‘Winner: McGregor Coxall for Ballast Point Park’ (December 2009, p22).

Joshua was interviewed by Building Product News (BPN) for an article on the sustainability initiatives at McGregor Coxall‘s multi-award winning Ballast Point Park.

From here:

Ballast Point Park by McGregor Coxall has won the Landscape Design award in the 2009 BPN Sustainability Awards. Premier Nathan Rees, Planning Minister Kristina Keneally and ex-Prime Minister Paul Keating officially opened the 2.8ha park in Birchgrove, Sydney, in July. The park draws on the site’s past to create spaces that reveal various layers of its rich history while making a strong commitment towards a more sustainable future. McGregor Coxall’s philosophical approach was that this park should not desecrate other landscape sites in order to obtain resources to build the park.

Sustainability initiatives on the project include: recycled rubble from local tips and use of site soil in retaining wall construction; 8 vertical axis wind turbines for renewable energy; recycled content in all concrete; recycled aggregate for drainage; recycled timber for all decking; recycled soil and mulch for all garden areas; salvaged concrete from the site used as flagging to reinstate degraded pathways; efficient lighting; and over 34,000 endemic species planted from provenance seed stock. A site-wide WSUD stormwater system also captures, detains and treats stormwater before release into Sydney Harbour.

The judges said: “This project has completely revived a significant Sydney harbour landmark. It has not only decontaminated the remnants of the oil tanks, it has turned the landscape into a water cleanser.”

Image courtesy McGregor Coxall.