Landscaping
SALI Awards
ILASA judges’ comments
The project sets a great precedent for urban living, converting small private
garden spaces into well-designed functional units that have ample privacy and
good views. The technical detail and finishes are to be commended and the
indigenous plant palette is diverse. Special care has been taken by diverting
stormwater through a wetland system that promotes sustainability and
biodiversity.
SALI judges’ comments
Regional judge, landscape architect Christa Otto, along with national judge,
nurseryman Morne Faulhammer, commended the landscape contractors
Earthforce Landscapes, for a really special job; saying that the condition of
the plants was excellent. The plant palette was seen to blend beautifully into
the revamped golf course, so that the landscapes read as one with a seamless
transition. They remarked on the challenging working conditions with limited
access and the large area to be landscaped, which had been mastered. The
maintenance of the site, also done by Earthforce (Jiri and Karine Pechous), with
the access and infrastructure challenges had been effortlessly overcome by the
contractor, with the provision of an excellent maintenance service illustrated by
the condition of the plants and attention to detail throughout the landscaped
areas.
SALI national judge, Morne Faulhammer, chose The Houghton as the winner
of the Just Trees Trophy for Best Construction with Design by Others because
he found the landscape contractor Earthforce Landscapes’ attention to detail
remarkable, particularly considering that at the time of the judges’ visit, the
contractor had been relegated a small workspace with hardly any storage room.
Earthforce Landscapes, a small hands-on contracting team (which Faulhammer
felt was the reason for the extraordinary care taken) was responsible for all the
planting and the installation of irrigation systems, the aluminium edges, the
gravel surrounds and the dry packed stone gabion walls.
Faulhammer commended both designer and contractor for the different
ambience created in each garden across the site, with the combination of
carefully positioned planting, care taken with the layering of gravel and
positioning of pergolas, etc. He mentioned the successful plantings in the shaded
and windy back areas, particularly behind the 12H wing. He added that much
had been learnt from the challenges of the first phase of landscaping.
He was in favour of the eclectic mix of indigenous plant species, from a number
of areas in South Africa, saying that the design had achieved the required
feel without strictly keeping to ‘locally indigenous’ plants... for example, the
grass-like plants (largely restios) mixed with veldgrasses achieved the feel of a
South African grassland setting, without stringent requirements to choose only
local indigenous species – which are often difficult to acquire in any quantity,
commercially.
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