The bespoke steel planters create an intimate, private outdoor space on this fourth floor Knightsbridge terrace. Watch the video for more details about the project and the product specification.

IOTA on ESI.info

Bespoke powder coated planters on IOTAgarden.com

The EverEdge Garden Ring is perfect for protecting trees and shrubs from garden maintenance.

EverEdge supplies maintenance-free path, drive and lawn edging, manufactured in the West Midlands from recycled steel.

Compare EverEdge edging products  and all landscape edging products on ESI.info.

Marshalls on ESI.info

Marshalls supplied paving for shared space scheme at Exhibition Road

Marshalls on ESI.info

Applied Landscape Design

FRC is a consolidated blend of cement, limestone, water, cellulose fibres, polyvinyl polymers and other inclusions; and the resulting composite is frostproof, UV-stable and highly impact resistant, and possesses an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio.

The video below summarises the production process of IOTA’s Boulevard range of FRC street furniture.

Clicking the image below will take you to a photostory that illustrates the production process in more detail, with further useful links to IOTA’s product range.

As Britain is gripped by a floods crisis, Government indecision and inertia is seriously delaying vital work to protect thousands of homes and properties in the UK.

Devastating flooding is causing millions of pounds worth of damage in scenes reminiscent of the 2007 floods that prompted a groundbreaking Government review by Sir Michael Pitt. Yet how much real progress has been made?

For thousands of homes and properties facing flooding misery, nothing has changed significantly since Pitt, with some of Sir Michael Pitt’s key recommendations yet to be implemented and some mired in uncertainty and delay. According to the Government’s final progress report less than half of Pitt’s 92 recommendations have been fully implemented with most of the rest remaining “work in progress”. Some key recommendations, embodied in the Flood and Water Management Act, have been subject to continuing setbacks.

According to Pitt, two-thirds of the 2007 floods were caused by surface water flooding. Yet plans to introduce new national standards in England and Wales making Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) compulsory through Local Authority SuDS Approving Bodies (SABs) have been subject to persistent delays.

It now seems likely that local authorities will have to wait until April 2014 to begin their roles – at least two years behind the original schedule, whilst work continues to clarify Defra’s draft National Standards, which have been widely criticised by stakeholders as being unclear and unworkable in their present form.

But these measures are still just the tip of the iceberg in the upgrading of our urban surface water drainage systems. As yet there are no firm plans in place to legislate to retrofit SuDS into the existing drainage network and the current proposed legislation does not cover highways.

Accepted thinking on surface water drainage has been overly influenced by an enthusiastic Green lobby, which has insisted on land-hungry natural features for SuDS, causing concerns for developers who may be forced to reduce available land for building in developments already facing tight profit margins. At the same time, natural features present engineering challenges for drainage designers to accurately predict their performance in extreme weather conditions, as well as their long-term maintenance requirements.

A wide variety of engineered systems are available that can enhance the amenity value of natural features whilst providing repeatability of measurable performance. Slowly the industry has come round to this way of thinking. Unfortunately, in the meantime I believe this uncertainty has caused delays in framing clear and unequivocal National Standards that can provide a consistent benchmark for all designers to follow.

Whilst improving urban drainage remains dogged by delays, there are similar frustrations for many proposed major flood defence schemes put on hold after the Government’s swingeing cuts in 2010. New partnership funding arrangements were introduced that require local stakeholders, such as councils, developers, utilities or Network Rail, to contribute to schemes in their area. As a result, communities desperate for updated flood defences, like Morpeth in Northumberland, have had to wait longer for defences to be built whilst funds are raised.

Yet, there is cause for hope in flood defence schemes, including the award-winning White Cart Water Flood Alleviation Scheme in Glasgow and the widely acclaimed Wigan Flood Alleviation scheme, which are successfully protecting their local communities. The solutions are based on temporary flood storage provided via giant vortex flow control devices installed in dams. Without the need for pumps and powered systems, there is no risk of the mechanical or electrical breakdowns that can cause flood defence schemes to fail.

The good news is that the British water industry offers some innovative and imaginative technologies available to provide sustainable, maintainable and reliable solutions to flood defences in future. We have the ability to solve the problems raised so clearly and fully in Sir Michael Pitt’s excellent report. For the sake of all those affected by flooding we must have decisive and resolute Government action with redoubled effort to follow through on Sir Michael’s recommendations.

For more information and comment surrounding Floods and Sustainable Drainage issues, visit Engineering Nature’s Way, the knowledge-sharing website which is the initiative of Hydro International.

