Chris and Michael have been doing a good job on this project in Inveresk village, outside of Edinburgh. Designed by Carolyn Grohmann, this small courtyard has lots of tricky detail with fanned granite setts, reclaimed Yorkshire flagstones, black slate, paving, Corten steel, and pebbles set into...
We thought we'd share the joys of winter Monday mornings at the Water Gems yard. This is one of our tool box talks - in this case Nick Easterbrook discussing with everyone about securing loads on vans, maximum weights and other important issues. Given the ladders,...
From mudbath to curving boardwalk and wetland – the Bearsden project is just about finished. These were pretty rough conditions for the guys building the boardwalk and wetland system for Balfour Beattie over in Bearsden. We needed our big wellies to work on this one! The biggest...
Some new ways to do wildflower seeding at the big job that we are doing out in West Lothian. Wildflower and hedgerows are a great combination for new wildlife habitat, and will look lovely too. An Autumn sowing has germinated really well and is looking like...
The gabion wall construction in West Lothian has started. The baskets are filled with a facing layer of sandstone from CED, then backfilled with a conventional quarry stone for gabions. Once finished this retaining wall will hold up the soil banking behind it. It makes a really...
We've really enjoyed working on this project at Hailes Quarry Park in Edinburgh. Here's Nick Easterbrook, Hubert and Stephen putting the finishing touches to the boardwalk and wetland. It looks a bit of a mud bath just now but once all the big wetland plants go...
Today was a sad day as the Dedridge Environmental Ecology Project (DEEP) officially hung up their boots. Roley and Wilma and all their friends in the DEEP group have worked for years to improve the environment along the Dedridge burn in Livingston. We were lucky enough...
Great article written by John McMullan, Commercial Manager at EPDM roofing and lining specialist FirestonebpUK, about the refurbishment project completed by Water Gems in conjunction with Firestone. The Botanic Gardens commissioned us to carry out a refurbishment project of the trio of terraced ornamental pools which...
We held our annual BBQ at Vogrie last weekend! The forecast was not good, but the rain stayed away and the sun shone on us (occasionally!). There was a fabulous spread provided, cooked by our great chefs, followed by what has become traditional - a...
This is Nick Easterbrook fitting mesh to a pond, to try to prevent mink accessing it and killing all the fish - three lots of fish have gone the same way. Mink are increasingly a problem for fish pond owners - they are intelligent, efficient predators...