Aluminium and Steel Edging make a practical residential space

Previously one of the tallest 1960s eight storey office blocks, when Tubs Hill was being converted into luxury one and two bedroom private apartments, Robert Myers Associates specified Kinley’s products as part of the design for the two unusual podium gardens. The split level courtyard gardens, neatly built on top of the car parks, were connected by a feature spiral staircase. The circular lawn areas were surrounded by hedging and required a specific planter design to accommodate the curved design.

Choosing the product

Perimeta HiGrade Bespoke planter walls were used to accommodate the circular garden design. These incorporated curved edging and were designed to fit on an inverted roof build up construction. Made of CorTen steel, the bespoke planters can be formed to meet a range of design specifications, including size, height and shape. The two colour path was defined using AluExcel aluminium edging to separate the resin bound gravel.

Key Details

Location: Sevenoaks, UK	Client: U & I Plc
Architect: Open Architecture	Main Contractor: Buxton Building
Product Installer: Kingston Garden Services	Completion Date: March 2017
Project Value: £ 8 million

Managing the installation

As well as the curved layout, the garden was to be created on top of a waterproofed roof. The planter walls were installed by Kingston Garden Services by bolting the triangular support brackets into a 50mm layer of screed on top of the waterproofing. The planters were delivered as panels with mark ups that made bolting them together easy. With onsite support from Kinley’s team through a number of site visits, we could ensure the planters were installed as designed and as per the architectural vision.

Overcoming the Challenges

The particular challenges for this project included:

Bespoke design – The project called for a unique, peaceful outdoor space for residents to enjoy. The garden was designed to sit on a waterproofed area, and required robust planters with curved walls that accommodated a change in gradient. Kinley worked with these design challenges and created a product that did the architectural specification justice.
Delivery and installation – Due to the change in height of the garden landscape along with the planters being installed on a waterproofed area, there were challenges in how the planters should be delivered and installed. Marking up the planters and delivering them in panels ensured the installation team could easily fit them together. Kinley’s team made a number of site support visits, but the installers had no problem fixing the planters and no changes on site were required.

The end result

Tubs Hill is now a residential apartment building with a beautiful garden, created to the specified design and built to last. Residents have a peaceful and natural outdoor space to enjoy, which also allows the car park to blend into the landscape, as the developers and architect envisaged.

Why Kinley?

Our reputation for being able to create beautiful, bespoke, high quality planters to fit a range of architectural designs and situations made us the ideal choice for this project. Forming curved planters designed to fit on waterproofed areas is a very specific skill and our product meets the right specification to create a fantastic outdoor space. As well as the bespoke design, the way we delivered the planters meant that the installation was straightforward and the contractors did not need to make any changes on site – saving time and money.

We focus on getting landscapes onto buildings rather than around them, For us, installing bespoke planters successfully on a waterproofed area is something we do every day.

-- Lloyd Bowie, Project Director, Kinley.

Products Installed