ESI.infoTV Episode 3

Discussions about changes in publishing – how we get our news, gossip and information – must be a rich seam for commentators, whether they’re writing for print or the internet. Polarised debates make for snappy headlines (and tweets). Either/or.

But what relation does that bear to your typical working day? Leaving aside the futurology, what are the best resources for getting hold of new or alternative products, for getting in touch with specialist contractors, and for sharing that kind of information usefully with clients and collaborators?

The reality is that web-based collaboration, video conferencing and shared folders still co-exist, to a greater or lesser degree, with dossiers, project meetings, bookmarking with post-its and taking books onsite.

In the video, Adam describes how the familiar process of shortlisting credible companies in the External Works directory worked in tandem with logging on to ESI.info to dig deeper and find the best web pages to share with clients, for ideas or approval.

• Where do you stand on the merits of hard copy and online information?
• How does it all work in practice, in real life?
• How do you go about finding specialist contractors?

You can comment below or on Twitter (#ESIinfoTV)?

You can also register with ESI.info for free to make full use of our search and information sharing tools.

Or if you manufacture construction products or offer specialist services you can get listed on ESI.info.

We recently undertook a survey to find out how many of you still use the EXTERNAL WORKS directory, either in its printed form (affectionately known as the industry bible) or via our website www.ESI.info.

The survey, which was sent to a wide range of professionals involved in external works and landscape projects, demonstrates that trusted, credible printed resources are still very much in demand when it comes to making decisions about who and what to work with.

Nearly 80% of you, who took part in the survey, confirmed that you still use printed copies of the EXTERNAL WORKS directory and 75% wanted to receive a new up-to-date directory.

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Most respondents referred to EXTERNAL WORKS as their first port of call when looking for new products or suppliers to work with. The main factors influencing this choice related to convenience, timesaving and the credibility of the information published. Many indicated that they preferred the book as everything was in one place, rather than having to use general search engines to look for several companies at a time.

A significant segment also referred to EXTERNAL WORKS as an essential visual aid and reference when discussing designs or specifications in meetings with the design team or with clients.

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Online routes to EXTERNAL WORKS

Approximately 21% of you preferred to access EXTERNAL WORKS information online.

Factors for using the website suggested it was more comprehensive in coverage, great for generating ideas,  with additional tools making it quicker to contact relevant manufacturers or suppliers.  Some of you also indicated that you often started using the book and then went online to find more granular information in order to shortlist and compare products, or to contact multiple suppliers.

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Unsurprisingly, the pressure on space in offices meant fewer respondents had access to printed libraries, and many companies indicated that company policy meant a move to paperless working. Other factors for choosing online resources included those of you who work in shared or mobile workspaces.

What was surprising was that less than 1% of respondents mentioned visiting manufacturers’ websites directly when looking for sourcing products and suppliers online, suggesting the important role directories and websites like EXTERNAL WORKS play in supporting key decisions when choosing products and materials to work with.

Looking ahead

In the face of such positive feedback, we have decided to print a 25th anniversary edition of the EXTERNAL WORKS directory, to be released in May 2013.

This decision goes hand in hand with an exciting development programme planned throughout 2013 to make EXTERNAL WORKS information available in different formats including print, online and mobile, to suit your evolving requirements and working practices. We’re also working on new content that will allow consultants and contractors to showcase projects, as well as products and services.

Finally, a big thank you to all those who took part in our survey

We’d like to thank all respondents who took the time to complete this short survey. Your feedback was invaluable in helping us reach this decision to print a final edition.

A special mention should also go to Howard Bowcott, the artist and landscape sculptor, who won our prize draw for a new Apple iPAD.

Request your copy of the new EXTERNAL WORKS 2013 edition

If you would like to request a copy of this forthcoming directory, please contact us on the details below.

Email:    bookreg@esi.info
Tel:        01786 407000

Guy Harding, Lighting Development Manager at Woodhouse, sums up the challenges and opportunities associated with LED technology and its adoption for use in external lighting.

The exterior lighting market is changing rapidly and LEDs are a huge driving factor behind this change.

Clearly, discharge lighting still has its place, but with ongoing LED development it is only a matter of time before it will become obsolete. This is made clear by the way many manufacturers are reducing their ongoing development programmes to concentrate only on the most efficient white light sources.

But as with all leading-edge technologies, choosing a moment to release a static product offering is troublesome, especially in the construction industry where projects can be subject to very lengthy gestation times.

The LED early adoption dilemma

Specify an LED for a project today and in six months’ time that particular specification will have been superseded by another, even more efficient source. This means that all those complex calculations on efficiencies and savings can also be rendered useless and the seemingly endless search for the “best” product in a saturated market starts again.

