MJ Abbott drainage project wins BALI national award

The project involved the creation of a family garden for a beautiful country cottage in the New Forest that was sensitive to its rural setting in the National Park. The owners of the cottage wanted to create a garden with an easy atmosphere for quiet family life and relaxing weekends in the country, with somewhere to relax and dine outside and enjoy at different times of the day. The garden was designed to become progressively wilder as you journey further from the house.

The underlying ground condition on site was a solid slab of almost white clay with about a foot of fine peaty silt on top. The property sits below the surrounding soil level and is cut into the clay slab. The house had been developed recently but the finished levels at the front and side of the house were above the damp proof course. The house unsurprisingly had damp issues and the area around the house was prone to flooding which was made worse by the high levels of rainfall in early 2012.

Resolving the issues of drainage were a key aspect of the project, and land drainage specialists MJ Abbott were called in to design and install a comprehensive drainage scheme to address the various drainage problems affecting the property prior to commencement of the landscaping work.

On making the announcement of the award, Wayne Grills, Chief Operations Officer of BALI, commented: "The benchmark of excellence set by the adjudication panel is always extremely high and the exemplary standards of professional excellence you have achieved with your award entry is a credit to you and to those who have been instrumental in delivering your quality scheme."

Elks-Smith Garden Design:  http://www.elks-smith.co.uk/