Alfresco

The company was awarded the HTA Benevolent Fund award, for “Making the most impact to the community” for their project at Rainbows Hospice Remembrance Garden in Loughborough. The winners, announced at the awards event sponsored by Bradstone, held at The Brewery in London on Friday 18 March 2022, gained national recognition for their achievements and are a testament to the high calibre landscaping offered by APL members. Speaking to the Tribune, Director – Alastair Peat said “this is our highest achievement yet. These are the Baftas for the Landscaping Industry. The APL represent the top 4% of companies in the country and we have been singled out – A massive achievement for the team as a whole”

The project extended and breathed new life into the garden used to remember the children who had sadly passed. Alastair said “After our first visit to the hospice we immediately felt that we needed to be involved in this project. Just being in the garden and seeing the hundreds of names of children who had received end of life care and sadly passed away. Their legacy needed to be given an inspiring yet serene space to be remembered”.

The judges’ commented, “The re design and refurbishment was a challenging project, but one the team from Alfresco couldn’t turn down. It was a limited budget

and many existing materials had to be re-used. But along side that was the sensitivity that had to be displayed throughout the whole project, as this space would still be attended by grieving relatives. Alfresco worked in collaboration with the designers to complete a charming, restful, reflective space for the relatives and staff of the hospice. They did so with a huge amount of integrity and forethought and are a credit to themselves and the industry they operate.” Alfresco had previously won an Industry collaboration award with VaRa designs for this project in 2021 showing that cohesive thinking and teamwork across the project can create a solution stronger than a sum of its parts. The centre piece of the garden is a corten steel tree sculpture onto which glass leaves are tied with the names and dates of the children. There is space for 500 leaves allowing the sunshine to pick out the sparkles in the colourful memorials for the next 10 years and beyond.

They have been approached by the RHS to build their Community garden winner for England for national gardens day on the 2 May. Working with BBC presenter and Gold Medal winning designer Arit Anderson, Alfresco will build the garden in Huntingdon which will be featuring on The One show in May and June. – Watch this space.