Project Details
Project
Nottingham Trent University
Location
Nottingham, England
Date
January 2021
About The Project
Nottingham Trent University city site is located in the heart of Nottingham city centre with 30 buildings surrounded by 5.1 hectares of open space. The heart of the campus underwent a multi-million pound refurbishment to keep up with current demands and needs. The redevelopment consisted of two state-of-the-art buildings with beautiful landscaped outdoor spaces in the Clifton complex. With over 8,000 students based at Clifton the new facilities have been designed to provide a high quality environment to inspire students for generations.
The courtyard outside of the restaurant is part of the University’s ‘Green Zone’- an area in the centre of campus that will be free from smoking, unauthorised traffic and parked bicycles, which will contribute to the peaceful atmosphere of the campus.
The landscaping works for this area including the planting of 50 mature trees. Larger, more established trees were specified to maximise aesthetic and biodiversity value.
The landscaping contract was awarded to Ulyett Landscapes Limited, a long established landscaping company based in the East Midlands who are well respected for their work with local authorities, architects, civil engineers, builders and private house owners.
What we did
Ulyett Landscapes turned to Green-tech Specifer, the specification team within leading landscape supplier, Green-tech, for our advice on the most suitable products for planting, securing and encouraging the healthy growth of the trees.
Taking into account the size of the trees and the environment – the whole site was on an incline; the team recommended the Geo-Cellular Raft System. This is a system that combines nutrient-rich Geo-Cellular Raft System soil with exceptionally strong geocellular units. Together they create a healthy growing space for trees in urban areas subject to vehicle or pedestrian trafficking.
The individual Geo-Cellular Raft System units lock together and form a raft system that sits within the tree pit, providing load bearing support and reducing soil compaction. As the system retains the open structure of the soil, the roots are allowed to grow naturally and the essential oxygen, nutrients and water can flow freely through the growing media which all ensures the ideal growing environment to establish and flourish.
As well as the Geo-Cellular Raft System the team provided advice and Green-tech supplied an anchoring system for each tree, the mona tree irrigation system, rootbarrier, subsoil, Geo-Cellular Raft System soil and bark for top dressing – everything needed for successful planting under one roof.
