Page 4 - OPE September 2019

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LANDSCAPE EXCELLENCE
What is a “landscape of distinction”?
THE REGISTERED MASTER
Landscapers’ 2019 Landscapes of
Distinction Awards took place in August in Auckland.
The Landscapes of Distinction Awards celebrate the best projects by landscape industry professionals, this year including no less than 18 entry category choices across residential, commercial and revegetation works.
Why should you know about this? Because these are the country’s top landscape projects and the landscapers that achieved them are the best there is – and therefore should be on your customer list...
Described as showing “A high level of innovation and landscape technology, along withmasterfulproductivegardening”,this year’s Supreme Winner and Best Design
Project of the Year recognised Natural Habitats’ work at Goodside & B:Hive.
A high profile commercial office and dining hub project at Smales Farm, just
off SH1 on Auckland’s North Shore, Goodside & B:Hive mixes hard landscaping with thoughtful planting, contemporary commercial design with rustic references and injections of landscape into the buildings themselves
Goodside & B:Hive is “A superb display of high calibre landscape design that
is characterised by rural, agricultural references authentically interpreted and applied to a distinctly urban setting.”
Also featuring extensive use of concrete but at the other end of the scale, size-wise, BestConstructionwenttoHighCountry Zen @ Terrace Downs by Goom Landscapes.
High Country Zen @ Terrace Downs by Goom Landscapes (photo CMG Studios).
Humphreys Landscaping’s Takapuna Property (photo Patrick Reynolds.)
Part of the High Country Golf Course
at the foothills of the Southern Alps, this project displays “outstanding workmanship”, mixing man-made and natural materials and features a standout water feature at its entrance, all of which combines to produce a very Japanese “zen” experience.
On to planting and the Best Horticulture Project of 2019 which was awarded to the M2PP Kapiti Expressway project, carried out by Natural Habitats to plans by Boffa Miskell.
Stretching from MacKays Crossing to Pekapeka, this successful and very technical project encompassed some 29km and 92ha of planting along the Kapiti Expressway, taking in almost one and a half million eco-sourced plants, land forming, water management, habitat provision, pollution absorption, a cycleway, multiple ecosystems and soil types.
Said the judges: “That our state highways are now planned to provide such values
is exemplary, and of a scale to provide landscapes of national significance.”
Back to a more domestic scale again with 2019’s Best Maintenance Project which this year went to Humphreys Landscaping for its Takapuna Property project involving a
Watchman Rd & Napier Airport Access by South Pacific Landscapes (photo Tim Whittaker Photography).
M2PP Kapiti Expressway by Natural Habitats to plans by Boffa Miskell.
Natural Habitats’ Goodside & B:Hive.
large, well treed and lawned coastal garden with all the care and plant management challenges that brings.
“An impressive garden managed to exacting standards,” said the judges.
Returning upscale and to the public domain, the year’s Best Revegetation Project was the Watchman Rd & Napier Airport Access project by South Pacific Landscapes.
This gateway project accompanies travellers from the airport into the city through wetland lakes and wide estuary views using stylised and naturalistic massed plantings of native grasses to compliment the scheme’s water bodies and winding cycleways.
“Despite the tough coastal salt and wind conditions, the plant health looks great and this project will develop further impact over the coming years,” said the judges of Napier’s newest green infrastructure.
The 2019 Landscapes of Distinction Awards’ Primary Partners were: Allied Concrete; PlaceMakers; Prebbles Turf World; Firth; Resene; and Husqvarna.
To see the many other excellent landscape projects recognised at this year’s Awards, do check out the full results here:
www.masterlandscapers.org.nz/awards/ landscapes-of-distinction n
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04 NZOUTDOORPOWEREQUIPMENT SEPTEMBER2019
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