Press Release

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RED ROSE FOREST PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES
“Living” dry stone walls to transform Stretford street

Event:

Date/Time: Friday, December 3, 2004.

Meet:

Contact: For specific media enquiries please phone Pete Stringer on 0161 872 1660.
For general media enquiries and pictures please phone Chris Johnstone at Red Rose Forest on 0161 872 1660.

WHEN people are asked to think about the usual setting of a dry stone wall, a location in Stretford is probably not the first place to spring to mind. But thanks to a pioneering project developed by the Community Technical Aid Centre, a Manchester voluntary organisation and Red Rose Forest, Greater Manchester’s Community Forest, people’s traditional perceptions are about to be changed forever.

Lacy Street in Stretford, Trafford, will be celebrating the completion of the first large scale Gabion dry stone wall project in Greater Manchester on Friday, December 3.

The contemporary dry stone walls, known as Living Walls, are wire mesh-encased dry stone walls with a range of plants growing over and through them, have never been adapted for large scale residential use before. They will be placing existing damaged fence work.

The Lacy Street Gabion Wall will be one metre high, garden walls, to two houses. And will be exactly the same height as the fences they are replacing. They consist of locally sourced limestone encased in a galvanised steel cage.

Residents from Lacy Street contacted Red Rose Forest in 2003, keen to get involved with its Green Streets project – a community-based urban greening scheme.

The Living Wall scheme was selected by the local community following lengthy consultation process. More conventional urban greening treatments, such as trees, planters or hanging baskets were rejected because of narrow pavements and. The Living Walls were identified as the most hardy, sustainable and attractive feature, and their unusual design will create a unique feature on the street.

The walls were also deemed appropriate for the large number of elderly residents on the street, who required a very low maintenance scheme. Whilst the Living Walls will require minimum maintenance, they will become the responsibility of the residents, who will be given basic training on their care and development from Red Rose Forest.
Peter Stringer, Green Streets Manager, pointed out that the project should be something that’s easy to maintain, a key consideration for all Green Streets’ projects:

“We designed the Living Walls scheme to be a strong example of a sustainable, long-term urban greening scheme. We have looked to the future with the design, so that the walls will have a visual and social impact in five or ten years time, as well as having a powerful immediate impact on the street. The Lacy Street Living Walls will be a valuable addition to the area, and through the Green Streets project, we hope to develop even more Living Walls or other bespoke greening schemes across the area in the future.”

Behind each wall construction, a planter bed will be excavated filled with good quality top soil, into which a number of climbing plants will be planted. Over time these will be trained to grow over and through the wall. The planters have been specifically selected to provide different shows of colour across the four seasons.

Mark Johnson, of the Community Technical Aid Centre, said:

“The Living Walls in Stretford have been tailored specifically for Lacy Street but this design can be adapted to pretty much anywhere with similar housing. The intention was to create a sympathetic but striking feature, which would be robust and provide a trellis work for plants to grow over and through. With time, the contrast of the steel-caged stone wall and the greenery of the climbing plants is going to make a unique and high impact statement on the street."

The Living Walls have attracted great support within the local area – funding coming from Greening Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (Landfill tax Credits), Trafford MBC and Barclays bank, who have donated £6,000 to the scheme. Barclays bank will also provide a number of volunteers for the community event on December, 2.

For more information about the Living Walls, or the Green Streets project, please contact Chris Johnstone, Red Rose Forest on 0161 872 1660 / chris@redroseforest.co.uk

Red Rose Forest was created in 1992 and is an environmental regeneration initiative in Greater Manchester. It is one of 12 Community Forests being developed in England. Over 40 years we will plant over 25 million trees, across 292 square miles of the area, as the framework for a programme of regeneration and renewal that will make Greater Manchester a greener more satisfying place to live. At the heart of our strategy is the involvement of people and businesses in the social, economic and environmental regeneration of the area through land development for the enjoyment of communities.

Red Rose Forest is a partnership of the Countryside Agency, the Forestry Commission and six Greater Manchester authorities.

Green Streets is a community street greening project, which works in the Cities of Manchester and Salford as well as Trafford MBC. Green Streets’ aim is not simply to parachute in and made good an escape. Instead, we encourage residents to take an active role in every stage of the project from consultation and funding to delivery and aftercare. By engaging residents in as many aspects of the greening projects as possible we are not only encouraging communities to take ownership for the trees and plants, we are also helping to rebuild community spirit through greater social interaction and generating a renewed sense of pride in where people live.
Green Streets has been active in Manchester and Trafford since December 2001 and due to its superb success rate has just expanded into Salford. In the three years we have been operating we have completed over 40 projects. The Armageddon
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