Living Landscapes Ltd were awarded the soft landscaping package by SISK in October 2019, with the trees programmed to be planted in Spring and Summer 2021.

Specimen Trees procured and air potted all of the trees from Germany. There was a total of 50 trees planted at Circle Square, the majority of the trees were 60/70cm girth with the remainder a minimum of 40cm girth. The rootballs were also larger than usual due to the air potting.

Living Landscapes Ltd grew all the shrubs to specimen sizes of 5 & 10 litres at their own dedicated nursery.

The contract was one of the most difficult that Living Landscapes Ltd had been involved with in their 40 years of trading.

As with all city centre sites, working space was at a premium and all of the other trades were constantly working where everyone else wanted to work.

Enormous tree pits were constructed with GreenBlue Urban RootSpace support. Most tree pits were 4 metres wide, with the longest continuous pit stretching to 40 metres in length.

The tree pits were initially excavated by others but some inaccuracies meant that Living Landscapes Ltd had to re-excavate to the schemes precise dimensions. These exacting standards were required due to the small tolerances that the RootSpace units allowed for.

A large number of the Platanus had to be lifted in by a specialist crane operator due to another trade installing lampposts in their path.

The Terrace/step needed lightweight intensive substrate that Living Landscapes Ltd installed in bulk bags lifted in by a specialist crane operator.

The space is used well, just as it was designed for. The problem is going to be the wear and tear due to the extremely large numbers of people using the site, together with organised events. It is putting the grass areas under pressure and wear in some areas is evident already.

Living Landscapes look forward to seeing Circle Square grow and develop, supporting a new generation in the historic city of Manchester.