Greenstone Landscapes

The Existing Garden

This is a large site with fully mature leylandii and pine trees along all boundaries. These trees take all the sunlight and take up approx 40% of useable space within the garden. There is an old concrete path along the back of the house with a small bank of planting leading down to a mossy grass surface between all the large trees. The trees serve no benefit to anyone including surrounding neighbours. The access to the site is through a 1 meter wide side passage. See attached photo of existing site.

The Brief

The brief was quite straightforward from the client. They wanted to open up the garden for entertainment purposes. Enjoy a nice planting pallet with the options of a garden room for year-round use. They were open to any style.

The Challenge

Once the design was agreed (and costs) which was upon presenting the first draft we arranged a schedule and time to get to site. The biggest challenge versus the scale of the works was the access down the side passage. No large machinery would fit so we decided on a late evening to knock a section of the rear wall and bring in a larger machine in the evening through the park at the rear for doing the larger excavation works. We still had to use the side access for all materials in and out as we could not use the park at the rear due to council insurance policies.

Firstly, the trees were felled on site with everything mulched through the chipper and piled into a colossal pile in the back garden as we could not drag branches through the side passage due to external insulation on the house which would have gotten badly damaged. The side of the house was protected for the duration of the works with zero damage done upon completion. All the chipped tree waste was then moved out in at least 50 dumper loads to the front garden where we moved it off site using our own grab truck.

The next phase of works involved taking all site levels and excavating for foundations for the garden room, steps, feature wall and raised beds. All concrete was pumped in as required and all blockwork built up to specific levels. At this stage all drainage was applied including a large soak hole beneath the surface taking all rainwater and dispersing it into the ground.

The roof of the garden room was challenging based on the canopy and angles. A jigsaw of steel beams were used and specified by us to link the roof from right left and front to back. Well over 1000 cuts went into the rafters to get every angle cut to perfection so the roof was solid. We use a liquid polyurethane on the surface to seal everything with pressed metal for all parapets for a good aesthetic

We carried out all stone-work on raised beds and feature walls along with cutting all caps to the feature wall which was high precision work.All paving was laid with varied levels to main surfaces and edging along with the cobble detail to create movement and parallel lines to the garden room. Over 120 ton of soil was incorporated onto site via small dumpers along with plenty of manure and growing medium through all planting beds. The success of this is evident with the growth of all planting throughout the scheme.

Lots of cable for lighting runs through the whole garden with various lighting circuits and sub boards taking the load away from the house. The finish of the lighting layout was undertaken by a specialist smart lighting company so everything is controlled from the house and also through your phone. All work is carried out by greenstone landscapes staff except more technical electrical work whereby we use and electrical sub-contractor.

Judges’ Comments: 

“Despite the site constraints, the implementation of this design clearly exhibits the excellent workmanship throughout.”

“This project brings the concept of Garden Design & Build to a different level. The clients positive testimonial says it all. The project from design, demolition and right through to the finish has been delivered to the highest standards. The final project, including building works is flawless. The fact that the whole project was primarily done with the limited pedestrian access to the side of the house makes it more impressive.”