Product category:
Concrete, Cement, Admixtures
News Release from: Aggregate Industries UK | Subject: Bespoke concrete paving
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 May 2007
Charcon Specialist concrete at Chelsea
Flower Show
Charcon Specialist bespoke concrete paving has helped the "600 days with Bradstone" Garden win Best Show Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.
An impressive interpretation of red planet stone using specially commissioned Charcon Specialist bespoke concrete paving has helped the "600 days with Bradstone" Garden win Best Show Garden at this year's Chelsea Flower Show The best in show and Gold medals were awarded to Aggregate Industries UK Limited company Bradstone and its garden designer Sarah Eberle, for their collaborative, out of this world 'Life on Mars Garden'
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 28 May 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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The terrestrial Mars garden, the brainchild of Sarah Eberle, looks at how astronauts could cultivate Mars and celebrates the best of hard landscaping and textural planting.
The garden has taken eight years to research and build with the help of the European Space Agency.
Charcon Specialist, an Aggregate Industries business also, is a leading producer of precast concrete systems for the civil engineering industry.
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Charcon Specialist designed special moulds to create the paving and dedicated an entire section of its factory in Croft, Leicestershire, to the task.
Special mixes of pigment were added to the flags to represent the charred surface areas of Mars.
Gren Bown, factory manager of Charcon Specialist explains: "Charcon Specialist prides itself on its ability to offer bespoke solutions in pre-cast concrete to challenging engineering problems.
This project takes us into a whole new area and demonstrates the sheer versatility of the solutions we are able to offer.
"Sarah came to us with a very specific use in mind for the concrete, to mix nature with hard landscaping and create a striking aesthetic look.
We worked closely with Bradstone's design team to provide a bespoke product that would resemble the scorched clay patterns echoed in the overall colour scheme of the garden.
Using over 80 tonnes of concrete we created a wide range of different sized paving stones in a variety of colours to complement the design and deliver a unique solution.
"It's a great feeling to see the garden do so well at the show, particularly as hard landscaping has played such a dramatic and vital role in its transformation.
Sarah Eberle says: "This is a fantastic example of Charcon Specialist utilising its bespoke capabilities to the extreme.
It was a very proud moment winning a Gold medal, and then to win the Best in Show was certainly humbling.
This is a great achievement and reflects the hard work and dedication expressed by the whole team in creating the 'Mars' garden.
Visitors have responded really well to the space, making all the work that went into creating it worthwhile.".
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