Bernard Seymour Landscape Architects (BSLA) was engaged to devise a landscape masterplan for Molesworth Street with an emphasis on improving the pedestrian quality of the street by widening the existing foot ways and establishing a new avenue of trees.

We worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team whereby the constituents of the streetscape; paving, kerbs, drainage, planting were methodically assessed to deliver a scheme that can be executed in separate phases as part of a longer term aspiration for the improvement of the street.

BSLA actively liaised with the local authority throughout the design process and aligned the scheme with the outcome of the dialogue. This involved creating a structural soil zone beneath the foot way to provide adequate space for mature tree planting and to integrate the existing underground services.

Phase one delivered the footway widening and tree planting on both sides of the street from the corner of Dawson Street as far as the intersection with South Fredrick Street. Phase one was completed in July 2018.

Phase two involves the continuing the line of trees on the northern side of the street, again in a widened foot way as far as Kildare Street.

The masterplan comprises 17 no. trees in total of which 8 no. were delivered as part of phase 01. The species selected is Gleditsia triacanthos (Honey Locust), used for the combination of canopy volume together with good light penetration through loose, light foliage. The trees play an important role within the setting as they mediate between the scale of the city, the buildings along the street and the scale of an individual person. New planting locations have been set out in response to a Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey, conducted as part of this project.