Company supply wild seed mix for Transco pipeline

Wild flowers and grasses for National Grid Transco project

By Diane Wood

Amenity seed company Cebeco Seeds has worked closely with the principle contractor Nacap Lawrence, on a two-year project by National Grid Transco to install a gas pipeline in South Wales.The company has supplied grass seed and wild flowers for re-seeding, which has been critical to reinstating the 25 km site in accordance with UK and EU environmental legislation.

On-site construction work on the Gilwern to Hafodyrynys gas pipeline project started in July 2002 and has involved the construction of a 600mm diameter gas pipeline along a construction corridor extending some 36 metres wide on a route that began in the Brecon Beacons National Park and ran down to Hafodyrynys, to ensure that future demand for gas by the people of South Wales is met by National Grid Transco.

Cebeco's Toby Morel has worked alongside Nacap Lawrence Project Ecologist Graham Cowden and National Grid Transco to develop a re-seeding strategy and programme that would contribute to reinstating the affected land - which has taken in non-agricultural land, enclosed heathland and moorland.

The work of Nacap Lawrence and National Grid Transco has been overseen throughout by representatives of the Welsh National Park, The Countryside Council for Wales and the Local Authority, to ensure that the land affected is returned exactly to how it was before the project commenced, particularly in accordance with UK and EU environmental and conservation legislation.

Cebeco's Toby Morel explains: "Cebeco had to ensure that all the mixtures that were created specifically for this project, contained UK native wild flowers blended with non-competitive grasses."

Cebeco has supplied seeds in phases to mirror the re-seeding schedule, to include Annual Ryegrass, Sheeps Fescue, Common Bent, Crested Dogstail, Chewings Fescue, and Strong Creeping Red Fescue. The final phase of the re-seeding project took place as the project reached its conclusion in August 2003.

For more information please contact: Roger Peacock at Cebeco Seeds, Tel:01522 507300 or E: roger.peacock@cebeco-seeds.co.uk.

Additional Information: - Cebeco Seeds is one of the UK's leading amenity seed companies, recognised for providing a first-class service to a wide range of turf grass users and for its ongoing breeding and development programme.

The company only selects seeds tested specifically for UK conditions and blends these - with the benefit of its long experience in mixture production - to create mixtures that match a diverse range of turf application needs and criteria. The company is a member of the British International Golf Greenkeepers Association, Sports Turf Research Institute and Turf Growers Association.