African Design Magazine September 2016 | Page 41

CATION Landscaping SALI Awards for safety and aesthetic appeal at Bryanston, Johannesburg Newtown Landscape Architects B idvest Landscaping won a Gold Award at the 2016 SALI Awards of Excellence in the category Landscape Construction with Design by Others for the road island beautification project at the notoriously busy intersection of William Nichol and Main Road in Bryanston. The client is Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ). Landscape architect Johan Barnard of Newtown Landscape Architects (NLA) was responsible for the design. Bidvest started the project in May 2015 and it was completed by August of that year, while the hand-over to City Parks was done on 18 November 2015. Jonathan Ferguson of Bidvest Landscaping and Barnard both commented on the many challenges that had to be faced with this project, including a heatwave and drought, and the difficulty of getting both water and materials onto this road island site. Barnard explained that the previous upgrade to a number of road islands had been done in haste in time for the World Cup in 2010, using rocks, pots, palms and shrubbery. The redesign that was required in 2015 was largely based on the need for increased security after several smash and africandesignmagazine.com 41