Category: Design


fence away by Cornelia Konrads

‘Fences can be the source of bitter arguments between neighbours, and there are often special laws to deal with these problems. Common disagreements include what kind of fence is required, what kind of repairs are needed, and how to share the costs.’

Wikipedia

Land Art created by Cornelia Konrads

Specifier Review's avatarArchitecture, Design & Innovation

Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent

Meeting the Challenge of a Sustainable Urban Future: the contribution of green walls

Anyone concerned with the quality of life in urban areas will find the conference of interest.

Green walls are an important component of Green Infrastructure – possibly the only cost-effective approach to coping with some of the immense challenges currently facing urban areas:

  • Climate change (coping with extreme events, e.g. heat waves, flooding),
  • Pollution (including health impacts),
  • Lack of wildlife habitat,
  • Social problems (including mental health) resulting from high-density urban living.

Green walls are easier to retrofit than many alternatives, take up less space, and can be rapidly deployed.

12th May 12_1 email

The Green Wall Centre

At Staffordshire University researchers have been studying the environmental and biodiversity values of green facades and different living wall systems in Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Birmingham, London and the Greater London area.

Taking advantage of this expertise, and experience with different commercial…

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Municipal Dreams's avatarMunicipal Dreams

As we saw in last week’s post, Hull had acted energetically in building homes and clearing slums after the First World War but the impact of a second would require it to redouble its efforts.  New estates were built on its northern fringes which made the original North Hull Estate seem rather old-fashioned – a good or bad thing according to taste.

Certainly, the Estate was ageing and subject, in recent decades, to the difficult transitions that have affected much of our council housing.  This, and a conjuncture of the ambitions of politicians national and local, would combine to make the Estate the nation’s first Housing Action Trust in 1991.

King Edward Street and Prospect Street in the centre of Hull King Edward Street and Prospect Street during the Blitz

The strategically vital city of Hull suffered more damage from German bombing than any other in the UK except for London – over 1000 hours of raids destroyed 5300 homes outright and damaged almost 115,000. In fact, it was…

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Some of the volunteers who helped to t idy up the Church Yard on Saturday

Some of the volunteers who helped to tidy up the Church Yard on Saturday

I’ve written before about our local church, St. Peter’s, Haveringland, or ‘The Church in the Fields’. On Saturday I helped tidy up the church yard, which doesn’t have any regular care or attention, particularly since services here now occur only once a month. 

About twenty willing volunteers strimmed (or ‘Whipper – snipped‘ as I believe it’s called in Australia!), raked, weeded and (my own contribution) removed ivy from the church yard walls. In about two hours I managed to clear one wall (see picture below); fortunately there’s only one more that needs the same attention – I will return to finish it soon.

The wall cleaned of its Ivy- and, inadvertently a mouse nest too...

The wall cleaned of its Ivy- and, inadvertently a mouse nest too…

Some years ago an enthusiastic parishioner planted a number of Yews and other conifers around the church yard, and I remember at the time this caused a bit of controversy, as some people (my wife and I included) thought a ‘softer’, more naturalistic  approach to the planting (with wild flowers etc.) might be more appropriate. Well, I must say, 10 plus years on and these trees do add some interest to the church yard and were probably a realistic planting option, giving some shelter to the space and taking into account the limited community/church interest in looking after the area since.

On Saturday I was approached by the (relatively new) local priest who asked if I’d be interested in producing a Management Plan for the church yard. He suggested mown paths through wild flower areas and access to some of the more recent graves, based on a mix of twice yearly maintenance input from contractors, along with periodic voluntary effort like the session on Saturday. I was pleased to hear of his ideas and obvious commitment to keeping the place in good shape and so I agreed to help.

So, watch this space as this new project unfolds and I get to research and develop planting ideas around wild flower meadows (and maybe a couple of areas of self -reliant shrubs and perennials?).

I’d be pleased to hear from anyone with experience or knowledge on this subject – especially with regards to church yards!

Old School Gardener

roof top garden singapore style

Well, I suppose, strictly speaking, this is horizontal gardening, but way up high! (Somewhere in Singapore).

Old School Gardener

verti gdn by studio 'g'

by ‘Studio G’

Old School Gardener

vertical garden via urban gdns

Old School Gardener

wall pots russia

Old School Gardener

living wall

succulent pattern flow

Old School Gardener

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.....and nurturing my soul

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A girl and her garden :)