By PhD student María de Carmen Redondo Bermúdez
Department of Landscape Architecture at The University of Sheffield | Grantham Scholar
The Department of Landscape Architecture at The University of Sheffield and Johnsons of Whixley are leading organisations in the landscape scene in the Yorkshire region and beyond. Johnsons have supported the Department in a number of ways: hosting student visits, and providing high-quality plants to staff to use in their landscape projects.
Being able to visit Johnsons and speak to staff behind the scenes at their facilities is hugely valuable for Landscape students, as it enables them to understand the ways in which plants of all types are grown and supplied to the profession, and provides insights into how to select and source plant material to meet the parameters of a particular project, which is a vitally important element of students’ learning and future practice. Moreover, plant specialists in the Department of Landscape Architecture have chosen Johnsons to supply many different types of plants for numerous projects.
A recent example is BREATHE, a PhD research project funded by the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures that entails the construction and evaluation of a green barrier around the playground of Hunter’s Bar Infant School in Sheffield, to improve the quality of the air that children breathe by mitigating airborne pollutants from road traffic. Johnsons of Whixley have supported the school in its #GoGoGreen Campaign, donating plants and discounting prices, helping the school to acquire the plants that will totally transform the children’s play environment. The nursery has helped other community initiatives in the past, showing strong corporate social responsibility that aligns with the vision of The University of Sheffield to improve the Sheffield City Region, one of the reasons why the Department of Landscape Architecture have invited them to collaborate in this amazing grassroots project.
PhD student María de Carmen Redondo Bermúdez with planting volunteers at Hunter’s Bar Infant School #GoGoGreen planting party
Other important factors influencing staff choice of Johnsons of Whixley as a primary supplier include the high quality of their plants, their initiatives for the recycling of plastic containers and their strict ISO standards (9001 for Quality Management and 14001 for Environmental Management).
Additionally, during the process of ordering plants for BREATHE we experienced the Johnsons of Whixley team as friendly, efficient and ethical, which really makes a positive difference when working with suppliers because it makes you feel supported and instils confidence and trust that they will deliver what has been agreed to a high standard. For example, the nursery team advised us on species selection, e.g. to ensure that the plant selection was child-friendly and to minimise the risk of any plant diseases developing. Their suggestions were always constructive and they were open to discussion to help us achieve the goals of the planting scheme. Also, as the #GoGoGreen Campaign intends to create environmental awareness of air pollution and related issues such as climate change, having Johnsons of Whixley so close to Sheffield helps reduce the carbon emissions and pollution that the Campaign tries to beat, especially because their vehicles conform to low emission standards.
Department of Landscape Architecture at The University of Sheffield webpage:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/landscape
PhD student María de Carmen Redondo Bermúdez profile:
http://grantham.sheffield.ac.uk/scholars/breathe-green-barriers-air-pollution/
#GoGoGreen Campaign:
http://bit.ly/HBIGoGoGreen
Posted 5th Nov 3:09pm