New South Wales Projects & Sites
STREET TREE DESIGN GUIDELINES
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Landscape Architect: James Mather Delaney Design Pty Ltd
Client: Landcom NSW
Overview
The planting of trees and their growing to maturity is a fundamental component in the discipline of landscape architecture and while LA’s have been instrumental in the planting of a multitude of trees in different situations the success of the trees in the long term is often not monitored or assessed. Particularly in the hostile environment of the road verge the ultimate success of the trees planted is often disappointing.
Considerable effort is expended on growing trees by the nursery industry, improving stock standard, larger containerised plants and the like. Landscape architects, as a discipline however are not as inquiring in regard to the long term success of their delivered product that is an aesthetically pleasing healthy and safe mature tree. The reasons for our lack of monitoring and documentation of this product as a discipline are no doubt many and varied, possibly the most common being that generally the landscape architect (particularly in private practice) have a relatively short relationship with both project and client. However in the case of a servicing a client such has Landcom who is a long term developer; has a practice of an extended involvement in projects and has a stated objective of improvement of the quality of living environments they produce for their customers. JMDdesign were provided with an opportunity to explore and set parameters for achieving best practice in the delivery of street trees with collaborative input from other disciplines.
No doubt much more work can be done on the subject and we as landscape architects should be on the lookout for avenues to further develop the subject possibly with the input of the nursery industry to promote the provision of a wide selection of species in larger container sizes suited to the difficult urban situation.
In the preparation of the Landcom’s Street Tree Design Guidelines we sought to amalgamate a range of information that has been in the public realm for many years but not necessarily shared between disciplines or with client groups. Further the document is the product of the collaboration with the arboriculture discipline to communicate parameters they have found to be critical in the successful growing of trees such as the concept of the unobstructed root zone, the opportunities for combining street trees with WSUD initiatives and passive watering.
The audience for the document is primarily Landcom’s Development Managers but also allows Landcom to introduce its initiatives to Councils Joint Venture Partners and consultants in other disciplines. It should be noted that in response to Landcom’s current core development focus the species outlined in Part 8 are targeted at SW & NW of Greater Sydney.
The Street Tree Guidelines form part of The Landcom Guidelines Box set which includes:
- Built Form Design Guidelines
- Universal Housing Design Guidelines
- Street Design Guidelines
- Street Tree Design Guidelines
- Open Space Design Guidelines
- Public Art Guidelines
- Community Centre Guidelines
Addresses the AILA Landscape Principles
Protect/ enhance / regenerate- Trees in our built landscape have to cope with difficult environmental conditions by better understanding the needs of trees in their growing environment we can promote their successful growth, thus enhancing our urban environment.
Embrace responsive design In order to expand our understanding of human impact on the particular natural systems of the growth of trees this document reviews the selection consideration in choosing a tree for the street situation and proposes a methodology for making a best practice selection.
Design for the future- Trees are fundamental elements of the built environment and in order to make them a legacy for future generations landscape architects need to be continually improving the method by which they are delivered in the landscape.
The document strives to establish environment best practice for the planting of trees in streets, within the context of Landcom’s Street Design Guideline. However the concepts proposed such provision of an unobstructed root zone for each tree related to the mature size of the tree, consideration of variations of planting layouts to best suit the street layout and criteria for the appropriate species selection can be applied in a variety of situations.
In the preparation of the Landcom’s Street Tree Design Guidelines we sought to amalgamate a range of information that has been in the public realm for many years but not necessarily shared between disciplines or with client groups. Further the document is the product of the collaboration with the arboriculture discipline to communicate parameters they have found to be critical in the successful growing of trees such as the concept of the unobstructed root zone, the opportunities for combining street trees with WSUD initiatives and passive watering.
introduction / overview / images / Projects
2010
