RBC Partners with Olympic Park Design Consultant
for Sustainable 'Paradise Garden' at Chelsea Flower Show
LONDON, January 16, 2012 — Royal Bank of Canada
today announced its partnership with Nigel Dunnett and the
Landscape Agency to present the "RBC Blue Water Garden"
at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012. This is the second year
that the team has collaborated, following the success of the
RBC New Wild Garden, which was awarded a Silver-Gilt Medal
in 2011.
The RBC Blue Water Garden aims to showcase inventive urban
rainwater management in keeping with the goals of the RBC
Blue Water Project, a wide-ranging, 10-year global commitment
to help protect the world's most precious natural resource:
fresh water.
Exploring the concept of 'artful rainwater management', the
RBC Blue Water Garden will aim to bring the water cycle to
life by becoming the first RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden
to incorporate bioswales as a central feature. Instead of
excess rainwater being sent straight to the drains and through
invisible buried pipes, these linear structures channel the
runoff, allowing it to circulate through the garden visibly.
In this way, the RBC Blue Water Garden is a modern and sustainable
interpretation of the formal 'paradise garden' such as at
the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, where linear rills and canals
form the centre-piece of the palace gardens. Importantly,
the garden shows how sustainable concepts can form the basis
for the design of even the most formal of gardens.
The planting draws on Nigel Dunnett's experience as lead
horticultural and planting design consultant for the London
2012 Olympic Park. Dramatic, colourful and naturalistic in
Nigel Dunnett's typical style, it is loosely modelled on beautiful
examples of dry meadows from around the world and includes
four different naturalistic mixes, including a dramatic Turks
Cap Lily meadow display. Meanwhile, the garden's overall colour
scheme and pavilion are inspired by the landscape and architecture
of the Puglia region, Italy with its distinctive 'Trulli'
buildings with their conical 'dry stone' roofs.
Sneak peek at the RBC Blue Water Garden plan
Nigel Dunnett, designer of the RBC Blue Water Garden, said:
"The RBC Blue Water Garden explores how gardens and the
landscape can form a central role in sustainable urban water
management. I have been inspired by forward-looking urban
planners in North America and Australia who use artful rainwater
management principles creatively, using bioswales in streets
and car parks to introduce dramatic planting into areas that
would never otherwise be planted. By drawing both on these
techniques and those used in traditional paradise gardens
I hope to show that rainwater management can be celebrated
within a beautiful, formal context."
Mike Moodie, head of RBC Wealth Management's UK business,
commented: "Our first foray to the RHS Chelsea Flower
Show last year was a great success, and the opportunity to
back a truly innovative garden design for the second year
running is very exciting. The RBC Blue Water Garden will be
an important statement about how outdoor spaces can play a
central role in sustainable urban water management."
Harry Samuel, CEO, Europe at RBC Capital Markets, added:
"One of the goals of the RBC Blue Water Project is to
encourage responsible water use, and the opportunity to have
such a highly-regarded designer on board leading the project
has been fantastic. We are thoroughly looking forward to seeing
the design materialise and know that it will help raise awareness
of the fact that a beautiful garden can also conserve water."
The garden is to be constructed by Landform Consultants.
About Nigel Dunnett and the Landscape
Agency
Dr Nigel Dunnett is Professor of Planting Design, and Director
of the Green Roof Centre, University of Sheffield. He is one
of the UK´s foremost planting designers, and exponent
of sustainable landscape and garden design, and originated
the concept of `Pictorial Meadows´. He has won RHS Silver-Gilt
Medals at Chelsea in 2009 and 2011. The Landscape Agency is
one of the leading landscape design and landscape masterplanning
consultancies in Britain
About the RBC Blue Water Project
The RBC Blue Water Project is an innovative, wide-ranging,
10-year global commitment to help protect the world's most
precious natural resource: fresh water. It includes a $50
million philanthropic commitment to organizations that protect
watersheds and ensure access to clean drinking water. The
RBC Blue Water Project also promotes responsible water use
through awareness programs and supports programs that encourage
businesses to develop and commercialize innovative solutions
to the water issues facing the world. Since 2007, RBC has
pledged over CA $33 million to more than 450 not-for-profit
organizations worldwide that protect watersheds or ensure
access to clean drinking water. For further information, please
visit RBC Blue Water Project.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE)
and its subsidiaries operate under the master brand name RBC.
We are one of Canada's largest banks as measured by assets
and market capitalization, and are among the largest banks
in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of
North America's leading diversified financial services companies,
and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management
services, insurance, corporate and investment banking and
transaction processing services on a global basis. We employ
approximately 74,000 full- and part-time employees who serve
close to 15 million personal, business, public sector and
institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S.
and 56 other countries. For more information, please visit
rbc.com.
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Media Enquiries:
Paul French +44 (0) 207 002 2013 paul.french@rbc.com
Timi Oni +44 (0) 207 653 4516 timi.oni@rbc.com
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