How Urban Trees Make Cities More Livable
Former mayor of Chicago Richard Daley once delivered a keynote speech at the Great Parks/Great Cities Conference, in which he stated that “trees are contagious and when people experience them, they want more of them and they’re willing to pay for them because they know they’re getting something for their money.” “Trees are contagious and […]
Increase your Investment by Reshaping the Ecosystem
At first sight, new tree planting in hard surfaces on developments looks like an easy target for a value engineering exercise – after all trees are just cosmetic, aren’t they?… They are the little green blobs on the planning drawing which we can easily remove or reduce and no one will know or care…. But […]
The True Value of Tree Planting
With space and land at a premium in cities around the world, the need to make the case for green infrastructure and SUDs/LID has never been greater. Land use varies and clients and landowners will have diverse needs and a variety of ambitions and aspirations for the final result of their site. We often try […]
Providing Support from Concept to Installation
We understand the pressures that specifiers face in the fast-paced design world, and in particular, the fact that landscape is often one of the last considerations on a project. We are committed to making your life simpler and easier – fully supporting you from initial ideas to education on best practice tree planting and LID/SUDS […]
Trees & Water Sensitive Urban Design
Welcome to our 2018 Trees & Water Sensitive Urban Design publication – a step by step guide to successfully planting trees in a SUDS / LID context. As large free-standing stormwater reservoirs, trees have few equals. Their natural capacity for canopy interception and water attenuation mean that they are increasingly being viewed as fundamentally important […]
Getting the right solution above ground!
We constantly find ourselves communicating the essentials of the below ground infrastructure requirements for urban trees in the hard landscape. However, the considerations above the ground are critical if the urban trees we integrate into the hard landscape are to have the opportunity to provide the essential ecosystems services to those who live, work and […]
How to Integrate Tree Pits into Complex Urban Environments
For Specifiers, the use of a complete tree pit package saves time and reduces the complexities of ensuring that below and above ground solutions for the tree are integrated. This provides the long-term irrigation, aeration, support and protection for all urban trees that specifiers work into their projects. This is why GreenBlue Urban’s ArborSystem has been […]
Onsite Support = Long Term Solution!
GreenBlue Urban are committed to successful trees; long term mature canopy cover being proven to give multiple benefits for all who live, work and play in our urban areas. To assist the contractor with excavation, GreenBlue Urban provides accurate dig dimensions, minimising adjustments required once RootSpace soil cells are being installed. This service can save […]
Soil Cells – Saving you Time & Money!
Having spent the past 25 years in a process of constant research and innovation, here at GreenBlue Urban we are confident that soil cell systems provide multiple benefits that alternative tree pit methods will not be able to deliver and that saving time and money are critical factors to the implementation of a successful scheme. […]
Why Do Trees in Hard Surfaces Fail?
