volks

Work to start this week to maintain the Madeira Drive Green Wall at the Volks Workshop, Duke’s Mound
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Work to start this week to maintain the Madeira Drive Green Wall at the Volks Workshop, Duke’s Mound

Building Green has been speaking to the Council and its contractors following the unfortunate cutting back of the green wall at the bottom of Duke’s Mound, near the Volks Workshop.

The event triggered an outpouring of concern from the public, a wreath-laying, and commitments to establish a management plan for the Local Wildlife Site.

Improvements to the road are to start shortly, so Council contractors will be sensitively pruning back the large fig tree that grows in this section and is currently spreading into the road. The idea is to train it up, not out! Building Green have been assured that the veteran Japanese spindle plants along this section will be encouraged to continue re-growing up the cliff.

We support this work and will continue to advise.

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Volks goes solar, shingle habitat park to be created

The Council approved an application to rebuild the Volks railway sheds at Banjo groyne, Kemptown – and install a park with ‘solar trees’ to harness green electricity for the train. Very cool, and a nice addition to what – green wall apart – is a long stretch of seafront with little natural habitat.

There will be some existing vegetated shingle lost – unfortunate, given this is a national priority habitat of European importance – but overall there will be net gain of 192m2. See the ecology statement. This will be in a new ‘solar park‘ to the left of the groyne, where the council keep the swimming buoys in winter…with interpretation etc.

Now

Amazing to think that when the Volks was running in the late 19th Century, the sea came in right up to the road boundary – that section of track to the left of the sandy triangle was elevated above the water.

Elevated section – shingle solar park to be created to the left of this section of track

All that shingle collected in a little over 100 years by groynes and longshore drift…

 

After

Visualisation by vistudio