Award shows how contractors are key to delivering urban green infrastructure - #EUGIC2019

Contractors are crucial to urban planners. Urban planners have to develop strong, effective and strategic policies for urban green infrastructure (UGI) and designers need to articulate such policies in their schemes. Who delivers on these policies? Contractors. Yet it is not just about delivering and completing projects: maintaining these projects in the long term is what ensures their ultimate success. More importantly, when it comes comes to engaging with stakeholders, contractors are the ones best placed to get everyone on board. Contractors work on site and, as such, can ensure that the concerns of the immediate community are heard and that those concerns are realised. There is no better example of this working in practice than the Grass roof company which has worked in tandem with the residents of the Clapton Park Estate to create an urban greenspace that they can, and have, taken ownership of.

Award winning Grass roof company speaks again at #EUGICLONDON2019

The driving force behind the Grass roof company is John Little, who will be speaking at EUGIC 2019. John also talked at the EUGIC conferences in Vienna (2015) and Budapest (2017) and was universally popular owing to his inspiring approach to managing the Clapton Park Estate in north-east London. This year, winner of the TPAS 2019 Contractor Customer Service Champion Award, John will bring, not only his knowledge of contracting but also his personal awareness of and ambition for the tenants of Clapton Park Estate. John also heads Green Roof Shelters, which delivers innovative bike and bin sheds with habitats for wildlife. Green Roof Shelters also won two awards last year - the ARCC Green Infrastructure Design Award and the BIG Biodiversity Challenge Award Category: Innovation.

Green roof bike stalls recently installed at the New IKEA in Greenwich

Contractors are the unsung heroes of the UGI story

Researchers, professional consultants and designers all too often take precedent over the ‘infantry on the ground’. This is common in all professions, but particularly so in the world of landscaping. The infantry of grounds maintenance, green roof and wall and landscape contractors, are the ones that have to install and maintain these landscapes. With their knowledge and experience they have a wealth of knowledge of what works and what needs to be done in the long term to ensure that the all-round benefits of UGI are realised. 

John Little has been a landscape contractor for more than 20 years. He is also a knowledgable and enthusiastic wildflower/wildlife enthusiast. Because of his interest in the brownfield habitats in the Thames Estuary, where he lives, he has been trying out new approaches to landscape design that replicate these habitats in a garden context. These ideas, tried and tested in his garden, have then been used in his own work or as an inspiration to others in theirs. As a result of his empirical research, John Little has become a well-known figure amongst ecologists and designers around the UK and more recently across Europe.

Brownfield garden - innovative approach - John's garden in Essex

Additionally, he has a genuine desire to engage and work with communities to foster relationships. In his work on the Clapton Park Estate, he ensures the tenants take both ownership and pleasure from the landscapes his company creates and maintains. The tenants' association of Clapton Park is enormously proud of the award his company has received, as are the residents. This speaks volumes of the work the Grass roof company deliver at the estate. 

Contracting and supply is not forgotten at EUGIC

John is not alone in representing the contracting world at #EUGIC2019. Several other contractors, notably Bridgman & Bridgman which recently installed the new IKEA landscape at roof and ground level, will also be speaking at the event. And contractors rely on products to deliver their work. Therefore many systems and product suppliers will also be present and speaking at the conference - notably our headline sponsors Polypipe, along GreenUrbanBlue. 

Book, listen, interact and be part of the UGI story in Europe

EUGIC2019 ensures that from city planners to installers, all professions involved in the UGI story in Europe are given a stage to engage with participants from across Europe. Book now and be part of the story - EUGIC EVENTS.