)
Leigh’s Landscapes
Affiliates
Midlands
R Hill Garden Services
Midlands
British Flora
North West
Hultons Landscapes Ltd
North West
Gabriel Ash Ltd
Scotland
Aitchison Hydroseeding Ltd
Landscape Design Contracts Ltd
Training Providers
Scotland
Bloomin’ Marvellous Landscapes Ltd
EVG Landscapes Ltd
Kestrel Contractors Ltd
MacGregor Landscapes Ltd
Oakleigh Manor Limited
WW Landscapes
North West
Arboricultural & Forestry
Consultancy Services
Midlands
TMS International
Applications in progress
Full Contracting
Greensport Trading Limited
T/A INSCAPES
BZ Gardens
Luton Traded Services Limited
Warwick Landscaping Ltd
GSF UK
Oakbrook Services Ltd
Russell Landscaping Ltd
Dickson Landscapes
UGL Ltd
First Light Landscaping
Clean Start (Trafford Housing Trust)
Positive Garden Ltd
Landesigns Ltd
Woodys Group
JSC Paving & Landscaping Ltd
Belsize Gardens
New Leaf for Gardens Limited
Helen Taylor – Hosta Consulting
Jack Dunckley Landscape Design
Ecological Landscape Ltd
Registered Designer
Tierney, Sally
Training Providers
Bridgwater College,
Cannington Campus
Holly Landscape & Training
Flowpoint ECO
Pro-Bed HS ECO
Liverpool Lime Street Station
Watch our
new videos
here
For further information please
call 01827 871871 or
email ultrascape@instarmac.co.uk
ultrascape.co.uk
12119_Flowpoint_Ad_190x135.indd 1
11/11/2015 09:29
Landscape Solutions
THINK
CLAY
THE NATURAL CHOICE
The Architect’s Choice
BirminghamLibrary
The pavers were chosen for
their striking colours and are in
keeping with both the surrounding
paved area and the building’s
aesthetic. This combination was
used to create the ‘red line’ to lead
pedestrians into Centenary Square
the use of clay provides a distinct
colour that will be retained for the
life span of the paver.
tel
0845 303 2524
email
website
office@wienerberger.co.uk
www.wienerberger.co.uk/landscapes
Twitter
@wienerbergeruk
Penter_Why Clay_Bali Landscape.indd 1
BALI Landscape News | Winter
2015 | 51
10/11/2015
09:59
Experience
THE DIFFERENCE
NEW FOR 2015 L40-II SERIES 37-59HP
How do you improve on a compact tractor that’s
already packed with productivity-enhancing features?
It was tough, but we did it.
The innovative new Grand L40-II model features
a more spacious integrated cab, designed
specifically for operator comfort and increased
productivity. We’ve added our newly branded HST
Plus hydrostatic transmission too. Plus, we’ve
added advanced technology for enhanced power,
performance and durability.
KEY FEATURES INCLUDE:
5 models: 37-59 HP
Choice of three transmission
types: HST+, Glideshift and Fully
Synchronised (FST)
Ample leg room and more spacious airconditioned cab. ROPS also available.
Ergonomically designed control
lever console
Multi-Function Switch operates all
front or rear-mounted implements
Rapid attach/detach loader
Anti-stall feature
Arrange a demo today Call: 01844 873 156
Visit: www.kubota.co.uk
GL40 190x277.indd 1
10/11/2015 10:46

£5.00 - BALI

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