National Tree Week

The Tree Council first established National Tree Week in March 1975 to support national replanting of trees after the outbreak of Dutch Elm disease. It’s fitting then that this year we have been planting Elm trees in Brighton as part of our Preston Barracks framework and our subsequent role on the public realm. Brighton & Hove City Council is internationally renowned for its work to manage Elm Disease since the 1970s, and the city also has a unique microclimate with the South Downs and English channel forming a natural defence across which the disease cannot easily travel. These two factors have culminated in the city having the largest stock of Elm species, cultivars and varieties in Britain. We are continuing this tradition at Preston Barracks with a boulevard of specimen elm trees, including the New Horizon cultivar which is resistant to Dutch elm disease.

Last year we installed several trees at Bromley high street in London, selecting a real variety of species such as Koelreuteria, Parrotia, Paulownia, Gleditsias. These trees remind people of nature’s diversity whilst connecting with the richness of different leave foliage in the nearby Church House Gardens, a Victorian park which was planted with an arboretum of fascinating species.

We’re also continuing the delivery of the public realm at The Old Vinyl Factory in London, a role which has seen us plant 195 trees at this former office park which was once predominately characterised by surface car parking. Today, the site is undergoing the final phases of its transformation into a vibrant, mixed-use destination, with the integration of greenery intrinsic to our landscape approach, as has been the sites history as the EMI factory which has inspired public realm interventions including gramophone sculptures and vinyl surface patterns throughout.

Next year we will oversee 140 trees being planted at Mayfield Park, a new 6 acre plus urban park in Mayfield, Manchester, which will be the first new park in the city centre for over 100 years. The palette of tree species is varied and includes over 50 different types, with trees such as Metasequoia intended to become long-living focal points for generations to come at this new riverside destination.

Along with our week at Balfron Tower and East Wick and Sweetwater, we will have planted 500 trees across our portfolio of places.