Every so often I like to highlight recent Silva Cell installations clustered around a specific theme so that readers have a sense of the projects we work on. Today’s roundup is from the UK. These projects were all installed in the last few months and showcase a nice variety of size (two to 30 trees), application (school, streets, etc.), and soil volume. Take a look through each for a short summary of the project details.
Stebonheath Primary School (Llanelli, Wales)
Designed by ARUP-Cardiff and installed by Morgan Sindall, this two tree installation occurred at Stebonheath Primary School in August. Here, 88 Silva Cells are providing over 12 cubic meters (440 cubic feet) of a bioretention soil to two trees.
This is the first Silva Cell phase to be installed at the highest point of total catchment area of 2,493 ha. By managing water in the lightly compacted soil within the Silva Cells, we will take storm-water off line during the rain event, adding greater capacity to the current system. The driver for Welsh Water is to reduce the total number of CSO spills into the local estuary by using sustainable solutions. The savings compared to using traditional methods to manage 432.280m³ of storage is estimated to be around £455m, and the local community get greener streets.
(Someone fix up those stakes, stat!)
St. Mary’s Way (Sunderland)
An installation along St. Mary’s Way in Sunderland also took place in August. This was a much larger project for 31 trees along this street. Silva Cells are providing over 16 cubic meters (570 cubic feet) to these trees. The City Council has placed a lot of value on providing successful trees for the future understanding that a high quality urban quarter will reinvigorate Sunderland City Centre. The Silva Cell installation was carried out by Beatty Balfour Engineering.
Sorry that we don’t yet have finished photos of this site with the trees in!
Applegate Scheme (Leicester)
This project was installed in May. Here, the Silva Cell is providing almost 7 cubic meters (240 cubic feet) of bioretetion soil per tree to nine trees on Guildhall Lane. This project was designed and Installed by Leicester City Council.
Woodberry Down (London)
This project provided almost 12 cubic meters (420 cubic feet) of soil per tree to 11 trees along Woodberry Grove. It was designed by Murdoch Wickham and installed in July 2013 by Coinford Construction Limited.
Oaklands (Caterham)
This is the first phase of project using Silva Cells to provide soil to trees planted in a car park. Almost 650 Cells are providing nearly 23 cubic meters (800 cubic feet) of soil per tree to 6 trees. The Silva Cells are installed under pervious pavers to establish and support tree growth whilst contributing to the on-site water management. Providing a continued soil volume of 31.6 cubic meters for 2 trees. This site was designed by Macfarlane Wilder LLP and installed in September 2013 by O’Halloran & O’Brien.
For more information about these projects, or any other projects in the UK, please contact Steve Chatwin-Grindey ([email protected]).
Top image Flickr credit: tomylees
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