Alumni News
Alumni Victoria Jones and Andrew Nicol building a show garden at this years RHS Cardiff Flower Show
Recent graduates Victoria Jones and Andrew Nicol have just set up a garden design and build business together, and will be exhibiting at the RHS Cardiff Flower Show to launch the new company.
The Garden is going to be built almost entirely out of recycled materials and will have a green roof and green 'wildlife wall' which will contain insect and bird houses, bird feeders as well as lots of plants. Victoria told us "It will be a real Sheffield Landscape team effort, Other Sheffield alumni students Will Johnson, Marcus Hall and Sook Im are going to come down to help us with the build over the next 2 weeks. We've just got our fingers and toes crossed now that it warms up a bit so that our trees come into leaf and our flowers bloom in time".
The show will take place between the 19th and 21st April in Bute Park in Cardiff. For more information about Vic and Andy's new venture go to www.wadeandnicol.com
UPDATE
Huge Congratulations to Victoria and Andy for winning a gold medal for their show garden at the RHS Cardiff Flower Show. Victoria said "We are both absolutely delighted and still in shock a bit!! It was an amazing weekend and we had such lovely comments from the public and local press and quite a few leads for potential work so it has all definitely been worth it!".
Click here for more information on the garden at the RHS website.
Department Alumnus Alan Ahlstrom Wins Award
University of Sheffield Department of Landscape Alumnus, Alan Ahlstrom, a Registered Landscape Architect and Certified Horticulturist, was honored at the Annual Winter Meeting of the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association (RINLA), held in the new Center for Biological and Life Sciences Building (CBLS) on the University of Rhode Island Campus, this association of professionals from all aspects of the green industry, awarded Mr. Ahlstrom and his Company, Havenwood llc, First Place in Commercial Design for his work on the New Chapel Grille Restaurant owned and built by Alfred Carpionato. The judges noted that the once pastoral landscape of the Old “Bad Boy’s” school presented a challenge due to the severe changes in elevation and the utilitarian aspects of the newly constructed Chapel View mixed-use development. Mr. Ahlstrom met these challenges with creativity and artistic flair for stone and plants.
Project Background:
History:
The Chapel is one of the four remnants of the Sockanosset Boys Training School, which closed in the early 1990s. The boy’s school, which was part of the Howard Reservation, represents the State of Rhode Island’s first attempt to provide state-wide social services through public institutions. The State Board of Charities and Corrections established this “State Farm” in 1866, which combined the Westcott and Howard Farms. This pastoral land in Cranston, outside the Providence city limits, was set to combine a House of Correction, an Asylum for the Criminally Insane, and a State Alms House. The thinking at the time was that the chaos of the urban industrial environment was the root cause of many of the social ills of the time.
The Chapel and the Infirmary wings (destroyed by fire, 1970’s) were established in 1891 to provide healing of the Body and Spirit. The stone structure, with a wood porch, was designed by Stone, Carpenter and Wilson Architects and was seen to be the shining jewel in the Howard complex. The School closed in the early 1990’s and subsequently fell into rapid decline and disrepair.
Today, the site is undergoing major redevelopment incorporating the three remaining Dormitories from the boy’s school and The Chapel. Currently under partial completion, it is an upscale, mixed-use development combining residential, office, retail, and restaurant space with the Chapel earmarked for a gourmet trattoria, Chapel Grille.
Alan Ahlstrom and Havenwood, llc Landscape Architecture were brought into the project by Carpionato Properties back in 2006 in order to provide a refined eye for materials and detail which would elevate the Landscape design standards and assist with the Paving, Planting and Lighting of the entire Chapel View development. “The Stone Chapel (one of the four preserved buildings on site) was the gem of whole development from the beginning. The old
context of the pastoral farm landscape that it sat upon was about to be completely altered but, we needed to keep this diamond at the center - only we needed to polish it, and set it in a new setting in order for it to truly shine. “, said Alan Ahlstrom with regards to the project. “And that is precisely what it has become. I am so glad to have my work recognized by my fellow professionals in the green industry and am especially grateful to Alfred Carpionato for
bringing me in on the project.”
The Chapel Grille opened its doors in December, 2011 and has been flourishing in its first year. As it succeeds, the final portions of the gardens are being completed. This is award marks the second time Alan Ahlstrom and Havenwood, LLC has been presented an Excellence in Design award by RINLA, the first being in 2008 for Residential Design.