Amberol help bring the ‘feel good’ factor to Birmingham

The city of Birmingham is a busy urban community which has a rising, ethnically mixed population of over one million. As the nation’s second largest city, Birmingham Parks and Nurseries DSO has a substantial task on its hands creating and maintaining attractive horticultural displays in communal areas, as well as undertaking grounds maintenance and floral enhancement within parks and other areas of the city. The city has five premier parks with the largest, Sutton Park National Nature Reserve, covering a total of 2,400 acres. Birmingham Parks and Nurseries DSO consists of approximately 140 staff employed in a range of roles.

A long term commitment

Birmingham City Council has used Amberol products for many years as part of its ongoing commitment to the importance of communal landscaping, and the two organisations have forged a good long term professional relationship. Birmingham Parks use a range of different Amberol products to create varied and attractive floral displays. Popular choices include the economical self-watering large and small hanging baskets, window boxes, barrier boxes and various free standing containers which are placed at different locations all around the city.

Reflecting their commitment to the part that floral displays can play in developing a sense of ownership and civic pride within the urban community, the authority has had considerable success in the prestigious ‘In Bloom awards’. In recent years, Birmingham has won the Gold Award and Category Winner in the Large City Category at the Heart of England in Bloom Awards and has also received a RHS Britain in Bloom Horticultural Award for best floral displays.

Amberol plays its part

“Amberol products play a major part in all of our competition entries – and our success,” 

explains Tim Oakes, Operations Manager of Birmingham Parks and Nurseries DSO. 

“Their products are created in a simple fool proof design, well made and durable. Unlike similar products that I have come across, they also have ample room within the container for a good root run, which is so important in establishing hardy, flourishing displays.”

Tim explains how Amberol’s self-watering containers also help the department make considerable savings by conserving both water consumption and the staff time required for maintenance. 

“With the use of Amberol’s special self watering system, we are able to manage with a maximum of two visits a week by our watering crews in most summers. This would compare to daily visits required for other non reservoir types of containers during the warmer months.”

Three words that Birmingham Parks and Nurseries use to describe Amberol products:

1. Reliable
2. Effective
3. Efficient

Birmingham City Council’s commitment to communal landscaping and making the environment appealing also brings important commercial benefits for businesses in the city, as Tim explains.

“We supply floral enhancement to several business improvement districts within the city as well as smaller local community groups and individual businesses. The feedback is usually very positive. The relevant organisations all report that footfall significantly increases when the area looks attractive and well cared for. It seems that floral enhancement definitely helps to give the area the ‘feel good’ factor. In this way, we believe that floral displays are critical to the city – for residents, visitors, workers and businesses.”

Tim also has warm words of recommendation for Amberol as a company. 

“The staff at Amberol have always been friendly and helpful, providing us with excellent service as well as resilient, high quality products. They are always responsive and obliging when we request quotes. We would happily recommend both Amberol’s products and the company itself to other organisations looking for high quality and service.”

To find out more about how Amberol’s products can help you, visit our website at www.amberol.co.uk, call 01773 830 930 or email info@amberol.co.uk.