FOCUS REGENERATION
Built on a former chemical plant,
Manchester City’s 80-acre
training complex was opened in
November 2014 and included a
7,000-capacity stadium, 16.5 pitches,
education facilities and medical and
sports science services. The Etihad
Campus, which is used by the first
team, the women’s team and the
academy, is visually stunning thanks
to a mix of modern architecture and
inspiring landscapes. What is less
known about the site is that it has
now married a thriving biodiversity
programme, with being one of the
most enviable footballing facilities in
the world.
SIMPLE STEPS TO SUSTAINABILITY
At the heart of the environmental
programme at Manchester City,
exists a seven-year sustainability and
biodiversity plan (which is almost
halfway complete) to enhance the
biodiversity value of the training area,
while establishing a more sustainable
maintenance programme.
idverde began working at
Manchester City in 2016 and started by
creating a grounds care structure that
worked with the environment.
The sustainability and biodiversity
plan provided an opportunity to adapt
traditional maintenance regimes to
GOALS
one of need rather than rotas (the
latter traditional approach o en sees
work done on schedule rather than
need). With a more flexible regime, the
idverde team spent less time mowing
grass and more time hand weeding
beds, removing the need for herbicide
usage and this also allowed for the
creation of chemical-free zones across
the estate. This relaxation of chemical
applications has allowed pollinatorboosting
wildflower species such as
Dandelion, Daisy, Hawk’s-beards and
Cuckoo-flower to flourish. This simple
step has allowed the numbers of
invertebrate species to also increase
exponentially.
To support increased wildlife,
idverde introduced a traditional
long-grass maintenance regime with a
twice-yearly cut, which resulted in the
overall area of grass meadow on the
estate increasing by 30 per cent. The
advantages of the meadow are that it
is significant in creating a biodiverse
ecology and supporting native species
through pollen, nectar, seed and
shelter.
WILDLIFE WAYS
In addition to the meadow, idverde
began creating new habitats to
support wildlife, for example, solitary
bee nesting boxes, invertebrate
hibernaculum’s, log piles, standing
dead-wood and bird boxes.
To better understand and benchmark
the impact of improvements, the
site’s ecology is measured regularly
throughout the year with idverde
wildlife surveys, where all animal life
is counted on site. These surveys have
led to some fascinating findings and
local people will be interested to know
that the growth in biodiversity has
seen some new visitors to Manchester.
PLANT LIFE
Being a world-class complex, the visual
attractiveness of the site is also an
important part of the project. idverde
moved away from the block planting
and woody shrubs inherited when they
began work on site and instead have
introduced so er planting schemes
using free-flowing designs that
draw the eye. This not only provides
increased biodiversity through the
introduction of pollinator-friendly
plants that support the sustainability
goals of Manchester City but also
provides a visually pleasing aesthetic
that engages passers-by and emotes
positive feelings.
This is best seen in the use of the
HQ entrance bed which has employed
two separate but merging colour
schemes (hot to cool) with elements
of texture, movement and structure.
The bed has also incorporated
elements from around the site, such
as the architectural logs that have
been drilled out to create a habitat
for solitary bees and wasps, and the
curving pebble path. This bed was
designed specifically to look visually
stunning to visitors entering the
site, but also to maximise pollinator
activity using as many RHS Plants-For-
Pollinators varieties as possible.
FAR FROM COSTING THE EARTH
What might be surprising to learn
is that many of the changes, while
promoting aesthetics and biodiversity,
have been achieved with no monetary
increase in the project. It is about
doing things smarter. For example, by
creating chemical-free zones the costs
previously provisioned for fertilizer
could be put towards further on-site
improvements and added value, such
as bird feeders, bird boxes, bee boxes,
native wildflower seed and more.
There has always been an ethos of
‘reuse and recycle’ and during shrub
bed renovations, many plants were
li ed, split and planted to fill gaps, or
even make new features elsewhere.
This has greatly reduced the need to
send anything to green-waste or have
new stock delivered when it is not
necessary.
Daniel Lewis, Landscape Contract
Manager at Manchester City Football
Club, commented: “This has been a
project that has evolved into much
more than a mundane job list of
maintenance tasks. We are working
with nature to enhance and develop
schemes that are an exception at
the moment, but we hope to make
the norm in future. We have been
challenged throughout and the
learning curve has been steep, but this
is what has made it so exciting. Just
as goals are needed on the pitch for
success our goal is to provide a world
class environment for excellence and
nature to be nurtured.”
The work has shown the footballing
community that you can create a
vibrant floral environment integrated
with biodiversity and sustainability
at no extra cost. Working smartly,
providing innovation and sustainability
whilst meeting the high expectations
of Manchester City, idverde is proud
to have helped the evolution of the
Etihad Campus from contaminated
chemical land to a world-class football
facility to a beacon of biodiversity that
all amenity-related landowners can
learn from.
From contaminated chemical industry land to a world-class 80-acre training complex,
Manchester City’s Etihad Campus has now become a major biodiversity success story
thanks to its partnership with landscape and grounds maintenance specialists idverde
46 SEPTEMBER 2021