SCAPE SHAPES WINS STATE AWARD AGAIN

From humble beginnings of just a wheelbarrow and shovel in 1986, Gold Coast based landscape construction company Scape Shapes has come a long way to win its third Landscape Construction of the Year Award.

With its innovative coastal dune theme, the landscape construction of the $555 million Ephraim Island development on the northern Gold Coast has won Scape Shapes the coveted 2008 Landscape Construction of the Year at the recent Landscape Queenslands industry excellence awards night.

Scape Shapes was also highly commended for its work with Pradella Constructions on Flow Apartments on the river in Brisbanes West End.

The landscaping at Ephraim Island posed numerous challenges for the landscape team, Scape Shapes co-founder and director Michael Schultz said.

The unique Broadwater location and nature of the development meant we faced things like restricted site access, limited storage on the island and also weight issues due to most of the site being on a podium, he said.

The weight of the materials had to be assessed to make sure we utilised lightweight products suitable to the set weight restrictions of the site.

We had to develop and implement off-site storage and logistical procedures to ensure the landscape construction ran as smoothly as possible.

As the very last external trade on a project, we have to be quite resourceful and work in with other contractors.

Quite often we will help co-ordinate and control other external contractors and take the headache away from the builder.

Being located on an island, environmental conditions such as the direction of prevailing winds, the path of the sun, tidal movements, storm surges, and proximity to the sea were all considered in Ephraim Islands landscape design and materials selection.

Our job was to create a sustainable habitat of pedestrian walkways and useable parklands that are able to withstand hot sun, salt spray and high wind exposure while requiring minimal watering, Mr Schultz said.

Instead of using traditional mulch, more than 400 tonne of white crushed shell mulch was shipped up from Victoria to create an unusual and innovative crisp and clean effect.

More than 12,000 plants, most native to Australia, were planted, including a number of mature trees transported from Townsville, Brisbane and Mudgeeraba.

We even constructed private beaches using 300 tonne of special sand mix.

Ephraim Island is a joint venture development between Mirvac and The Lewis Land Group of companies.

Mirvacs Queensland CEO Development, Matthew Wallace, said that some of what has been achieved by Scape Shapes at Ephraim Island is truly groundbreaking.

An enormous amount of time and energy went in the planning phase to ensure that the landscaped environment at Ephraim Island was sympathetic to the existing coastal dunal features of the area and also had a reduced reliance on water, he said.

Doing the homework up front has meant that residents now enjoy a lush island setting which will continue to evolve and flourish in its coastal environment.

No stranger to winning major awards, Scape Shapes won the Landscape Construction of the Year in 1992 for the companys first major commercial project, Grand Mariner at Paradise Waters, and again in 2003 for the impeccable landscapes of the six-star Palazzo Versace.

Over 22 years, Scape Shapes has been honoured with over 50 industry awards for a number of major projects including Q1, Gold Coast Regional Botanical Gardens, Cova Residential Estate at Hope Island, Bayview Noosa Resort and Tennyson sales office on Brisbanes riverfront.

From our humble beginnings in 1988 as a small turf company working on its first commercial project at The DArcy Arms Hotel in Surfers Paradise, my co-founder Danny Glennon and I have built a reputable commercial landscaping business working as the preferred contractors for a number of renowned Queensland developers, Mr Schultz said.

Scape Shapes has developed a depth of experience and a wealth of knowledge to produce a wide variety of high quality landscaping projects valued from $30,000 to $6 million.

Through demand, Scape Shapes has grown from its Gold Coast base and established offices in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and also in Townsville to manage the North Queensland region.

Our personnel includes highly trained horticultural staff, hardscape experts, project managers, and a skilled network of specialist sub-contractors and suppliers.

The Scape Shapes philosophy is be your best and all of our people have a positive approach to their work which I think helps us stand out from our competitors.