Date published 14 July 2009
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Marshalls plc’s contribution to the excitingly named ‘Garden Energy’ at the recent RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show has been heralded a success by the UK’s leading hard landscaping manufacturer.
As the signature feature at the show, the ‘Garden Energy’ space was a thought provoking and extensive demonstration of the effects of climate change. Most importantly it offered innovative ideas about the ways we can limit contributing to further change and help moderate the consequences with our own actions.
Designed by Sarah Eberle, eight times RHS gold medal winning garden designer and holder of Best in Show at RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows, the space was split in to three zones with each element telling its own story from Climate Change - Separating Fact from Fiction, to Garden Energy Generation.
Marshalls worked in partnership with the RHS and Sarah in Zone 3 to showcase its products which highlighted important messages such as permeable paving, ethical sourcing of sandstone, product carbon footprint, Marshalls’ Campaign for Better Landscapes and its work supporting the RHS’ Campaign for School Gardening.
Jeremy Swallow, Domestic PR Manager, Marshalls plc, said:
“The Garden Energy display certainly brought a lot of interest to our stand at the show. We received a very positive reaction from the public in terms of creating functional, environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing areas for both public and private spaces.
“Permeable paving was a very widely discussed topic in light of the recent Front Garden Legislation; the general public appear to be very much aware of the changes and people want to know more about it and see the product. The Garden Energy features gave us [Marshalls] the opportunity to address this and show in a large format setting what a permeable paved area looks like and thanks to the weather see it actually work.
“This then aligned itself to a rise in the interest about the environmental issues and social aspects of the products they are now purchasing. Toward the latter end of the week, after ITV News at Ten reported on the state of stone quarries in India and in particular, the widespread use of child labour in those quarries. From the Thursday night after it was aired we fielded numerous enquires from the public on this issue, which as a company we [Marshalls] have been campaigning to raise awareness on for numerous years.
“As a company and our merchant stockist can confidently tell them that Marshalls was the first company in the hard landscaping industry to belong to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), committing ourselves to adopting the ETI Base Code, which includes the principles that child labour should not be used, no-one should be forced to work and working conditions should be safe and healthy.
“Marshalls’ sole supplier in India, Stoneshippers India, has been independently audited against the ETI Base Code by both UK and India-based expert auditors. In partnership with Marshalls, Stoneshippers works to ensure practices are in place to prevent the use of child labour and focus is placed on making sure workers earn a living wage and are properly and safely equipped to do their job.”
As the signature feature at the show, the ‘Garden Energy’ space was a thought provoking and extensive demonstration of the effects of climate change. Most importantly it offered innovative ideas about the ways we can limit contributing to further change and help moderate the consequences with our own actions.
Designed by Sarah Eberle, eight times RHS gold medal winning garden designer and holder of Best in Show at RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows, the space was split in to three zones with each element telling its own story from Climate Change - Separating Fact from Fiction, to Garden Energy Generation.
Marshalls worked in partnership with the RHS and Sarah in Zone 3 to showcase its products which highlighted important messages such as permeable paving, ethical sourcing of sandstone, product carbon footprint, Marshalls’ Campaign for Better Landscapes and its work supporting the RHS’ Campaign for School Gardening.
Jeremy Swallow, Domestic PR Manager, Marshalls plc, said:
“The Garden Energy display certainly brought a lot of interest to our stand at the show. We received a very positive reaction from the public in terms of creating functional, environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing areas for both public and private spaces.
“Permeable paving was a very widely discussed topic in light of the recent Front Garden Legislation; the general public appear to be very much aware of the changes and people want to know more about it and see the product. The Garden Energy features gave us [Marshalls] the opportunity to address this and show in a large format setting what a permeable paved area looks like and thanks to the weather see it actually work.
“This then aligned itself to a rise in the interest about the environmental issues and social aspects of the products they are now purchasing. Toward the latter end of the week, after ITV News at Ten reported on the state of stone quarries in India and in particular, the widespread use of child labour in those quarries. From the Thursday night after it was aired we fielded numerous enquires from the public on this issue, which as a company we [Marshalls] have been campaigning to raise awareness on for numerous years.
“As a company and our merchant stockist can confidently tell them that Marshalls was the first company in the hard landscaping industry to belong to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), committing ourselves to adopting the ETI Base Code, which includes the principles that child labour should not be used, no-one should be forced to work and working conditions should be safe and healthy.
“Marshalls’ sole supplier in India, Stoneshippers India, has been independently audited against the ETI Base Code by both UK and India-based expert auditors. In partnership with Marshalls, Stoneshippers works to ensure practices are in place to prevent the use of child labour and focus is placed on making sure workers earn a living wage and are properly and safely equipped to do their job.”