GREEN & BLUE INFRASTRUCTURE
GREEN-TECH HELPING TO REGENERATE ATHLONE
IN IRELAND
WITH THEIR URBAN TREEPARKER ® TREE PLANTING CELL SYSTEM
Background : Athlone , Co Westmeath is a thriving town in the centre of Ireland , equidistant between Dublin on the East coast and Galway on the West . The ambitious Urban Design and Regeneration Framework Plan includes a package of projects that aims to regenerate Athlone , realise its full potential as one of five Regional Growth Centres within Co Westmeath , and position it as a destination for tourism .
New road layouts and tree planting were undertaken at Dublin Gate Street ( North and South ), Mardyke Street North , and Marist Brothers ’ Corner , with plans to pedestrianise Sean Costello Street , creating a link between the shopping areas of Athlone town centre .
The Regeneration Team , with funding from Project Ireland 2040 , worked on the initial stages with McAdam Design and OPEN Landscape Architects . John Cradock Ltd was awarded the works contract in January 2023 , with work starting quickly thereafter . John Cradock has been one of Ireland ’ s leading civil engineering and building contractors for over 30 years , the last 20 of which has included the delivery of several award-winning public realm projects .
Green-tech involvement : John Cradock had worked with Green-tech previously on the Waterford Greenway project , involving 48 trees that required geo-cellular support . Using their raft-style support system in that instance , they were keen to see Green-tech ’ s new TreeParker ® urban tree pit system , introduced to the market at Future Build at the beginning of March 2023 . Although TreeParker ® has been used over the years on high-profile , large public realm projects throughout mainland Europe and the Middle East , this was to be Green-tech ’ s first TreeParker ® project in the UK and Ireland .
The Cradock ’ s team is used to working with geo-cellular tree pit systems and saw no problem with the straightforward , simple design of TreeParker ®. However , as it was the first official installation , Green-tech sent a team to observe and offer assistance and guidance if needed . It turned out none was , as the system was straightforward and quicker to install than even the contractors expected .
As is common in a town centre , there was the expected multitude of service lines and pipes running through the rooting area at various levels and angles . However , due to the way that the TreeParker ® units are assembled , this caused no problem whatsoever , the support legs simply straddled the service pipes , as can be seen in the photographs .
The new TreeParker ® system comprises rigid , modular units made from reinforced , recycled polypropylene . The units enable the ground above a tree pit to be trafficked , supporting the paving above ( up to 56t / m2 ), whilst still protecting the soil below from compaction . This means that rather than needing to use a fast-draining and low organic structural tree soil , a soft , friable , organic topsoil can be used , which is ideal for successful tree establishment .
Although highly rigid , the units still provide 95 % of their volume for rooting space . The heavy-duty , reinforced legs are available in various heights from the factory ; 400 , 600 , 800mm , and 1 , 1.2 , and 1.5m . This gives a previously unheard-of flexibility with depth options , and more importantly , without the need to stack multiple units , saving installation time and money . It also enables the units , by having legs rather than side walls , to easily straddle , or work around service pipes and lines , as was demonstrated at Athlone .
Alasdair Innes from Green-tech adds , “ The John Cradock team were impressed with the speed and ease with which the units went in , and the way the service pipes were easily worked around was a definite bonus . Working across four separate tree pit areas , Green-tech also supplied the necessary root barrier , along with Mona Relief irrigation pipes and tree anchors . Once the tree pits were installed , other groundworks were completed so the trees were not planted until Spring 2024 . We look forward to seeing the trees flourish over the next few years .”
www . green-tech . co . uk
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