Tendercare
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The principals of Tendercare each have over 30 years’ experience of horticulture and landscape design and contracting that drives the 55-person strong business based at their two nurseries near Uxbridge and Beaconsfield, to the west of London.
View of the Nursery
Known as a supplier of mature and specimen plants (perhaps most famously for the trees in Westminster Abbey on the occasion of the wedding of HRH Prince William to Kate Middleton), the breadth and depth of knowledge and application of skills is probably unsurpassed in one company in the UK.
Tree installation, Royal Wedding Westminster Abbey
When brought in at the early project stages, we have great experience in supporting planning applications at many levels, including preparing Visual Assessments, Landscape Appraisals and planning drawings. We are often commissioned to work with developers and architects to clear planning conditions and can propose creative solutions to what are often challenging requirements, especially in terms of sustainability.
Landscape Design
Installation works are carried out by our long-standing team of landscape technicians who have experience of working on a wide range of projects and carry the necessary licences and health and safety qualifications to work on commercial sites. Tendercare has developed expertise in specialist installations such as green roofs, podium landscapes, vertical planting systems and green acoustic boundary solutions.
guys working
The company is the country’s sole supplier and installer of innovative green acoustic barrier solutions manufactured by Kokosystems. Its Kokowall product is increasingly specified as a planning requirement on development sites due to its screening and noise insulation qualities. The coir face of the steel-framed system is aesthetically pleasing at initial installation, and eventually becomes what is effectively a green wall solution once climbing plants (often ivy) clad its surface. We are currently installing and planting 500m of Kokowall on top of bunds separating new housing from a major relief road as part of the new £1bn green town, Whitehill & Bordon in Hampshire as part of an exciting transformation of a 100-hectare site, previously a MOD ‘garrison town’.
a kokowall installation / Kokowall’s own image
Tendercare has designed and installed a number of green walls, both interior and exterior. Various systems are available, and to benefit from our expertise in this field, we recommend an appraisal for each location to ensure the most appropriate is specified. Irrigation and nutrient feed systems are included in the installation to support the plants, and we offer an on-going maintenance service to ensure the green walls continue to look good long after installation work is complete. We have refined the palette of plants that we use, identifying those that tolerate the restrictive growing conditions unavoidable in any green wall system, and have a good range of sun and shade loving specimens to choose from, with striking plant combinations creating colour and texture throughout the year.
Green Wall Design
The company also specialises in the design and installation of an alternative green wall solution for increased sustainability and robustness in commercial situations. Our vertical planting systems rely on the installation of steel cables or rods secured at ground and upper levels, sometimes with steel grid panels between. These provide support for a carefully selected range of strong climbing plants to weave their way vertically to the top of a building, creating a green wall effect but with plant roots more sustainably planted in the ground or large planters at the base of the building. One of our recent designs also included trailing plants from troughs at the top of a multi-storey car park, trained over a parapet to cling to the same cables stretching down toward the base of the building. Maintenance services can also be provided which require cherry picker or similarly supported works usually twice a year for pruning and general plant maintenance.
Kia Oval – vertical planting
Roof gardens and the installation of intensive or extensive green roofs are other areas in which we are well versed. This expertise extends to podium planting in situations where, for example, underground parking has been created but there is also a requirement for communal gardens above. Such complex scenarios require us to work closely with engineers, systems’ manufacturers and architects from the earliest stage, to ensure appropriate design solutions are incorporated into projects. Such collaborations ensure that complex requirements such as satisfying loading limitations are addressed whilst still achieving a pleasing and cost-effective result.
Mature tree crane lifting
Our plant knowledge and appreciation has made Tendercare an unrivalled choice as partner in the recreation of historic gardens, working with, for example The Royal Parks and Historic Royal Palaces at Hampton Court Palace’s Privy Garden.
Historic Royal Palaces – The Privy Garden
We are familiar with sourcing plants from around the world, most effectively demonstrated by award-winning installations at RHS Chelsea Flower Show where we supported clients with gardens depicting Japan, Korea, China and beyond. We also create temporary displays for events and functions of every kind.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 – Wuhan Water Garden
Finally, in addition to offering this wide range of services and more, Tendercare can provide CPD presentations to architects and landscape architects on all the horticultural aspects detailed above, as well as on related items such as the specification and handling of large trees, conditions required for incorporating tropical plants into buildings etc.
For more information on any of the services or to discuss CPD events, please contact us.
Tendercare Nurseries Limited
Southlands Road
Denham
Near Uxbridge
Middx
UB9 4HD
Managing Director – Andrew Halksworth
andrewh@tendercare.co.uk
Head of Commercial Design and Landscape Contracting – Anne Jennings
annej@tendercaredesigns.co.uk
T: 01895 835544
