Green-tech supports urban tree pits at one of Dublin’s latest destination venues.

PROJECT:Wilton Park Tree Pits

LOCATION:Dublin, Ireland

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT:Townshend

LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR:Maylim

PRODUCT/SERVICES SUPPLIED:Green-tech TreeParker®

Background:

In the 1950s, the area around Wilton Park was the most bohemian community in the city. It sits around the newly renovated, delightful one-acre park, sitting alongside the Grand Canal. The work included planting 30,000 new shrubs and 48 new trees, restoring the Victorian fountain, and adding new seating. It is open seven days a week from 6:30am to 9pm.

The development of the inspiring office, social, and residential building involved years of preparation and consultation with not only city planners but the local communities. Every facet of the design, materials and amenity space has been driven by the desire to create a space that people will use and love. Wilton Park is the only workplace in the city with its own park, and as if to rubber-stamp its credentials, three major companies LinkedIn, Stripe and EY have chosen the location for their new headquarters.

One outstanding feature is a new public square with a mature cherry tree and interactive water feature. Mary Lavin Place is the first public place in Ireland to be named after a female writer, celebrating the area’s literary connections.

Green-tech involvement:

Maylim are specialists in hard and soft landscaping, paving projects, and civil engineering work, and Wilton Park was their inaugural venture into Dublin. They have worked with Green-tech for nearly ten years across various projects, so when the TreeParker® tree pit support system was suggested, they were keen to see it, especially as it had recently been used to good effect just down the road at Athlone a few months previously.

Launched as a like-for-like alternative to the tree pit support systems already on the market, TreeParker® works in exactly the same way – supporting the paving above, vehicular or pedestrian, whilst protecting the soft, organic topsoil below from compaction. It does however have a number of distinct advantages.

The heavy-duty, reinforced legs are available in six height options from the factory: 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, and 1500mm. This gives a previously unheard-of flexibility with depth options, and more importantly, without the need to stack two units high, saving installation time and money. It also enables the units, by having rounded legs rather than side walls, to easily straddle, or work around service pipes and lines.

The new TreeParker® system comprises rigid, modular units made from reinforced, recycled polypropylene. These units do a vital job in enabling the ground above a tree pit to be trafficked, supporting the paving above (up to 56t/m2). This means that rather than having to use a fast draining and low organic structural tree soil, we can use a soft, friable, organic topsoil, ideal for successful tree establishment. Made from highly rigid, 100% recycled polypropylene, the units still provide 95% of their volume for rooting space.

There were various sized tree pits across the site up to 28m2, and longer trenches up to 39m long, allowing for around twenty new trees to be planted along the front and rear aspects of the main building. Supplying product to site in a timely manner was no problem thanks to Green-tech’s fully-stocked warehouse in Ireland, serving both Northern Ireland and Eire. Green-tech’s Specification Team was in Dublin for the annual Specifi event, so took the chance to visit the site during installation.

The feedback on TreeParker® was extremely complimentary, focussing mainly on the speed and simplicity of installation. There were several utility lines on site and the absence of intrusive side walls meant that installation was a lot more straightforward than it might otherwise have been.

Alasdair Innes – Green-tech Specification Advisor

This is a stunning development and it was fantastic to have TreeParker® chosen as the preferred tree pit support system. Having a warehouse in Ireland is also a major benefit for us to be able to cover the increasing amount of projects coming through for Northern Ireland and Eire.