Newcastle’s iconic Quayside on the River Tyne has recently been brought to life as part of the NE1 Summer in the City project which has transformed a number of outdoor spaces across the city.
As part of the project sixty-nine, large planters have been installed along the Quayside. The planters have been made from upcycled concrete manhole rings, which have been decorated and filled with shrubs, herbaceous, grasses and trees, alongside various art installations to enhance the planting design.
Our customer Southern Green Ltd was commissioned to design and install the planters by their client NE1 Ltd with the planting interventions designed and delivered within 10 weeks including the procurement of all materials. JCC Engineers, Trevor Atkinson Landscapes, AH Events, Glebe House Vintage, Merchant no.1, RASKL Studio and The Traveller and the Bear were also part of the team brought together by NE1 to deliver this ambitious project.
Southern Green Ltd called upon Johnsons to supply a large number of plants including Carex Testacea, Achillea ‘Cloth of Gold’ Hebe ‘Sutherlandii’, Lavandula ‘Munstead’, Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, Salvia ‘Caradonna’, Astilbe ‘Fanal’, Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus, Campanula ‘Perla Blue’ and Verbena bonariensis.
Other pop-ups installed throughout Newcastle’s city centre have included a large open-air cinema Screen on the Green at Old Eldon Square, ‘Wave-Field’, an installation of 8 seesaws, the Urban Garden at Wesley Square, a 75m long pavement vinyl by artist Tim Gresham, 3D Street Art by 3D Joe & Max and even water activities on the river.
The ‘Summer in the City’ project aims to encourage tourists and locals into the city, with new attractions and activities to enjoy for all age groups.
Alex Slack, Head of Special Projects at NE1 Ltd said: “The Summer in the City project and associated Quayside interventions are the result of months of hard work, dedication and commitment of everybody involved. Emerging from lockdown and faced with both material and labour shortages (as well as a relatively short lead in) it was vital that we had the right people in place to deliver our vision. The creativity and innovative thinking of Southern Green coupled with a first-rate service from Johnsons enabled us to achieve something truly remarkable despite numerous challenges. We are absolutely thrilled with the result and are enormously grateful to all who contributed.”
Liam Haggarty, Southern Green Director, said: “It has been a privilege to be involved in yet another fantastic and innovative project working alongside friends and colleagues at NE1. The project is an exemplar for what can be achieved with a ‘can do’ attitude and a fantastic team of people all willing to go the extra mile from start to finish.
Johnsons are always great to work with and provide the highest quality plant stock. They agreed to a nursery visit at very short notice, and then collated and delivered everything to our exacting specification within a matter of days, which was one of the key factors to the successful delivery of the works on site – thank you again to Tony and his team.”
It was great to get involved in this project and bring the Quayside to life this summer. Liam came to the Nursery to choose the plants required. The aim was to get as much colour in as possible with good quality plants, each batch of plants was tagged to indicate the grade required to be lifted. All of the plants were sent to the site on trollies to avoid damage to the plants and particularly the flowers.
This is not the first ‘pop-up’ project johnsons has been involved with, click here to see a pop-up garden we supplied in Manchester for a well-known coffee brand.
Posted 23rd Aug 3:55pm
