Horticultural imagination is what makes outstanding gardens

My recent trip to Singapore reminded me again what can be done with plants. In my travels around landscapes in Sydney I see mediocrity and the resulting bland landscape. We are all to often drawn to the plants we know will live with little maintenance.

Yes I know Singapore offers a unique climate where almost anything thrives, but here in NSW we can actually grow more species as we can also grow the cold climate plants.

Sure we can grow some neat clipped green hedges, then there are the pretty ugly gardens below. Even when we have more variety its pretty bland.

Above are 3 bland gardens

Designers use form, colour and texture to add interest to planting areas. Here are some better examples I have seen recently. Horticulturalists know how to make them grow well for the long run.

The colourful shots below are mostly straight from my garden in Sydney or a climate just like NSW, form and texture provide interest. Horticulture ensures they thrive.I hope you like my snaps. Robert. rob@greenlook.com.au 

You see plants can offer some great design outcomes whilst providing countless environmental benefits.

If you want to see a most outstanding garden for me, go to Gardens by the Bay in Singapore!

Evolvement provides green infrastructure training to Singapore Government and Contractors

It was a honour to share our experience with CUGE in Green infrastructure,  (green roofs, vertical gardens and water management) this week. CUGE is the Centre for Urban Greening and Environment in Singapore. A survey was carried out on what skills and knowledge government and industry required,  Robert Griffith developed a course meet these needs.

Robert Griffith showing students thermal images of green walls which are reducing energy usage.

A class of 30 attended the 2 day course. We covered the design, installation and maintenance using a  broad range of materials and products. Over the past 10 years Evolvement have collected considerable information and experience of diffeent systems. Working with designers and installers in Germany, The Middle East, Asia, USA and Australia, we are able to share a broad range of solutions.

The hands on parts of the course and the site visits were well received. Students noted that using the products and fitting them together gave a much better understanding of how the systems work.

Each student was able to fit planters and irrigation nozzles to build a green wall.

Vertical gardens visited included both thin fabric and module systems covering over 1000M2 in size. We brought  along the installers and maintenance staff to talk us through the whole process of how the projects were completed.

We meet the installation team and maintenance crew for this Patrick Blanc wall at 6 Battery Road. There are over 100 species of plants on this indoor vertical garden.

Here at ITE Central the chaps from Elmich gave us a good understanding of how this 800+m2 wall was built and the difficulties encountered.

It was interesting to note that many students commented on how "green" in Singapore needs to be lush to satisfy people's tastes. This means that the light weight extensive roofs are less common, despite their ability to provide cost effective environmental benefits . Another reason is that the sedum species commonly used in cooler climates on light weight roofs are not suitable in the tropics. 

Students were pushed to think about where they see there preferred position in the industry and projects. Some commented on the benefits of learning about water management. Each person calculated a water balance for their favourite project during class. Others were more interested in the maintenance angles, they learnt on the tour from the staff that do the work.

I hope to be running further courses with CUGE aimed at specific topics with technical hands on components for the

• Ecology of green infrastructure,
• Extensive roofs
• Zero net water design 
• Urban farming

On further courses we will discuss the different techniques and materials required for each of these greening applications. 

Why green your building?

A quick summary of the benefits of green infrastructure and a Wall St Video explaining them. The main points are that green infrastructure is great for cities because of the following reasons:

• Improved water management both quantity and quality
• Reduced energy costs and carbon emissions, up to 27% KWH usage.
• Cools the city whist improving aesthetics
• Recreational value to improve property amenity, beautiful roofs provide a secluded garden for city dwellers. 
• Great for growing local food
• Provides biodiversity in a city

I have example projects where the above benefits are tried and tested. Give me a call and I can show you. Robert 0468 787 071.

Benefits of green roof

What it takes to manage a green wall & roof company

Contact

Your one stop shop to Green Roofs and Vertical Gardens

As David Suzuki said in his recent speech in Adelaide, "clean air, water, soil and biodiversity are the things that make us flourish, we must be protected them before anything else."

Over the past 3 years I had the pleasure to develop a new installation division dedicated to greening our planet for a product only company Atlantis, in Sydney. I am now designing a new company dedicated to the environment using a range of products inspired by my travels.  Our new company is called Evolvement Pty Ltd. 

Understanding your clients needs, use of good products and attention to detail is what it takes to make quality. 

At the Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE students of the Advanced Diploma of Environmental Management receive "Green" business development training.  It has been my pleasure to provide some 200 students structured training at TAFE. Skills and knowledge gained have great potential to increase the human resources required by the green industry. 

It goes without saying you need to employ good staff, train them well and reward them for their efforts.

Planning for success, a short business plan was written that identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A to do list was prepared and prioritised based on our strategic competitive advantage. Budgets and targets were prepared for the new division.

Planning gave us a benchmark to aim for. Increased sales, quality clients and beautiful projects were the result.

The green roof at Bondi with iconic Bondi Beach in the background. The plants are a special variety of Carpobrotus (the greener ones), I propagated for the job in my nursery. They grow very flat and flower well. I keep these in stock for green roofs. 

Install the business management systems, I was able to share the following systems developed over my 30 years in the industry. None of which existed in the company previously. Your are sure your business is unlikely to fail and will be worth more when you decide to sell it.

• Proposal templates, that show you understand client needs and provide solutions
• Job filing and numbering, to organise the business as it grows
• Tendering budgets, to provide targets for the site staff
• Invoicing systems, to maintain cashflow
• Cost control, to monitor job performance
• Risk management, to reduce problems and learn
• Work safety plans, to meet government regulations
• Contract review, to keep the balance right with clients
• Quality Assurance were instigated, to meet international ISO9000 compliance 

The upshot of this is we won the first installation project soon after I started followed by many more including iconic sites. See pictures below.

Here I worked with Lend Lease to establish an all green indoor wall for their Winter garden development in Sydney Atlantis Wall system.

Marketing

Along with web marketing, I sent regular newsletters out to many thousands of contacts. All newsletters highlighted successful projects we implemented for green roofs, vertical gardens, food production and water sensitive urban design. Over this period I had the pleasure of providing green infrastructure training to over 2000 professionals in Australia, The UAE, Malaysia and Turkey. My structured courses gave each individual an understanding of what can be achieved in terms of water management, reduction in carbon emissions, biodiversity and local food production.

See some successful green walls we built whilst I managed the installation division at Atlantis below:

Here we worked with Trico Constructions and the developer to pick suitable plants for this hot western facing wall in Bondi Sydney Atlantis Growall. I predominantly chose succulents that would provide an attractive display under the conditions.

THE BRIGHT Comprehensive Cancer Centre Randwick Hospital, here green walls and beautiful landscaping help patients cope with their predicament. I selected plants for windy shady conditions on the North side of the building. Plants are growing well. I worked with Oculus landscape architects an AW Edwards builders to ensure plants were safe for patients. Atlantis Growall.

More landscaping by Oculus at the Hospital for patients and staff alike. Beauty helps recovery.

On this one I worked with the architects, Mirvac and the builder Mainbrace to develop a green chimney for the kitchens below. North Sydney Council would not let Greenwood shopping centre build any more restaurants unless they had chimneys, and chimneys had to look beautiful from the surrounding high rise buildings.