The team working on green spaces at Milton Park have won the equivalent to a landscaping ‘Oscar’ in this year’s British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) Awards, taking home the coveted Principal Award in the Ground Maintenance – Limited Public Access category, notoriously one of the most competitive awards on offer.
The award celebrates all the hard work done by the Nurture Landscapes team, maintaining the beautiful green spaces that both visitors and those working at Milton Park love.
Through all weathers and through lockdowns, the team has cut, planted, sown, weeded, and mown the green areas in Milton Park. Nurture was supported by landscape architects from Anthony Stiff Associates and the wider Milton Park estate team, including CBRE.
Milton Park’s green spaces and its environmental initiatives were highly commended by the awards’ expert judging panel. The team demonstrated exemplary standards across the 200-acre site, with particular mention of its biodiversity and sustainability initiatives.
The works have seen a grand total of 2,658 trees planted across the Park – and include wildflower meadows, lagoons, flowers, shrubs, trees and lawns to provide unique and characterful open spaces for the 9,000 people who work there.
Milton Park was announced as a shortlisted winner in September and – following an in-person visit by the judges – was selected as first place during the award ceremony in London on Friday 03 December by a panel led by National Landscape Awards Chair John Melmoe.
Jon Hopson, Contracts Manager at Nurture Landscapes, said: “We’re so pleased to have been commended for our work at Milton Park in these prestigious awards.
“We placed particular attention to detail on encouraging biodiversity and sustainability within our maintenance of Milton Park’s grounds, helping to contribute to the Park’s long-term plans for sustainable growth.
“We’ve often regarded the BALI Awards to be the ‘Oscars of the landscaping industry’, so for our team to be recognised at this event is a huge achievement.”
Peter King, Estate Manager at Milton Park, said: “To win such a prestigious and industry-recognised award is testament to the high quality and skill from our team, Anthony Stiff Associates and Nurture Landscapes. We’d like to say a huge thank you to them for all their help in making Milton Park what it is today.
“Over the past 18 months, we’ve made changes to the maintenance plan and have delivered an array of biodiversity-led projects, including the introduction of wildflower meadows.
“We’re delighted the judges recognised the hard work put in, and we look forward to continue creating and maintaining fantastic green spaces at Milton Park for the enjoyment of all those who come here.”
Philip Campbell, Commercial Director at MEPC Milton Park, said: “We’ve been so impressed with the hard work of our landscapers, and we couldn’t be prouder of the team for winning a BALI award.
“It’s really important to us that we make Milton Park a great place for people to come and work, so securing such a high-profile award for our green spaces is a real honour and a brilliant note to end the year on.
“I would like to say massive thank you to everyone involved – particularly Milton Park’s Estate Manager, Peter King, as well as the wider CBRE team, who I know are working really hard to improve the environment and customer service levels for all our occupiers across the estate.”
