Tom Hiscocks Sculpture Garden

Location: RHS Chelsea Flower Show, 2024

Brick Manufacturer: Ketley Brick Company

Brick Name: Class A Planter Bricks

Architect: Mark Bifield

Brickwork Contractor: Chris Lawrence Landscape

Ketley Brick’s clay planter bricks are the first clay planters to be made as an engineering brick and developed specifically in response to the need to demonstrate a nett biodiversity gain with new planning applications and greater biodiversity and planting in urban areas where space and options are often restricted.

Background

The new Biodiversity Nett Gain law requires all developments in England (with a few exemptions) from April 2024 to deliver at least 10% biodiversity nett gain. This is measured using the Statutory Biodiversity Metric, which assesses the current and potential biodiversity impacted by development or restoration activities. The policy ensures compliance with the Environment Act 2021, aiming to balance development with nature conservation.

Applications

The planters were laid on top of the wall at the Tom Hiscocks Sculpture Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024. Incorporating Ketley planters within a scheme helps create a greener, pleasanter environment. They are suitable for large-scale urban spaces, as well as residential gardens, and even apartments where they can introduce foliage and nature onto balconies and rooftop gardens.

They can be simply laid onto the tops of walls instead of a capping, taking up no additional floor area within a scheme and positively contributing to biodiversity. Growing herbs or salads outside the kitchen window or planting trailing flowers and other suitable plants are just some of the options available with these planters.

Design

Ketley planters are a decorative, cost-effective and sustainable solution that can be adapted for different types of projects.

• Cost-effective – the planter bricks are machine-made from extruded clay through standard dies making them economical to manufacture.
• Customisable – the planter bricks can be made in a variety of different profiles including cants, bullnose or double bullnose depending on the design requirements.
• Practical - at 215mm wide, they are designed to fit perfectly on the top of walls. They have a small weep hole on the bottom edge for drainage. They work equally well as single-sided versions or double-sided depending on the design of the wall.
• Natural colours – they are manufactured in the same Staffordshire red, blue and brown brindle clay tones as the existing Ketley Brick range, which are produced the traditional way solely through control of the kiln temperature, rather than through modern artificial pigments and stains, thereby giving a natural appearance.
• Longevity – they are classified as Class A standard engineering bricks and made from the highest quality dense Etruria marl clay giving high compressive strength and low water absorption. These characteristics together with their unrivalled levels of frost resistance, ensure they perform in the severely exposed setting where they are subject to prolonged saturation from the soil held in the planter. Ketley Class A products are recognised for their longevity, and they perform far better than traditional planters.
• Sustainability – clay is one of the world’s oldest building materials which is proven to last hundreds of years and is recyclable. Planters made in this authentic traditional material are an eco-friendly way of adding real value to outdoor spaces and urban gardens.