All of us in the landscape profession wish our workmanship to accurately reflect the mission and values of our company. So, why is it that too often trees in hard surfaced areas fail within a few years, or at least never attain healthy maturity? What appears to be the reason that some green infrastructure thrives […]
Tree Pits, Why, How – The Basics
Tree Pits – What are the options and why Soil Support Cells provide the best long-term solution. Hard landscapes present unique challenges to the installer but this need not detract from the project of integrating good quality mature trees into the built environment with speed and ease. Planning policy around the world provides increasingly stringent guidelines […]
Celebrating Partnership with City of Trees
Over the last five years, GreenBlue Urban have been delighted to partner with the urban tree planting super squad at City of Trees. The team have been instrumental in delivering high quality green infrastructure projects across the Greater Manchester area. We often think of concepts such as the northern powerhouse and the regeneration of ambitious […]
Integrating SUDS / LID into a City Vision
We are now into the initial phases of implementing pilot projects as part of our involvement in the Water Resilient Cities project. Lead Partner Plymouth City Council have already begun works on site in the iconic and key commercial quarter of the city, Armada Way. Armada Way is situated in Plymouth’s city centre and […]
Boosting Investment & Economic Growth with Urban Trees
Urban greening has been an effective initiative in rejuvenating deprived city areas over the years. Studies conducted in the US and UK have proved that the creation of public open spaces regenerates urban areas and encourages further investment. Trees are a vital component to creating open spaces, as they offer immediate and long-lasting visual impact. […]
Water Resilient Cities – Kortrijk Workshop
As part of GreenBlue Urban’s commitment to the EU Interreg Water Resilient Cities Project, GreenBlue Urban and Landscape Architect Chryse Tinsley travelled to Kortrijk to meet, teach and deliver a workshop to the students of the new ecotechnology course at the VIVES college campus. It is vital to inspire, engage and share experience with the […]
Adapting to climate change – Urban GreenUp
GreenBlue Urban were privileged to contribute to the Urban Tree Pit Seminar held at the Liverpool BID office, organised by the Mersey Forest. The Mersey Forest, alongside many other stakeholders across the city have been awarded funding by the Horizon 2020 project* to engage in several pilot urban greening projects. Namely the URBAN GreenUP project […]
Why is soil aeration so important for tree health?
Study a clump of ordinary garden earth or soil, fresh from the garden – or better still a woodland area. If you look closely you will see that far from being a solid mass, it is honeycombed with holes and crevices, fault lines and voids. We call these gaps between the mineral particles and organic […]
Discover the Growing Potential of Urban Greening
The idea of designing with nature is now central to urban critical thought. Research is increasingly finding support for the significant impacts green and blue infrastructure can have on our social and environmental well-being and how we interact in, and with spaces. But, despite a growing evidence base, urban greening is still considered a luxury […]
Small Scale Big Impact: GIP Conference 2017
GreenBlue Urban were delighted to sponsor the Small Scale Big Impact Conference held in the offices of ARUP last week. The agenda was focused primarily on retrofitting green infrastructure and this acted as a springboard to a wide range of inspiring presentations and discussions. The first speaker we heard from, Nick Barter, detailed the progress […]
What’s next for Water Resilient Cities?
GreenBlue Urban have been involved for one year now in an EU Interreg project called Water Resilient Cities. This project aims to develop new capabilities and increase awareness of the issues of retrofitting strategic SUDs in our towns and cities. As part of the project output, GBU are establishing a network of private and public-sector […]
Thank you for celebrating 25 Years with us!
It has been an incredible quarter of a century at GreenBlue Urban and what better than to celebrate in style and say thank you to our friends and supporters from across the private and public sector. We have been fortunate over these years to have established lasting partnerships with respected colleagues, enabling us to develop […]
Is Wellness the new Buzzword..
For Urban Regeneration? The high street is facing tough times. Apart from some very fashionable town centres in popular and well-healed parts of the country, the on-line shopping revolution is seriously hurting. The hurting has generated some very valiant schemes improving the browsing experience for those addicted to shopping. It is unlikely that they will […]
GI & The Greater London Authority
Recently Charlotte Markey had the pleasure of talking to Peter Massini, Principal Green Infrastructure Officer at the Greater London Authority. The environmental focus for the GLA are addressing a number of key issues covering Parks and Green Spaces, Pollution and Air Quality, Climate Change and Water to name a few – all key topics affecting […]
How Trees Make Properties & Developments Sell Faster
Whether you’re a landscape architect or other specifier working on a design, or a developer building a property, a quick and efficient sale for your finished project can be of utmost importance. Urban trees can contribute to reducing the length of time that properties spend on the market, increased exponentially by the presence of mature […]
The Arb Association Engages Westminster
Not inside the hallowed halls of Westminster but in the Victoria Tower gardens on a warm July morning, the Arb Association organised an engagement event for members of the Lords and the Commons. It was exciting to have a tree climbing demonstration integrated into the proceedings this year with a detailed explanation of all the […]
