6.9.2023
Bridgefoot Street Park, a new public park in The Liberties, Dublin 8, has been developed by Dublin City Council utilising what would normally be considered waste materials. Materials used in the project include calp and concrete, and reclaimed stone and brick to create pavements, seating and play spaces. Shortlisted projects for the Green Cities Award in Ireland include Limerick City and County Council’s ‘Greening Streets’ pop-up forest initiative, and St. Audeon’s Park in Christchurch, Dublin.
Supported by funding from the European Union, the Green Cities Europe initiative aims to highlight the importance of embedding green areas in the development of new building projects and improving living conditions in existing projects. The campaign seeks to support work combatting the consequences of climate change, while raising awareness of the wider benefits green space can offer for wellbeing, recreational space and in supporting biodiversity. In Ireland, the initiative aims to increase the proportion of green landscaping in building projects, while encouraging the use of locally grown planting stock.
Supporting the initiative, Chairman of the Irish Hardy Nursery Stock Association, Val Farrell, said that urban greening using native Irish stock is vital to the local economy as well as a sustainable future.
He added: “The Irish amenity horticulture sector is valued at €77 million to the Irish economy. Supporting local growers in rural areas brings significant advantages for planners and developers around the country, but the impact and benefits are circular. Our local growers have expertise on the type of stock that is better suited to our climate, and it genuinely makes sense to deliver what will thrive here to each project for long-term benefit. You can see, touch, and smell the stock before making decisions. Sourcing stock locally also reduces our carbon footprint. The case for greening our towns and cities is clear, as is the case for buying Irish.”
Sector Manager for Horticulture at Bord Bia, Michal Slawski said: “Green Cities Europe is a timely and urgent initiative. Bord Bia is committed to supporting Ireland’s amenity sector in making our towns and cities better places to live and work in, through increased green planting that is grown and sold here in Ireland.
“We all have a responsibility to try to safeguard Ireland’s natural and urban environments for future generations. To this end, I would strongly encourage all those who have a decisive role in city planning, landscape planning, and building design and construction to engage with the Green Cities campaign to see what ideas, information and expertise it can offer to support them in this endeavour.
“Put simply, this campaign acts to encourage, as well as inform and enable, local authorities, developers, planners and architects to work with our quality local growers to incorporate green spaces into their building projects. This is not a ‘nice to have’ or for the visual aesthetic, but to ensure that there is recreational space at a project’s heart – green areas for young and old alike to have access to, and for the proven benefits for health and wellbeing. They also provide much needed space for biodiversity and plant life to continue contributing to the surrounding eco-systems.”
Dermot Foley, principal of DFLA landscape architects and an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at UCD delivered the keynote address, joined by Peter O’Toole of O’Brien Landscaping, who has led a number of high-profile recent pieces of work including the installation of Thomond Park (Munster Rugby’s Pitch) and the Titanic Project in Belfast and is a key commentator on Ireland’s landscape contracting sector.
Bridgefoot Street Park has been named the Irish National winner in the Green Cities Europe Awards at the campaign’s autumn seminar, hosted by the Irish Hardy Nursery Stock Association and Bord Bia in Portlaoise.
Bridgefoot Street Park, a new public park in The Liberties, Dublin 8, has been developed by Dublin City Council utilising what would normally be considered waste materials. Materials used in the project include calp and concrete, and reclaimed stone and brick to create pavements, seating and play spaces. Shortlisted projects for the Green Cities Award in Ireland include Limerick City and County Council’s ‘Greening Streets’ pop-up forest initiative, and St. Audeon’s Park in Christchurch, Dublin.
Supported by funding from the European Union, the Green Cities Europe initiative aims to highlight the importance of embedding green areas in the development of new building projects and improving living conditions in existing projects. The campaign seeks to support work combatting the consequences of climate change, while raising awareness of the wider benefits green space can offer for wellbeing, recreational space and in supporting biodiversity. In Ireland, the initiative aims to increase the proportion of green landscaping in building projects, while encouraging the use of locally grown planting stock.
Supporting the initiative, Chairman of the Irish Hardy Nursery Stock Association, Val Farrell, said that urban greening using native Irish stock is vital to the local economy as well as a sustainable future.
He added: “The Irish amenity horticulture sector is valued at €77 million to the Irish economy. Supporting local growers in rural areas brings significant advantages for planners and developers around the country, but the impact and benefits are circular. Our local growers have expertise on the type of stock that is better suited to our climate, and it genuinely makes sense to deliver what will thrive here to each project for long-term benefit. You can see, touch, and smell the stock before making decisions. Sourcing stock locally also reduces our carbon footprint. The case for greening our towns and cities is clear, as is the case for buying Irish.”
Sector Manager for Horticulture at Bord Bia, Michal Slawski said: “Green Cities Europe is a timely and urgent initiative. Bord Bia is committed to supporting Ireland’s amenity sector in making our towns and cities better places to live and work in, through increased green planting that is grown and sold here in Ireland.
“We all have a responsibility to try to safeguard Ireland’s natural and urban environments for future generations. To this end, I would strongly encourage all those who have a decisive role in city planning, landscape planning, and building design and construction to engage with the Green Cities campaign to see what ideas, information and expertise it can offer to support them in this endeavour.
“Put simply, this campaign acts to encourage, as well as inform and enable, local authorities, developers, planners and architects to work with our quality local growers to incorporate green spaces into their building projects. This is not a ‘nice to have’ or for the visual aesthetic, but to ensure that there is recreational space at a project’s heart – green areas for young and old alike to have access to, and for the proven benefits for health and wellbeing. They also provide much needed space for biodiversity and plant life to continue contributing to the surrounding eco-systems.”
Dermot Foley, principal of DFLA landscape architects and an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at UCD delivered the keynote address, joined by Peter O’Toole of O’Brien Landscaping, who has led a number of high-profile recent pieces of work including the installation of Thomond Park (Munster Rugby’s Pitch) and the Titanic Project in Belfast and is a key commentator on Ireland’s landscape contracting sector.
