Balwyn Landscaping - Commercial Project
Balwyn is an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne and lies in the northern part of the city of Boroondara. It was in this area that grazier John Gardiner settled near the point where Gardiners creek meets the Yarra River. The commercial editor of the Argus, Andrew Murray built house named Balwyn which gives the area its name.
How far is Balwyn from the Melbourne CBD?
Balwyn is only 10 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD and in an easterly direction. It was once serviced by the outer loop railway station at Deepdene.
Balwyn Community Centre
The Balwyn Community Centre, at 412 Whitehorse Road, Surrey Hills, was upgraded to ensure it would continue to support the needs of the local Balwyn Community. As well as the upgrades to the buildings, there was landscaping work for the parkland, natural wetlands, exposed aggregate concrete pathways and tennis courts. For this project, we were able to showcase all of our commercial landscaping services.
https://youtu.be/eqRPIeGS24U
Landscaping Balwyn Community Centre: The Scope of Works
The hard landscaping for the Community Centre
The scope of work for this project included the following hard landscaping construction;
- Plain, coloured and exposed aggregate concrete,
- In-situ or poured in place concrete garden retaining walls,
- Exposed aggregate concrete driveway crossovers,
- Concrete upstands, edges, ramps, stairs and landings.
The soft landscaping for Balwyn Community Centre
The scope of work for this project included the following soft landscaping installations:
- The planting of advanced indigenous trees
- The application of appropriate fertilizers
- Lawn areas
- The planting of native grasses and ornamental plants
- Aggregate and Gravel
- Imported top soil to Australian Standards
- A sophisticated Irrigation System
- Areas of mass planting
- Mulched garden beds
- Planting of Australian Native Shrubs
- Garden edging.
Existing trees at the Balwyn Community Centre
The existing trees on the site included the following:
- Pin Oak (Quercus palustris)
- River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)
- Narrow leaved black Peppermint (Eucalyptus nicholii)
- Lemon scented gum (Corymbia citriodora)
- Prickly leaved Paperbark (Melaleuca styphelioides)
- Forest Oak (Allocasuarina torulosa)
- Drooping She-oak (Allocasuarina verticilata)
- Smooth Barked Apple (Angophora Costata)
Almost all of these existing trees were kept in the new landscape design.
Native Urban Wetlands
Later in the project, rehabilitation of native wetlands was added, including a child proof fence.
Tennis Court Repairs and Reconstruction
Part of the landscaping included repairs to a tennis court and the construction of another tennis court. A good sports surface must be stable, therefore the new tennis court was constructed with asphalt over 300 mm of roadbase.
Synthetic clay Tennis Court surface
A low maintenance synthetic clay tennis court surface was required to laid over the asphalt. Therefore, the surface chosen was Grassports Policlay. In addition to being low maintenance, Grassports Policlay is a fast draining low maintenance water free tennis surface resulting in the ideal surface for public tennis courts.
A high quality sporting surface was required, therefore the asphalt layers were flattened rigorously in preparation. The very thick roadbase foundation will also help to maintain the stability of the playing surface. Root barriers we also installed to prevent invasive tree roots causing any unevenness to the playing surface.
Soft play surfaces
The soft play coloured surfaces in the landscape was required, so an EPDM wetpour rubber was chosen. In addition to its great colour range, EPDM is a synthetic rubber widely used in the automotive industry. Similarly, its mechanical properties make it ideal for this application. For instance, it has great UV stability, abrasion resistance, ozone resistance and it is water proof. So, the material used was Playkote which was installed as a rubber wet pour over SBR underlay. In addition to the added height, the SBR underlay makes the play surface a little softer. The colourful kids scooter track in Teal, Lime Green and Light Blue Laykold was constructed by Grand Slam Surfaces.
https://youtu.be/EGLQBskywbg
https://youtu.be/xGs8clMlGgY
Balwyn Outdoor Gym Equipment

Environmentally Friendly Garden Furniture
Garden furniture including picnic tables, benches and seats were installed to add to the public amenity. In addition to the the amenity and aesthetic provided, recycled materials were also used. To this end, the material used was Enviroslat. Enviroslat is an environmentally friendly low maintenance material produced from HDPE waste mixed with recycled cellulose. The recycled cellulose hardwood waste and rice husks.

Table Tennis Table


The finished Balwyn Commercial landscaping Project
https://youtu.be/X1ssfmwrpjE
About the Balwyn Community Centre Commercial Landscaping Project
Landscape Architects: ACLA Consultants landscape architects.
Building Construction: CICG
Customer: City of Boroondara
Hume Global Learning Centre – Sunbury
Related Landscaping Information from Red's Landscaping and Civil
Landscaping Careers in Melbourne.
Melbourne Landscaper – Mill Park Leisure
Mill Park Aquatic Center Redevelopment
Hume Global Learning Centre – Sunbury
Landscaping Balwyn Community Center
Blogs to Follow @RedsLandscaping
https://medium.com/@redslandscaping/
https://redslandscapingau.wordpress.com/
https://redslandscapingau.blogspot.com/
https://redslandscaping.edublogs.org/