POSTED 11/2024

2024 Winner – Sustainability practices in a project

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OutsideIn

Quick Facts

Location: Sylvia Park, Auckland

Total Plants: 100 plants + (comprising plants in the community garden as well as fruit trees)

Timeline:

Date of consultation: February 2022-August 2022
Start date of installation: July 2024
Completion date of installation: October 2024 (orchard planting)

Together with the progressive client, we have created a meaningful and measurable sustainability programme at Sylvia Park.

What has influenced our sustainability actions and goals

With the retail precinct being nestled between residential and industrial zones in Mount Wellington, our vision for this project is to transform the 210,000m2 site into a vibrant ‘green corridor.’ We aim to achieve this through:

Reducing and reusing waste – by processing and transforming it on-site via a composting programme
Building value for the local community – by establishing a gardening education programme involving a nearby school
Increasing the programme’s scope – by continuing to expand the existing initiatives, and introducing new ones over time
Showing the tangible value to the client – through detailed monitoring and reporting on programme outcomes that can be shared with their stakeholders

The success of our sustainability efforts at Sylvia Park across the past year, and the extremely positive feedback from the client, have seen this project move from conceptual to become a tangible case study with quantitative data that demonstrates its success. We hope to inspire other businesses with what can be achieved within a relatively short period of time.

Waste management plan

Composting is now an integral part of the waste management plan. In 2024, we have fully systemised and expanded this initiative after a successful small-scale trial the year prior.

Food waste and coffee grinds from Sylvia Park’s own tenancies, and green waste collected during our regular plant maintenance, is processed all within Sylvia Park. This fully circular composting scheme minimises the amount of waste transported off the site.

	Total amount since project launch	July 2024
Food waste composted	11,144kgs	658kgs
Green waste composted	2,418kgs	221kgs
Coffee grounds composted	91kgs	23kgs

Use of recycled or reused products

This year, we have already harvested approximately 12m³ of premium compost from the on-site composting units. It is reused around Sylvia Park to enrich the soil, reducing fertiliser requirements. The quality is comparable to a commercial product.

We also harvest rainwater to reduce the impact on the local storm water system. This captures and filters run-off from the centre’s multi-level carparking building in a 25,000-litre tank. It can be reused to water the plants around the site.

Creating a connection with the community

A flourishing community garden has been created in a once unused space to the rear of Sylvia Park. It has allowed the client to foster a strong relationship with the local Sylvia Park School. The garden is filled with a series of bountiful vegetable planter beds. After a successful trial in 2023, over the past year we have established an extremely popular gardening education programme for the school children.

Our horticulturists lead the students in hands-on sessions to build an appreciation of nature and where food comes from. Known as the Eco Warriors, the group enjoys the opportunity so much that the teachers report higher school attendance on their days in the garden. The children can share their harvested produce with their families. Our aim is to build the gardeners of tomorrow.

In keeping with the programme’s ethos, two of the garden beds are recycled and were once fixtures in a Sylvia Park retail tenancy.

Environment impact and benefit

Project ecology has been prioritised. The entire programme is managed within the Sylvia Park site. Our Sylvia Park team (and their equipment) is permanently based on-site to minimise the carbon footprint. We measure and provide detailed monthly reporting to the client to show the environmental impact and meet with them frequently to discuss the programme.

Alongside this initiative, our horticulturalists tend to the lush greenery flowing inside and out of Sylvia Park. Exteriors are densely planted to promote biodiversity, creating highly attractive areas for people to enjoy. The scale of planting injects greenery into a heavily urban environment. In the outdoor areas, planting includes approximately 350 trees and 5,000 shrubs. In one dining area alone, there are 110 irrigated pots filled with over 330 large-scale plants.

The community garden is planted by the season and features flowering species to encourage beneficial insects. We use organic principles to care for the garden with the Eco Warriors. The ‘hot’ composting system ensures the compost is filled with beneficial organisms and bacteria.

Plans to grow the sustainability practices

Later this month, together with Sylvia Park’s centre management, we will begin planting a small fruit orchard in the community garden. Some of these trees will be espaliered along the garden’s rear wire mesh fence, softening the border. They will bring pleasant, natural shading to the full-sun site.

We will introduce additional compost units to expand the reduction and reuse of on-site waste. The Eco Warriors are particularly excited to be planting potatoes for the first time and sharing the harvest with their family, in time for Christmas.

Longer-term ideas include involving tenants of the newly constructed ‘Build To Rent’ residential apartment development at Sylvia Park in the community garden and composting scheme – as well as introducing perennial gardens and beehives.

Project significance

The sustainability programme concept, and the role of the community garden within it, is highly innovative. The successful outcomes to date have seen this project move from small-scale to become a retail case study.

Along with delighting all stakeholders involved in the project, there is also significant interest for us to design these types of bespoke sustainability schemes for other clients. The concept shows businesses the opportunities that come from facilitating access to nature and encouraging an appreciation of the natural world for their community.

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