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Tree planting project in Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey

Tree planting project in Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey

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PGSD was asked to help with a tree planting project in Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey. This was a high profile job working alongside Mole Valley District Council.

Initially, the trees supplied were too large, which meant that we had to reject them as they would not fit in the tree pits designed and built by main contractor.

We planted four Box Head Lime trees. The new trees were anchored underground with irrigation pipe, back filled with tree sand.

The trees will enhance Church Street for many years to come.

 

Line marking service for schools

Line marking service for schools

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We were asked to smarten up the lines on the sports playing courts at St Mary’s School in Hertfordshire.

The work included four tennis courts, three football courts, as well as four basketball courts.

PGSD is always happy to help when it comes to marking sports surfaces, including running and athletics tracks and playing courts. This can include cleaning, marking and maintaining sports surfaces all of which makes it that much easier to decide who has won that all important point!

St Mary’s is an 11 – 19 co-educational, comprehensive school with Academy status and an admission number of 240 for each new Year 7 cohort. The school is one of four Church secondary schools in Hertfordshire within the Diocese of St Albans. The school is well recognised in the local community for its high quality provision and outstanding inclusion agenda.

Johnson & Johnson tree care

Johnson & Johnson tree care

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Johnson & Johnson had a semi mature oak on their grounds close to their only pedestrian access footpath to their site.

PGSD identified a suspect looking pair of cavities on the trunk of the oak. We recommended that a Resistograph was undertaken which would show, via the resistance of penetrating a special drill bit, if there were any cavities within the trunk. Having undertaken the Resistograph we recommended that the tree needed to be removed as a matter of urgency.

Having already undertaken a TPO check with the local authority, the PGSD tree team was deployed the following day to dismantle the oak tree and leave the wood stacked in habitat piles.

Once the tree had been dismantled, we were able to see the extent of decay present within trunk. The cavities and decay were on the sweet spot of the trunk. This is the worse place the decay could have been as this section is where the greatest amount of stress is placed on the tree.

The amount of decay present had a diameter of 40cm, the diameter of the tree was only 60cm, the linear length of decay was approximately 200cm.

 

Thames river bank Chiswick, Hounslow Council

Thames river bank Chiswick, Hounslow Council

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We were asked by Hounslow Council to visit the site to clear the sloped concrete river bank leaving 20% of the foliage for cover. The project included pollarding (i.e. pruning, during which the upper branches of a tree are removed; the result is a dense head of foliage and branches) two large London planes to allow light to reach the Chiswick shore trust building.

In addition, we cleared an area to prepare for some foliage to be treated. The trees required a considerable amount of man power and experience as we needed to rig large limbs into the bank and over the rail. However, our Smart winch lowering device made easy work of this, helping the team to work safely and efficiently.

CVU West Cromwell Road

CVU West Cromwell Road

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 Over the past 12 weekends, we have been attending West Cromwell Road for a large job of repollarding 13 fully mature London Plane trees (Platanus ×acerifolia).

Most of the trees were touching properties, so we had to use all of our experience to lower, and speed line the branches over the wall, therefore avoiding properties and garden furniture.

CVU is a joint venture between VolkerHighways Colas and AECOM and is currently delivering the Central London Highways Alliance Contract (LoHAC) for TfL (Transport for London).

 

Tree pruning at GlaxoSmithKline

Tree pruning at GlaxoSmithKline

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We were asked to attend the site by GlaxoSmithKline to reduce 13 small red oaks by twenty percent. The objective was to allow security cameras to see the main entrance. This was a tricky job as the branches we were pruning were very small, so getting out to the best growth point took patience and skill.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) is a British pharmaceutical company headquartered in Brentford, West London. The company was created in 2000 following a merger between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.

New build care home horticultural project

New build care home horticultural project

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PGSD Limited was asked to help with horticultural work by Castleoak for Oak Manor, a new build care home for their client MHA in Shefford, Bedfordshire.

The project included the installation of topsoil, 200mm deep for grassed area, 300mm deep for planters and 500mm deep for tree planting.

It also included

*  The planting of some 2000 plants
*  1000 bulbs
*  1000m2 of turfing
*  Mulching
*  18 semi mature trees
*  150m of post and rail fencing
*  100m of closeboard fence

*  Gates

Oak Manor has been designed to enhance the independence and dignity of residents. Oak Manor is a 64 bedroom care home that provides residential and residential

dementia specialist care with features such as an on-site hairdressers, cinema room and coffee shop.

MHA is a well-established charity with over 70 years’ experience and is one of Britain’s most respected care providers. MHA provides a range of accommodation, care and support for almost 17,700 older people nationwide.

Hounslow Business Awards finalist 2017

Hounslow Business Awards finalist 2017

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It has been announced that PGSD Limited are Finalists in the 2017 Hounslow Business Awards, Best SME category. The Hounslow Business Awards have been created and organised by the Hounslow Chamber of Commerce to reward the Borough‘s dynamic and innovative enterprises.

As Hounslow is benefiting from considerable investment and business growth, what better time to be associated with Hounslow’s business community?

Alan Wright, General Manager commented: “We are once again delighted to have been shortlisted for this Award and we are long standing supporters of business and the community within Hounslow.”

Chiswick community programme

Chiswick community programme

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PGSD Limited has been helping with planting for the Chiswick community programme. PGSD and Hounslow Highways will be looking after the flower beds for this project.

Gary Winterbottom, Community Environment Officer for Hounslow Highways commented: “The plants should look nice together and spread into the space. PGSD and I will be able to help the Abundance London volunteers when they plant.”

Gary points out that guerrilla gardening can be problematic. “We had to remove a huge yucca recently that was blocking the sightline and proving dangerous for cyclists. Young trees can suffer if their tree pits are planted up with thirsty plants.”

PGSD, on behalf of Hounslow Highways restocked the flowerbeds with a selection of perennials, including common grass, purple lavender and bergenias. Barely were the plants in before the bees were already getting to work. Now the beds are full, Chiswick should be able to enjoy improved flower beds along the High Road.

High Road team photo – Abundance London volunteers including Karen Liebreich, Cheryl Lanyon, Jennie Figaro, Henry Gewanter, representatives of local shopkeepers Stephen Foster (Foster Books) and Tracy Kynoch (ex-Whisk), Gary Winterbottom (Community Environment Officer for Hounslow Highways) and Matt Farmer, PGSD Contracts Manager