Fingal County Council wins big at Bord Bia Bloom

Pictured: Nicola Haines with the four awards (Photo: Damien Eagers)

The council's innovative 'Coming Home to Nature' show garden takes home four medals at Bord Bia Bloom 2024, including Gold and Best in Show Large Garden

Landscape

24 June 2024

Fingal County Council announced that it has been awarded four medals at this year’s Bord Bia Bloom for its innovative show garden, ‘Coming Home to Nature’.

Along with winning a Gold medal, the Nicola Haines designed garden was named as Best in Show Large Garden.

It also picked up an award for Best Construction Team and was named as Most Sustainable Garden.

The theme of Fingal’s display this year was around incorporating biodiversity into urban landscapes and especially what can be done in private gardens.

With global and national biodiversity in decline, and a high demand for housing, the show garden demonstrates how new developments can coexist with and actually enhance nature.

Show gardens

The Fingal entry was among 19 show gardens on display at Bloom 2024. This is the latest accolade that Fingal has received for a show garden, following on from the council’s success with ‘Breathing Space’ at Bloom 2023.

Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Adrian Henchy, said: “It’s great to see our garden recognised by the expert panel of judges. As Ireland’s population grows, the demand for housing increases, so to meet this need will require us to develop suitable sites for more homes while also considering the impact on biodiversity.

“This involves better integrating nature into housing developments as much as possible, benefiting wildlife and natural habitats while also providing well-designed and thoughtfully laid-out communities for residents.”

‘Coming Home to Nature’

Aiming to inspire both developers and the general public to enhance biodiversity in their communities, the ‘Coming Home to Nature’ garden was designed by Nicola Haines from Tierney Haines Architects and pre-assembled at Bremore Castle on the north Fingal coast before all elements were transported and built in situ at Bloom.

The garden will help promote the new guidelines on “Biodiversity and the Built Environment” developed by Fingal County Council which demonstrates how biodiversity can be incorporated into housing developments.

It emphasises that everyone has a role to play, whether retrofitting existing spaces or planning future developments.

The garden illustrates that even small actions, like installing nest boxes or planting native species, can significantly impact local wildlife.

Kevin Halpenny, senior Parks Superintendent, Fingal, said: “To pick up four awards this year is fantastic recognition of the countless hours of their dedication to designing, planting, sourcing materials and braving the forces of nature to bring this amazing green space to life.”

Find out more on the design, development and flowers of Fingal’s Coming Home to Nature garden here.