Landscape Managers of Anglican Cathedral - North West Landscapes Ltd
Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral is a world heritage site. North West Landscapes Ltd has served the Anglican Cathedral for over 17 years. Our managing director, David Laitak, grew up in the adjacent 'China town'. His brothers and sister were born in the houses that occupied the cathedral site hill. David has a strong local pride. This animates his commitment to showcasing the best of the city and its people.
North West Landscapes has become over time something of a custodian of many of the city's famous sites. His company installed and maintained hanging baskets and floral displays across the phenomenally busy city retail area; refurbed the Liverpool 'Pop wall' area facing the Cavern Club; looks after Strawberry Field, contracts for Liverpool Albert Dock. You can hear David's interview with Roger Philips on Radio Merseyside for an insight into his roots.
Our Work here
We maintain the grounds, provide floral displays, manage mature trees on the site, provide comprehensive cutting, trimming, edging, herbicide spraying. We provide litter picking to ensure the site always looks immaculate for visitors. It's a source of pride that we are responsible for the grounds and tree care of one of Liverpool's great landmarks.
During the festive season, we create suitably attractive external displays. We created an enormous Christmas wreathe for the Cathedral's great West door which received press coverage in the Liverpool Echo. What began in 2011 has become an annual event. The giant wreathe has become a memorable place for people to commemorate their visit to this iconic cathedral.
The Anglican Cathedral is the longest cathedral in Europe at 189m (externally) and attracts national events, commemorations and celebrations attracting a national media profile with royal dignitaries, guests. A service for the Battle of the Atlantic provided a national focus. The site has a massive pedestrian footfall in excess of 700,000 annually. This underlines the need to ensure the landscape looks its best every day.
Landscape care across the seasons
The cathedral site has a busy yearly schedule celebrating key Christian calendar and secular events. The Cathedral also hosts private functions & city civic moments for example, the Battle of the Atlantic commemorations, remembrance services We work with John Moores University during graduations held at the cathedral to soften the landscape with colourful hanging basket displays. We suggested the great west door Christmas wreathe which has become a symbol and photo opportunity during the Christmas season.
We work to demanding schedules as site access must be unobtrusive and operate, plan and prepare the site across a busy seasonal calendar of events including Easter, Christmas, University graduation ceremonies in the Summer, concerts and national events.
We were originally brought in to tidy up a neglected area which had been sublet on the cathedral site. We cut back overgrown shrubs, weeded public paths, cut grass and sprayed to clean up areas which had seen the growth of unwanted, unsightly vegetation. Within 9 months our work was instrumental in securing the maintenance contract against national competition.
Our work encompasses grass cutting, trimming, We installed and maintain floral hanging baskets, manage trees on the site.
Student Housing Ground Maintenance
The Anglican Cathedral site is also the location for student accommodation. Appearance and safety go hand in hand.
Before we won the contract for the Cathedral site, some large conifers had grown excessively over 25 years. The conifers created shaded walkways for students with light obstructed over paths. While the site was secure bounded by high steel railings, parts looked untidy. We reduced the height of the conifers, thinned and trimmed them. This opened up site lines across the accommodation areas of the site, giving security cameras clear views across these areas. (See below). Aesthetically, the appearance of the built environment was improved.
See the range of our tree surgery services, videos of work completed for John Moores University or the clearance of a site for Liverpool College - 18 trees cut down, stumps removed, ground flattened under the tightest deadline of 5 days during heavy rain. This work was completed during a break in Covid restrictions in 2020.
Grass Cutting
We cut the large grassed areas which present to visitors as they approach the cathedral. The area is bounded by University accommodation. We stripe the grass to increase the sharpness of its appearance. We maintain shrubbery, plant floral displays bringing a consistently high standard of presentation of this world heritage listed landscape site.
