Green-tech supplied its John Chambers Wildflower Seed for the new £48 million Wick Campus project, part of the Scottish Government ‘Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme’ commissioned by the Highland Council.
The 17,500m2 campus replaced the previous Wick High School and consolidated a number of existing primary schools, a nursery, sports facilities, a community library and swimming pool into one integrated community facility. The East Caithness Community Campus was officially launched in the Summer 2018.
Ashlea Limited, a privately-owned commercial landscaping company, is part of the supply chain for Morrison Construction and has undertaken the soft landscaping to several schools in the central belt of Scotland and in the Highlands. It was awarded the contract for soft landscaping, which included wildflower seeding around the extensive grounds of Wick Campus.
Ashlea turned to Green-tech, which supplied 300kg+ of John Chambers Wildflower Seed for phase 2 of the project, including a specialist BREEAM species rich lawn mix, compost, tree stakes, cross bars, belting and blocks.
Chambers Wildflower Seed has a 35-year history of supplying native British produced wildflower seed and mixes to rural and urban projects across the UK. Seed is sourced from growers that are long established and stringent in their collection processes – it is cleaned by hand, a labour-intensive process to achieve the highest quality standards. The team of specially trained seed cleaners dispatch only the best seed that ensures optimum growth and success no matter the climate or soil quality.
As well as the standard mixes, the team worked with landscape architects and ecologists across the UK to create bespoke wildflower mixes to meet specific criteria. The team considers bio-diversity, location, flowering periods and project aspirations before creating a mix suitable for a specification.
Commenting on the project, Stuart Simpson, a Director of Ashlea Limited said: “The establishment of the wildflower areas has been excellent. It was first seeded in May 2018 during the very dry period we experienced this summer. The establishment of the flowering lawn has been one of the best we have ever seen and I am sure the warm weather was a contributing factor. Being so far north in Scotland the site is subject to ever changing weather conditions and an almost constant wind. It has been a pleasure to work on this project and we always turn immediately to Green-tech as our landscape supplier. They always supply what we need, when we need it, at the most competitive prices. The John Chambers Wildflower Seed is hand prepared and of excellent quality. We have used the company’s seed on many other projects, always with outstanding results.