New Zealand’s most awarded landscaping company, Natural Habitats, has continued its time-honoured tradition with an impressive 14 awards won across design, construction, and horticulture at the 2018 Registered Master Landscaper Awards.
Its most recent medal tally includes two silvers, a gold, and a premier award for Best Sustainable Project of the Year for its Muriwai Coastal project.
Natural Habitats owner Graham Cleary says his clients were looking for a landscape that nestled their new south Mediterranean inspired house into the rugged Muriwai landscape.
“They wanted a space where they could reflect and admire, something that wasn’t too drastic on the eye,” he says.
“Ensuring the landscape was designed with minimal use of retaining walls created a more naturalistic effect, one where the house and gardens blend into the surrounding landscape.”
The wild west coast was a huge influence on the design, and the planting palette focuses solely on the harsh, coastal environment with more than 90% of the plant species being native, and plants that move with the wind to create a windswept feel.
A fusion of coastal and Mediterranean influences is seen through an array of materials from the neutral colours of the pumice stone driveway that complements the jagged Paradise Portland stone patio paving, to the dark grey undertones of the boulders scattered around the garden, and the sleek design of the swimming pool with an infinity edge so the pool merges into the sea.
Natural Habitats has been bringing outdoor spaces to life for more than 35 years, and now works on high profile projects throughout Auckland and New Zealand.
It is an integrated company, encompassing the design, build, and care of outdoor spaces for residential, commercial, and civic projects.
As well as its specialised design and build project management of high-end residential projects, its expertise embraces very large scale commercial and civic projects requiring the sourcing of skilled landscapers and suppliers for the millions of natives planted in motorway projects, such as Transmission Gully.
Graham says Natural Habitats is at the forefront of the movement towards green technology in architecture and picked up three silver awards for an inner city apartment project which featured a green wall.
Natural Habitats installed New Zealand’s first green roof on the Quay West building back in 1995, and has recently finished the country’s tallest exterior wall at five storeys high on the outside of St Mark’s apartments in Remuera.
“St Mark’s consists of two tower blocks, and now the rear tower isn’t looking at the back of the front tower, it’s looking at a beautiful green wall which is securing biodiversity for the plants, birds, bees, and insects, as well as providing natural insulation and significant energy savings.”
Graham says Natural Habitats is pioneering green technology and has recently imported a blending machine from China which recycles polystyrene into a growing media for use in green walls and roofs.
Natural Habitats thanks all of its clients for bringing these projects to the team, and congratulates the team for such excellent work.
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Natural Habitats has been bringing outdoor spaces to life for more than 35 years and is NZ’s most awarded landscaping company.
