Facing the picturesque Torquay Marina, Torwood Street heads up the hill towards the oldest inhabited part of the South West, Kent Caverns, where prehistoric human remains have been found. This pleasant part of the town, one of three which make up the area known as the English Riviera or more commonly Torbay, was built up during the early 1800s, becoming a fashionable place to be seen. Many high society families holidayed in these parts during these times, partly because of the continental wars making travel outside the UK difficult.

More recently this old part of town has become an area known for its alfresco eating experiences. Protected from the North, East and West by high hills, the climate is warm and generally sunny, and many restaurants have outside tables.

The old market was a circular collonaded building with a central open market area, built-in 1820. This was in use until 1864 when most of it was demolished to make way for road widening, and only a small portion is left, now used as an Italian restaurant – Amici. The central market area was left as an open public space,  which in 2003 was enhanced by the planting of a semi-mature London Plane tree (Platanus Hispanica). As the local authority wanted this tree to have the potential of attaining species potential life span, the revolutionary Greenleaf (now GreenBlue Urban) RootCell system was used, allowing adequate volumes of uncompacted soil to be provided for long term tree health.

Over the past 17 years, the tree has performed perfectly – in fact, too well.

The rapid growth of the canopy was beginning to cause some problems with shade and other issues, and the tree began to dominate to street scene. This issue is not uncommon when the GreenBlue Urban Arborsystem is installed, as it replicates the natural forest conditions as far as possible. In this situation, the tree has been heavily pollarded to reduce the crown size, and to restrict the rooting to ensure that it does not interfere with critical below ground infrastructure.

Trees in GreenBlue Urban tree planting systems continue to exceed expectations – planting for the health and enjoyment of future generations.