VICTORY IN SIGHT: The team at Greenmark Landscapes in Olinda, from left, Jarrod Sneddon, Chris Bissels, Dennis Dudink, Phil Johnson and Katherine Kok, are hoping to take out several gongs at the Savewater Awards next month.By Tania Martin
OLINDA’S Greenmark Landscapes will go head to head with one of Melbourne’s oldest gardens in the Savewater Awards – the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Greenmark Landscapes has been nominated for both the Built Environment and Garden Management awards.
The awards recognise some the best water saving initiatives that are currently being employed.
Award judge, Rob Gell said the judging panel was impressed by Greenmark’s level of ingenuity.
“We were excited that this level of thinking and action is taking place across businesses to use water efficiently,” he said.
Greenmark Landscapes is leading the way in designing gardens that recycle and save water.
Its display garden can capture and store more than 703 kilolitres of rain and stormwater a year – that’s an astounding 5,200 bath tubs of water.
The concept is so simple and starts with a man-made billabong, which traps and conserves water to irrigate drought tolerant plants.
It also acts as a natural lap pool and provides water to the site’s home office.
The water saving doesn’t stop there because it even has stormwater drains which redirect driveway run-off water into the billabong and a small creek redirects run-off water from the heated outdoor shower.
Greenmark Landscapes owner, Phil Johnson, said winning the award will give his whole team recognition for their hard work and brilliant ideas in always coming up with new ways to save water.
Mr Johnson said people can always save water – it’s just a matter of thinking of a clever way of doing it.
“We hope we are creating a revolution in the way people think about their garden – to show them that there is a simple way that you can use your driveway run-off to make your garden beautiful,” he said.
The award winners will be announced at the Plaza Ballroom, Melbourne on Friday, 23 March to help celebrate World Water Day.
