Member Article

Bruntwood harnesses green power at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park

The power of green space in creating thriving, healthy cities and bringing together urban communities will be explored at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park this year by headline sponsor, Bruntwood.

Sponsoring the show for the third year, the leading regional property company, has designed a show garden to demonstrate how it uses green space in its developments, to promote a sense of community and support wellbeing.

This year, Bruntwood’s show garden draws inspiration from previous installations at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park. The Bruntwood Field Office in 2016 promoted the use of outdoor space both as a place for work and events, and The Bruntwood Experiment showcased Bruntwood’s support of urban greening and how it can contribute to the health and wellbeing of cities and citizens.

The garden has been designed by Bruntwood’s Nathan Webster. After working as part of Hultons Landscapes team to build the Bruntwood gardens in 2016 and 2017, Nathan joined the Bruntwood team as Urban Greening Champion. He has designed the engaging and interactive garden, which includes exhibition and performances spaces for events throughout the week.

The 2018 Bruntwood Garden takes aspects from both of these features, creating a sustainable and usable green space that will act as a social and cultural focal point for people to sit, work and relax. Incorporating a performance area, an exhibition space, an outdoor ‘board table’ and a display of suspended plants, visitors will be able to enjoy a multitude of events and activities within the garden throughout the show.

To bring the space to life and champion the regional cultural scene, Bruntwood is inviting community partners, customers and colleagues to host a series of workshops, performances and talks including from the Hallé Youth Ensemble, the Ancoats Choir and Manchester International Festival’s Creative 50, along with a series of BFI film shorts hosted by HOME. Workshops will include canvas bag screen printing, doodle painting and wood printing by Kim Hubball, the artist behind Bruntwood’s bee in this year’s Bee in the City festival.

On Thursday (19 July) Bruntwood will be focusing on sustainability through a panel about city centre travel. To create thriving cities, it is vital that they are liveable. The debate will explore ways in which people do and how we can continue to, travel around the city in a sustainable way. The event will feature senior representatives from Bruntwood, TfGM and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

Returning to the Bruntwood Garden will also be the team behind the City of Trees project, delivering a variety of activities including a mask creation workshop and forage cocktail making session. Bruntwood is playing a key role in the City of Trees project that aims to reinvigorate Greater Manchester’s landscape by restoring 2,000 hectares of underused, unloved woodland and planting three million trees.

This is just one of many environmental initiatives Bruntwood is supporting in its bid to help shape green and beautiful cities. The property company recently announced its membership of the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), with Chief Executive Chris Oglesby pledging support for Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s zero carbon vision by committing to reduce its emissions by a minimum of 5% per year for the next three years.

Kate Vokes, Director of Culture at Bruntwood, said, “Our garden is about celebrating the benefits of green space in urban environments and inspiring people to think more about how we make sure our future is more attractive, sustainable and people-friendly.

“Urban living is more popular than ever, but it’s important to stay mindful of green spaces and sustainable routes to work. If we look at the environmental implications alone, incorporating green space and planting into our urban centres improves air quality, reduces the risk of flooding and supports wildlife.

“Green space is an integral part of Circle Square in Manchester, the new city centre neighbourhood, we are developing in a joint venture with Select Property Group and we hope that other developers will follow suit, so that, scheme by scheme, we can gradually turn our cities from grey to green. We look forward to sharing this vision with visitors to RHS Tatton.”

Circle Square will incorporate attractive open spaces with lawns, river parks and gardens; over a thousand flowers, plants and shrubs, some 180 semi-mature trees and a green the size of four football pitches.

Now in its 20th year, the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park will run from the 18th to the 22nd July. The Bruntwood Garden will stage events throughout each day of the show.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Maria Carr .