| Sports Facilities - Client: Poole Borough Council |
At Ashdown Secondary School the construction of a full sized artificial grass hockey pitch included flood lighting, underground drainage and perimeter ball walls with fencing.
Adjacent to this are a hard porous tennis courts with fencing, also including drainage and fencing.
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A very complicated site, being part old gardens and part heathland, with a section being an SSSI. The ground required major grading to achieve a reasonable level for a playing field. The boundaries were constrained by public footpaths, low voltage power cables and large water main, all of which had to be diverted, plus a high pressure gas main and overhead high voltage electricity cable which had to remain, and restricted any level changes and increase in site area.
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| Play Areas - Client: Townsend Estate Dorset |
| Amongst a large council housing estate in Bournemouth a series of children's play areas were constructed at selected locations.
Each play area offered a different age range of challenges for the children of the estate.
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| To create privacy for the children and reduce the impact of noise these play areas were set below general ground levels and screened with earth banks and planting.
The gravel subsoil enabled the use of a free draining safety play surface. Fencing, planting and the play surface was a deterrent to dogs. The clean and free draining surface has encouraged greater use of these areas.
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| Low key robust wooden play structures and metal slides have provided low cost and low maintenance equipment.
Vigorous low maintenance plants which screen these sites have stood up well to intensive use that the children put these areas to.
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| Library/Social Services/Elderly Persons - Landscaping to libraries, day centres. - Client: Dorset County council |
These schemes often included a full site survey, ground modelling drawings and detailed design drawing for planning approval.
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| This was followed by full specification, quantity surveying, contract documentation and tendering procedures resulting in direct landscape contracts, being let following the completion of the main building contract. |
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| These contracts were then supervised on site which normally included a twelve months maintenance contract.
All projects met the tight budgetary controls set by the client.
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| Educational - Client: Ashdown School Dorset |
| A major new secondary school built on the outskirts of Poole.
This £5m scheme included some joint user facilities for Poole Borough Council, which asked for increased community facilities to be included on this site.
Sited upon heathland, the site created many structural problems, such as standing water, springs, layers of clay overlying layers of peat, major road and electricity service routes.
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| Initial operations were the site clearance, topsoil stripping, major grading and playing field construction. A full detailed design of all external areas was undertaken resulting in extensive roads, paths, car parks, foul and surface water systems, retaining walls, brick walls, playgrounds, fencing, ground modelling, grass, planted areas, hard porous tennis courts, artificial grass pitch and sports facilities. |
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| Garden Design - Client: Milborne St Andrew Dorset |
| Set in a quiet country village this private residence which included a small farmyard has been transformed into a secluded and private garden.
The work was carried out using a small local contractor and was supervised on site.
By utilising modern construction methods to overcome structural problems to retaining walls, with traditional brick and stone walling itself capped with stained timer and restful garden.
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| Constraints to be catered for included an oil tank, a raised pond, concrete block wall, a partly unstable cob wall, concrete yard with problems at DPC level and recent housing on adjacent boundary reducing privacy.
An outline planting scheme was prepared, which the client has added to over the years.
Planting aimed to produce all year round interest with small scale plants and climbers on the walls.
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| Council Housing - Client: Townsend Estate Dorset |
| On the outskirts of Bournemouth a major council housing estate has been built over a period of eight years.
A mixture of council houses and elderly persons flats were set around linear public open spaces and a primary school.
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| The work included footbaths, top soiling, grading, grass seeding, planting, fitness trails, a BMW area, several play areas and maintenance.
The work for Bournemouth Council involved the design, tendering and supervision. Strict budget costs were met, with three contractors carrying out the work as separate contracts.
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| Planting utilised low maintenance and robust species. This was particularly necessary where vandalism was a problem. Climbers were used as much as possible to soften the many walls around the site. Extra large trees were planted to give initial impact, whilst whips established. |
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| Higher Education - Client: Bournemouth and Poole College of Art |
| A University campus complex was expanded through the construction of a second phase.
Located on the borders of Poole Bournemouth this complex was set several metres below adjacent ground levels to reduce its impact upon the skyline.
Works included car parking, hard landscaping, with the soft landscaping carried out under a separate direct contract.
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| Designed to link up with the first phase, external landscaping to the second phase incorporated similar hard landscape details which consisted of concrete paviors and brick seating.
The planting was to be low maintenance with plants providing different leaf shapes, textures, sizes and colours to aid the art students in their studies.
Due to the gravel subbase all surface water was able to be drained onto the shrub beds.
The budget was very tight but costs and programme were met and the planted areas are now becoming established. |
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