A new innovative ‘super nursey’ is to be built in London’s Hyde Park to produce nearly all the 500,000 flowers and shrubs that are planted across the capitals eight Royal Parks.The project is already underway, as the old Hyde Park nursery has been demolished to make way for the new facilities.
The new state-of-the-art nursery will meet the Royal Parks’ sustainability goals by providing 40% more production space than the previous Hyde Park nursery while occupying the same footprint.The new nursery will also be the first major glasshouse production facility in the UK to use Deforche Cabrio technology, which can open and close depending on the weather. This tech-savvy roof will regulate the temperature to help the acclimatisation of young plants, eliminating the need for them to be moved outside for hardening and saving labour and space.
The new nursery will feature other sustainability-designed systems, such as a rainwater recovery system, LED lighting, and new flues fitted to existing boilers. The glasshouse will also be split into 13 separate zones, each operated by the latest technology from Climate Control.The project, constructed by Deforche Construct NV and Climate Controls Ltd, will cost £5 million, but it will help the Royal Parks save £200,000 per year on planting costs, deliver educational opportunities to apprentices, and be available to the community via workshops and open days.