At the 38th BALI National Landscape Awards, BALI Registered Contractor Willerby Landscapes took the Grand Award for a record fifth time.
The unprecedented achievement comes at the height of Willerby’s professional reputation and recognises their work to take the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, South Park Plaza into legacy.
Held annually at London’s Grosvenor House in Park Lane the BALI National Landscape Awards, in association with Horticulture Week and headline sponsor Rigby Taylor, recognise excellence in landscape design, construction and maintenance achieved by registered members of the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI).
Over 110 entries were received this year and a total of 79 awards made. This year’s Awards ceremony was hosted by journalist, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo who addressed guests during the luncheon and joined Awards sponsors on the stage to present the Principal and Special Awards to 25 BALI members.
The presentation of the Grand Award to Rick Davies, Operations Director of Willerby Landscapes, was made by sponsor Rigby Taylor’s Executive Chairman Chris Clark.
The Awards were attended by a record 820 BALI members and guests, amongst them Baroness Fookes, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group, Mark Camley, Director of Park Operations at the London Legacy Development Corporation, Sue Biggs, Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society, and Tom Hart Dyke, horticulturist and plant hunter.
Also attending, and taking the opportunity to celebrate the company’s 40 years of award-winning landscape design and construction with 37 of its employees, was BALI Registered contractor Graduate Gardeners. Winners of many BALI and RHS awards over the years, including 2014, the company felt that the BALI Awards event in the surroundings of Grosvenor House was the perfect opportunity to celebrate their 40 years in the landscape industry.
Willerby Landscapes, who are based in Kent, were awarded the Grand Award - BALI’s highest accolade - at this year’s ceremony for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, South Park Plaza scheme. This very extensive and challenging project saw the successful transition of the Olympic Park’s South Park and Carpenter’s Lock areas into legacy under extremely tight completion deadlines. Following clearance of the concourse ‘post Games’ by the main contractor, Willerby carried out extensive re-modelling of levels and grounds involving major engineering works, before undertaking the construction of hard landscape features across the entire area and constructing and installing decking and linear seating. The intelligent use of off-site prefabrication provided a solution to help overcome the challenging time constraints.
Commenting on the company’s achievement, chair of the adjudication panel Greg Allen said: “The amount of work achieved in such a short space of time was breathtaking and, given the scale and complexity of the project, the fit and finish was remarkable. Exceptional planning, project management and attention to detail are all in evidence, as is the excellent working relationship between the contractor and the architects to find solutions to seemingly intractable problems. This scheme is an exemplar of how to achieve a project of this scale to a tight deadline without compromising the very highest professional standards demanded by such an iconic, internationally-recognised, outdoor space. Willerby Landscapes is a worthy winner of this year’s Grand Award, reinforcing their seemingly unassailable position as BALI’s premier landscape contractor for large-scale projects.”
This year three Life Memberships were bestowed by the BALI Board of Directors on BALI members who were deemed to have made an exceptional contribution to the association and its membership. Richard Gardiner, Martyn Mogford and Paul Cowell were presented with the accolades at the Awards ceremony by current National Chairman Robert Field who said that they had each “played a crucial role in modernising and refining BALI’s operations, developing member benefits, and reaching out to other industry bodies to promote and encourage collaborative working.”
BALI’s chosen charities - Perennial and the BALI Chalk Fund, two industry charities that exist solely to support those working across the horticulture and landscape sectors – benefitted from a collection at the event. The BALI Chalk Fund supports education and training in the landscape industry and Perennial provides support and advice to those working in the industry, and their families, at times of crisis.