CASE STUDY
Rochdale is a metropolitan borough council and consists of 5 townships: Heywood, Middleton, Pennines (Firgrove, Littleborough, Milnrow, Newhey, Smallbridge and Wardle), Rochdale North, and Rochdale South.
This former engine house of the Industrial Revolution was once one of Britain’s wealthiest towns. It was an important trading post for the country’s wool merchants.
Rochdale Borough Council have an ambition to target resources and investment in the right places. So they aim to meet growing demand, to provide effective public services and deliver long term impacts with increasingly limited funding. As part of this they work to Implement nature based solutions to support healthy ecosystems, biodiversity and wellbeing. As a result they have been keen to adopt our sedum-based solutions.
In July 2019, Rochdale Borough Council declared a climate emergency. So they believe climate change will impact the lives of everybody who lives and works in the borough of Rochdale.
In simple terms climate change is affecting weather and can cause severe weather events. For Rochdale borough, climate change means more periods of water shortages and more frequent and more intense storms increasing flooding events.
So, as part of a wider strategy two areas – St. Mary’s Gate and Manchester Road have been identified as road verges that would benefit from the adoption of sedum to support their climate change ambitions, to reduce maintenance requirements and to add value to these areas.
So over two specific orders more than six hundred square metres of sedum was installed and pegged down with our own bio-pegs in both locations in late 2025.
“As a borough we have big ambitions to address climate change and to improve the lives of our residents. Our adoption of sedum on some of our grass verges addresses both issues and helps us reduce costs as well. Whilst budgets are always tight, we hope to be able to extend this programme as funds and resources allow.”
Harrowden’s role was relatively straightforward supplying Enviromat Ground Mat Kit to support the project.
Our Enviromat® Sedum Ground Mat Kits contain everything you need to create beautiful ornamental ground cover . It flowers from April to the end of October. Primarily, it’s a very low maintenance alternative to a grass lawn. The foliage of our sedum ground mat kit is evergreen, beautifully textured and full of interest all year round.
Not only are sedum ground mats great for a sunny spot but they are especially useful where the soil is very dry – or even non-existent.
The mats are delivered with at least 95% plant coverage.
If you would like to talk over your plans or discuss a bespoke seed mix or turf application please get in touch.
