Amanda Stephenson loves plants, so much so that when she is not indulging in her other hobby of cooking she potters for hours on end tidying, feeding, watering and even talking to the splendid specimens that grace her Surrey home.
However Amanda’s garden is not rolling acres. In fact it’s not really a garden at all – just a 12 foot by five foot balcony within Royal Quarter, a block of 448 flats built by St George in Kingston-upon-Thames.
Now Amanda’s balcony and the communal garden of the development are among the entries short listed in the New Homes Garden Awards, promoted by the Daily Express and supported by the NHBC, New Homes Marketing Board, Society of Garden Designers, Landscape Institute and Garden Design Journal.
The awards, now in their third year, encourage house-builders to offer buyers well-designed outside space, both private and communal. They also reward designs for conservation initiatives.
Balcony gardens represent a small percentage of the scores of entries in the New Homes Garden Awards - gardens that range in size from a few square feet to many acres – all of which are living proof of our love-affair with plants and gardens.
Gardens have always been important elements of the housing package, but many builders are only just waking up to the fact. It may have something to do with global warming and the way we are spending more time out of doors, but many surveys find that the garden is the most important “room” in the home and the quality of
gardens and the communal space can have a positive impact on the value.
This comes at a time when plot sizes are very much smaller than those of houses built a few decades ago – and also when more and more people are moving into flats (or what are now know as “luxury apartments”).
The days when dream kitchens and film-star bathrooms with gold taps were the main selling points are long past (if indeed they ever really existed). A survey by website SmartNewHomes.com found that a secluded rear garden was most important factor for people choosing a new home and 94% of respondents were prepared to pay more to get it.
Halifax Estate Agents found similar trends, saying 61% of people interviewed would sacrifice a utility room to gain more space in the garden.
Managing director Colin Kemp declared: “Buyers are increasingly attracted to homes offering quality outdoor living. Our surveys show that having an attractive garden is a distinct advantage when selling the property. It can even be the determining factor in a sale.”
Meanwhile a Joseph Rowntree Foundation survey found that we are more and more a nation of garden lovers; and we prefer housing developments to offer variety in design, rather than all houses looking the same, with both attractive front and rear gardens.
The results proved that house buyers demand gardens for recreation and outdoor living, as well as for growing plants and
providing play space for children and pets.
A few house builders fared badly in the popularity stakes, with some participants complaining about debris from building and poorly drained gardens, while some flat owners grumbled they had no direct access to communal gardens. Others said some builders tried hard with gardens only at developments that were proving hard to sell.
These negative comments were certainly not applicable to entrants in the New Home Garden Awards, but they demonstrate that while the house-building industry has come a long way some players still have a lot to learn.
A distinguished panel of property, garden and landscape experts met at the Museum of Garden Awards, in Lambeth, to select winners of this year’s awards – a task made even more difficult by an indisputable improvement in the quality of entries.
In some cases judges found that developers had actually tried too hard, cramming too many features and too many plants into a relatively small space; but the overall standard was remarkably high and the computers are even now sorting out which entries will carry off the garden Oscars of the house building and landscape industries.
The results will be announced at a gala luncheon at London’s Royal Garden Hotel in Knightsbridge on September 22nd and be reported in this newspaper.
