John Chambers Wildflower Seed Supplied for Innovative New Scottish Wick Campus

Client: The Highland Council

Main Contractor: Morrison Construction

Architect: Ryder Architecture

Landscape Architect: LDA Design, Glasgow

Landscape Contractor: Ashlea Limited

The new £48 million Wick Campus project; part of the Scottish Government ‘Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme’ was commissioned by the Highland Council.

The 17,500m2 campus replaced the previous Wick High School and consolidated a number of existing primary schools, a nursery, sports facilities, a community library and swimming pool; into one integrated

community facility.

The campus formally called the East Caithness Community Campus was officially launched in the Summer 2018.

Ashlea Limited, one of the UKs largest privately-owned commercial landscaping company, is part of the supply chain for Morrison Construction and has undertaken the soft landscaping to a number of schools in the central belt of Scotland and in the Highlands. They were awarded the contract for soft landscaping which included wildflower seeding around the extensive grounds of Wick Campus. They turned to leading landscape provider Green-tech who supplied over 300kg of John Chambers Wildflower Seed for phase 2 of the project, including a specialist BREEAM species rich lawn mix, compost, tree stakes, cross bars, belting and blocks.

John Chambers Wildflower Seed has a 35-year history of supplying native British produced wildflower seed and mixes to rural and urban projects across the UK. Seed is sourced from growers that are long established and stringent in their collection processes; it is cleaned by hand, a labour-intensive process that will only achieve the highest quality standards. The team of specially trained seed cleaners only dispatch the best seed that ensures optimum growth and success no matter the climate or soil quality. As well as the standard mixes, the team at John Chambers Wildflower Seed work with Landscape Architects and Ecologists across the UK to create bespoke wildflower mixes that meet specific criteria. The team takes time to consider bio-diversity, location, flowering periods and project aspirations before it creates a mix suitable for a specification.

Commenting on the project Stuart Simpson, a Director of Ashlea Limited said,

“The establishment of the wildflower areas has been excellent. It was first seeded in May 2018 during the very dry period we experienced this summer. The establishment of the flowering lawn has been excellent, one of the best we have ever seen and I am sure the warm weather was a contributing factor. Being so far north in Scotland the site is subject to ever changing weather conditions and an almost constant wind. It has been a pleasure to work on this project and we always turn immediately to Green-tech as our landscape supplier. They always supply what we need; when we need it; at the most competitive prices. Their John Chambers Wildflower Seed is hand prepared and of excellent quality. We have used their seed on many other projects; always with outstanding results.“