Quarry Garden Wins Hat Trick of Awards including Best in Show at RHS Chatsworth
Members of the Institute of Quarrying (IQ) are today celebrating a hat trick of successes for its Quarry Garden at the first ever RHS Chatsworth Flower Show, wining 'Best in Show', a coveted Gold Medal and 'Best Construction' from esteemed RHS judges.
The Quarry Garden, designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes, celebrates the essential role of quarrying and mineral extraction in modern life. The compelling Quarry Garden narrative captured the RHS judges’ imagination. The garden is divided into three zones; a floriferous and naturalistic area featuring slate monoliths, wild flowers and plants often associated with former extraction sites, moving through to an open, modernist sunken concrete pool and finally a structured paved area bordered by a sculptural artwork.
Paul Hervey-Brookes explains: “The garden design is an expression of how nature and extraction sits comfortably alongside each other. It features mass produced products manufactured from extracted materials, natural slate, concrete and steel, as well as hard landscaping materials made from recycled and reclaimed materials. I’m very proud of what we have achieved and I’m delighted that this has been recognised by the RHS.”
CEMEX UK is supporting the project and has provided concrete for the amazing concrete ‘pit’ and precast blocks for the two concrete walls. The ‘pit’ is a water feature that resembles the benches of a working quarry. Four colleagues from the Aggregates business are helping ‘man’ the garden during the show.
Miles Watkins, President, Institute of Quarrying, says: “This is a wonderful way to mark one hundred years of IQ. Taking on a show garden is a major undertaking and to receive Best in Show and a Gold Medal is recognition of all the hard work and endeavour that has gone into making it a reality. That includes the superb project management undertaken by the team at IQ and the dedication of our garden designer and his build team, as well as the support that the project has received from across the sector.”
The project has been an inclusive process throughout. Students from Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Science were influential in the initial design concepts of the garden and join young leaders from Aggregate Industries, Cemex, Hanson and Tarmac as garden ambassadors during the week of RHS Chatsworth.
At 480m2 the Quarry Garden is one the largest RHS show gardens ever. The Quarry Garden is supported by Tarmac, CEMEX UK, Hanson UK, Aggregate Industries, Birchover Stone Ltd, Bradstone, Delabole Slate Company and University of Derby. For more information visit www.quarrygarden.org or www.quarrying.org
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