Retaining the treescape in a World Square
The redesign on London’s iconic Trafalgar Square as part of the World Squares for All called for the felling and replacement of several of the large Plane trees within the square and the surrounding streets.
Working closely with the professional team from Atkins Global, Schal and contractors Fitzpatrick Civic Trees managed the sourcing, procurement, planting and maintenance of the trees.
Civic Trees arranged nursery visits to the grower in the Netherlands where the trees were selected in the field well in advance of planting so full preparation could be given.
The architects had requested that an urban soil mix was used for the backfill in the newly created tree pits and Civic Trees were able to source this and co-ordinate deliveries into the congested site where space was at a premium throughout.
Works were carried out whilst the busy highways and footways remained live so Civic Trees experienced tree planting teams devised a programme of early morning starts to enable the trees to be offloaded with minimum disruption to daily life in the capital.
Civic Trees maintained the trees to make sure that there was maximum success.
Summary
Client: Greater London Authority
Consultant: WS Atkins
Main contractor: Fitzpatrick
Location: London