If you’ve ever been involved in building or renovating a house, or landscaping a garden, you’ll know that sometimes these projects can end up taking some odd detours
And sometimes when it’s a knockdown rebuild project, things can get a little crazy.
This one started as a comedy of errors, but concluded with a happy ending!
Recently a client engaged us to design a new garden, complete with pool, for their knockdown rebuild project in one of Melbourne’s finer Eastern Suburbs.
Everything was going smoothly, until the issue of trees came up with the local council.
What had happened with the property was that two established trees had been removed in error, instead of only one which was presenting a risk to children of the previous tenants.
When the new owners of the property (our clients) applied for their permits to knockdown the old house and build a new one, a council investigation discovered this case of the missing trees. They insisted that in order to approve the permit, the two missing trees would have to be replaced with two equally mature trees of similar size.
(This is another thing to know about trees and knockdown rebuild projects – councils have a memory like an elephant – they never forget where any significant tree was or should be!)
And in cases like these we are often told, you can't just plant a small sapling and say, “well one day it WILL be a big tree!”
The council’s specific requirement was for 2 advanced trees of a minimum 500 litre size with a significant mature canopy and a minimum height of 15-20 metres.
Now while this might sound very strict, the council did make some concessions.
First, they did not insist the original trees be replaced with trees of the same species, because the original trees were exotic trees, not natives. So they allowed for trees that were more in line with the client’s design aesthetic.
But what they did insist on was a pretty tough deadline, which they were NOT flexible on. The trees had to be planted by August 2026.
One slight problem with that deadline was that according to current projections for the construction of the new house, there was no guarantee it would be finished by then.
But even more challenging was that once the house (and pool) were completed there was no way to get an excavator down either side of the house into the backyard to dig the big hole we needed for the large trees. (The only way would be to use a crane to drop an excavator in the garden or dig the holes by hand! Neither choice was advisable.)
You can see the challenge in this plan below. (The tree mentioned is in the top right hand corner of the backgarden.)
This left us with no other choice but to put the tree/s in prior to construction starting!
Now the race was on. We had to finalise an appropriate tree selection with a company called Established Tree Transplanters. It was critical that we find a species that was still dormant from the cold winter months and could therefore be dug up without damaging its root systems.
We settled on an Acer October Glory and confirmed this was suitable with both the council and the client. We managed to get one specimen dug out with just days to spare, as most in their collection had already started their spring growth.
Next, we had to deliver the tree to the site where the old house had just been recently demolished. Luckily the demolition team had kindly excavated around the allocated area for the tree, which gave us a head start for planting it.
Once onsite we were able to establish the precise level of the future garden area, based on an accurate site survey and the house plans. It was critical for us to place it exactly in the right location and with the right orientation to ensure it could be viewed from both inside the house and the new alfresco dining area.
Once we had the tree in place, the next challenge was to develop a plan to care for it throughout the construction phase of the new house. We used our standard procedures such as establishing a clear root protection zone around the tree to ensure any future excavation near it would not damage the roots.
We documented everything with photos for the client and the council.
The entire project was well co-ordinated with the builder Latitude 37 who gave us clear access to the site prior to the new house and pool build commencing.
But what happened with the second tree you may ask?
Well, the council were equally cooperative on that, giving us permission to plant a similarly mature tree in the front garden once the house was completed. With ready access to the front of the house after completion we will transplant another mature tree during next winter and excavate for that and plant it directly in front of the house.
This is not as rare as you might think, but it’s a classic case of where the landscaper and builder need to work in cooperation on behalf of the client to comply with council’s demands.
There are many lessons to be learnt from this tale for the uninitiated. It demonstrates how there can often be many unpredictable factors that crop up during a new garden project.
We are always proud when we work out solutions and apply them to the complete satisfaction of our clients.
We try to carry this attitude through all our projects. No matter what stands in our way to get the best outcome for our clients, we will strive to achieve it!
What garden challenge could we help you with?
