After a Diespeker-made bespoke terrazzo table with integrated chess boards caused a stir at the Chelsea Flower Show, we had another RHS ‘moment’, this time with paving slabs made from our sustainable terrazzo, Rubblazzo.
Rubblazzo was developed by Diespeker in collaboration with award-winning garden designer Tom Massey, and Tom decided to use this relatively new product as part of his Hampton Court garden, The Resilient Garden.
The concept behind this garden was to show how gardens and green spaces can be designed to work with our changing climate, particularly extreme events like the heatwave we experienced in June, or heavy rainfall as seen in July. It sought to encourage people to add biodiversity and manage rainwater run-off, and not to feel concerned that an ‘eco’ garden must necessarily be less well-turned-out than a standard garden.
In the garden, Tom employed various different surfaces to illustrate how they can help to slow the movement of surface water, enabling better use of rainwater for irrigation during warm weather, whilst taking the pressure off hard pressed drainage systems during heavy rainfall.
For the slabs, he turned to Rubblazzo. This sustainable terrazzo is made from reclaimed London rubble set into a cement free binder and offers a distinctive look perfect for any garden, but particularly one like The Resilient Garden, with its resolutely eco-friendly ambiance. Tom, who reused other waste products including loose crushed rubble and gravel for the pathways to ensure permeability, and a windblown tree sawn into a rustic bench, said: “It all works together to create a feel of designed quality.”
Creating a garden at an RHS show using an informal planting design using unwanted materials takes courage and a determined mindset. But, Tom says, “I think 10 years ago, this type of garden might have been shocking to people, seeing rubble, seeing waste materials, seeing a messier or looser aesthetic to planting. But now this almost feels vital.” As well as the Rubblazzo paving slabs, Diespeker supplied a standard terrazzo, TE107 for the floor of a wooden structure, where visitors could use a VR headset (similar to the one used on the programme Your Garden Made Perfect which Tom presents for) to see designs come to life.
The RHS Resilient Garden is the physical manifestation of the virtual garden detailed in Tom Massey’s book of the same title, well worth a read. You can order this from the usual sites including Amazon, Waterstones, Blackwells or pop into a book shop!
To watch Tom’s interview at Hampton Court and see Rubblazzo in situ, visit BBC player (approx. 29 mins in)
To find out more about Rubblazzo and learn how it can help lower your carbon footprint, visit rubblazzo.com
Image 1 by Alistair Thorpe
