Sanders Garden World, Bristol

Client: Sanders Bros.
Type of works: supply of a tanked system so that all water from the sales area is collected and used to water the plants and also for soft landscaping within the garden centre.

The £8million development by Sanders Bros. is the largest garden centre in the South West.

The centre, on the Somerset levels, is built on difficult ground and the sub-grade is mainly peat with a high water table. The centre has around 14,000 sq m of hard surfacing and the Environment Agency were concerned about the volume of surface runoff and its effect on already overloaded streams. The Consulting Engineer on the project, David Edward and Partners, decided to use the Formpave system to control the runoff and to re-use the clean water in the sub-base to water the plants in the garden centre. The Formpave system saved a large amount of money when compared with traditional drainage.