As LED manufacturers are keen to promote their latest and most efficient products, securing a supply of the older variants can be difficult as production has often ceased.

When companies like Woodhouse look to develop a new LED-based luminaire, they are faced with a fundamental quandary: rush in too early and design a luminaire around an inefficient and quickly obsolete LED, or wait and get left behind in the market?

First-to-market mistakes

Many companies experimented with fitting LEDs into existing luminaires that were originally designed for discharge lamps – using LEDs for LEDs’ sake.

This was not ideal, as LEDs are a fundamentally different type of light source, emitting light only in one hemisphere and requiring heat to be conducted away in the other.

To use LEDs effectively, the whole concept of a luminaire needs to change. The external lighting industry is only just starting to address this.

Rethinking the concept to meet the pace of the market

Development costs are high. Careful, considered design is the way forward, not just the selection of LEDs. To create a truly low-maintenance luminaire, the selection of the power supplies and ancillary components is of prime importance. We also need to consider the question of future upgrading or replacement of LEDs within the luminaire.

Having LED modules that can be easily refitted is the way forward, but do you just replace the LEDs or the whole sealed optic module? The former is unlikely to be done reliably, ensuring perfect resealing of the module, out on site. Therefore, having a combined LED and optic module that can be easily factory refitted may seem the logical step.

Adopting the modular approach

An industry-wide working group, Zhaga, is starting to address the modularity approach and has already laid down standards for some LED modules, mainly based on interior down-lights. It is also looking at flat LED modules for exterior lighting, but this work is at an earlier stage.

All these factors lead to the fact that we need some clever and prudent engineering to produce initially affordable LED luminaires that show efficiencies from day one of installation without elongated payback periods when compared to traditional luminaires.

Woodhouse designs and manufactures exterior lighting and street furniture to the highest international standards. The company’s systems have been used on many of the most prestigious public and private sector projects in the UK and overseas, ranging from the award-winning reconstruction of Kensington High Street to Abu Dhabi.

Alex Edwards of Inturf offers a general guide to the upkeep and maintenance of established turf areas during the autumn months.

September

The frequency of mowing should decrease, unless there is an extended warm/dry spell, and the height of cut can be raised gradually to between 6mm (¼”) and 12mm (½”) above the summer height.

If the underlying soil is heavy and firm, start to hollow core (spiking with hollow tines), followed by application of top-dressings.

Bulk top-dressings should be applied evenly with an appropriate machine (if the garden exceeds 500 square metres) or by hand and brushed into the sward. Avoid smothering the grass too much.

Coverage on average should be roughly one bag of soil per 100 square metres, varying the amounts depending on any depressions or irregularities in surface levels.

It is advisable to add a mixture of seed in with the top-dressing material in order to increase the population of grass in any worn areas.

Worms may become active again at this time of the year. If this is a problem, treat the area with a proprietary brand of worm killer, although cultural methods are just as effective such as brushing, switching and regular good management.

Light rolling may be useful, but only if absolutely necessary and if there are no visible worm casts, which can smother the grass if rolled.

It will no longer be necessary to scarify the area, apart from maybe a light raking to remove worm casts, and providing this has been undertaken on a fairly regular basis throughout the spring and summer. Heavy scarification now may cause too much damage and the grass will only recover next spring.

An application of fertiliser can be made towards the end of the month. This will provide the nourishment the grass needs and harden the grass plants, making them less susceptible to disease.

October

Regular mowing gradually comes to an end, although when weather conditions are suitable, mow the area as frequently as demanded by the length of growth.

Keep the area free from debris and leaves and try to use this month to “rest” the area in readiness for the winter months.

A further smaller application of fertiliser may prove useful to really harden the grass plant off for the winter months.

Make sure there are at least four weeks between your September and October applications of fertiliser.

November

During frost-free and fairly dry periods this month, mow the area as and when necessary – the blades now set at their highest level.

Always remove debris from the surface to help prevent disease.

General

No mention has been made of fungicide applications, as we feel that these are only necessary when the first signs of disease are evident. So, although we don’t recommend precautionary treatments of fungicide, it would be recommended that you stock some contact, broad-spectrum fungicide of a proprietary brand and, at the first signs of disease, spray the affected areas very quickly.

Inturf grows turf on farms in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire for applications including amenity landscapes, bowling greens, golf courses, horse racing tracks, parks and playing fields, roof gardens, tennis courts, cricket squares and gardens. The company also supplies fibre reinforced turf, top soils, bark mulch and soil conditioners and has a nationwide network of installation teams. Inturf is a member of the Turfgrass Growers Association (TGA).