Get Cumbria Buzzing

Client: Highways England 

Project overview: 

In 2018 National Highways approached our Landscape Construction team working within Cumbria and their Construction Works Framework to provide consultation to them and Cumbria Wildlife Trust (CWT) in a funding application to HLF for the Get Cumbria Buzzing Campaign. Ground Control helped an excess of 40 plots along the A66 and A595 to enhance the B-lines in West Cumbria.

Scope of works: 

• Support pollinators within farmlands
• Support pollinators across towns, cities, and countryside’s
• Enhance the response to disease and pests
• Raise awareness
• Improve evidence of the status of pollinators

Added / social value: 

Ground Control developed new techniques and methods to successfully implement the grass enrichment initiative to create the new pollinator pathways. During implementation we were able to refine these techniques and improve efficiencies. Over the course of the original contract, we were able to deliver real time savings to the project. This enabled us to complete the full scope under budget and within time. We passed on these savings to the client who was then able to increase the scope of the project and increase the number of sites therefore furthering the development of more pathways.

Challenges / overview:

Throughout the project we supported the development of safe, successful and innovative methods of delivering the seeding schemes along the highway verges. These were based on our works with National Highway's, knowledge of the machinery that could be used to reduce the number of operatives working along the live highway and introduction of innovative techniques from mainland Europe to increase the likelihood of the seed germinating and plants establishing. Our specialist field teams utilised robocuts, roborakes, compact tractors with cut and collect, chain harrows, seeders and rollers, in addition to the traditional manual raking and seeding techniques.