CD Designs Blog
Chelsea Flower Show 2013
The Homebase garden
The Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show 2013 starts tomorrow, which marks the 100th anniversary of the event. It lasts for 4 days, between 21st and 25th of May, and promises to be the best ever to celebrate its centenary.
One of the main attractions this year is an installation called ‘The Rush Of Nature’, which is a collaboration with renowned British artist Marc Quinn. This is the first time in the show’s history that the RHS has worked with an artist on an exhibit. The installation is a closely guarded secret, and will be kept under wraps until tomorrows opening. It will then be auctioned off by Sotheby’s in aid of the RHS Chelsea Centenary Appeal, with the funds used to create an apprentice scheme.
Of course the event wouldn’t be the same without the traditional show gardens, which this year include ‘Windows Through Time’, a celebration of 100 years of Chelsea garden design, and ‘After The Fire’, a garden based on regeneration after forest fires. The Great Pavillion will display a mixture of exciting new plants and flowers, alongside favourites from 1913. As always there will be lots of awards given out, including Best Garden, Best Product and the big special award for Plant of the Centenary.
You can visit the Chelsea Flower Show 2013 website by clicking here.
Post Date: | 20th May 2013 |
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Tags: | Chelsea Flower Show, garden design ideas, Gardening, home improvements, Mark Quinn |
All-Weather Landscaping
In March we braved the snowy Manchester weather to install this landscaped lawn in Bowdon. The area was first dug out using a micro-digger and a dumpy level was used to make sure the ground was flat. Topsoil was added before the strips of turf were carefully laid down to leave a beautiful large stretch of lawn.
As you can see from the video (available on our Youtube channel and our Facebook page), we really do work in all types of weather conditions, so although we need nice weather to install pattern imprinted concrete, we can carry out lots other work like this landscaping job, building walls and decking, erecting fencing and security bollards, installing non-concrete driveways like Indian stone or block paving, or just preparing an area ready for concrete, until the weather gets better.
Now that the weather is (finally) looking a bit nicer, we can start to plan our summer schedule, and we will be installing lots of pattern imprinted concrete driveways and patios throughout. If you would like a quote for this or any other work then please call 01706 827180 or click here to send us a request.
Post Date: | 15th April 2013 |
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Complete Driveway Designs Video Advert
A new Complete Driveway Designs advert is now available to view on our you tube channel and on our website. The advert features a few examples of our Pattern Imprinted Concrete Driveways and Patios and shows off a selection of decorative features such as walls, fencing and decking.
To see the video on our Youtube channel click here
Post Date: | 9th January 2013 |
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Tags: | concrete case studies, concrete in media, Concrete Video Northwest, home improvements |
The Real Concrete Jungle
The tree-like columns of one of the viaducts
Can you tell that one of our team recently went to Barcelona yet? Following on from our look at La Sagrada Familia, another work of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi is Park Guell, which is located on the hill of El Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona. Named after the entrepreneur Eusebi Guell (also mentioned in the previous article), who originally bought the land with the intention of turning it into a ‘garden city’ complete with housing. The housing idea never caught on, and the area eventually became a municipal park.
As with La Sagrada Familia, the work makes good use of concrete to create interesting and naturalistic structures. In the so-called room of 100 columns (there are in fact only 86), there are lintels of reinforced concrete that divide the ceiling into squares, on which there are inscribed partial spheres covered with white ceramic. Concrete is also used extensively in the tree-like columns that hold up the viaducts, and in the bollards that accompany you on your walk down the Rosary Path.
Gaudi’s grand vision for the park was to not adapt the landscape to suit the art, but to let the art adapt to the existing natural landscape. The famous viaducts were his solution to allow easy movement around the park, while preserving the mountain’s natural shape. The use of concrete in the viaducts helped him to accomplish this.
Post Date: | 25th September 2012 |
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Tags: | Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona, concrete architecture, concrete art |
Build Yourself A Barbecue – Part 3
You may or may not want to use the next layer of bricks for your charcoal tray, depending on your height and what feels comfortable for you. The tray is usually placed between five and eight bricks high. Wherever you do decide to place it, build up to this height using the same method as before. For the section the tray will rest on, you want to turn the bricks along the edges side-on to create a ledge for the tray. Create a flush edge by using a half brick at the outer edge. After another three or four layers add another layer of side-on bricks to support the grill tray.
To give a more professional finish on the exterior of the barbecue, take a length of hosepipe and draw it along each of the joints. Create a neat edge by adding a final course of brick setts around the main barbecue section then, when this is finished, check all the levels again. Finally cement the paving slab on top of the other section if you have built this.
There it is, your finished barbecue. Now all you have to do is invite some friends over and get cooking.
Post Date: | 17th July 2012 |
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