In 2009 Action Indoor Plant Services (AIPS) was chosen by Santos to interior plantscape their 10 floor Head Office in Turbot Street Brisbane. Santos Place is a 6 Star Green Star – Office Design and As-Built v2 building with enough plants to contribute two points toward a Green Star Office Interiors rating.

We were excited to discover The Container Connection’s Urban Range of planters was the preferred product of the Santos Architects, BVN. The job involves 1400 plants in 467 containers spread over 10 floors. AIPS purchased the planters and the plants. A job this size needed some real planning and considering we had never done a job this large it did present some challenges. The contract was signed at the end of August 2009 and the plants were to be installed at the beginning of October. That only gave AIPS one month to source the plants and have the containers manufactured.  However as we had forewarned all our suppliers, it was a matter of a few quick phone calls and all orders were underway.

Planning an installation is all about breaking a job down into pieces of work that can be estimated and recognising the risks. We installed the plants in the containers and then trucked them in, unpacked them onto trolleys into a service bay and then moved them by lift to the floors. We arranged for the first service to be the next week avoiding the necessity to water the plants during installation. One thing we made sure of was to limit the time the plants were in our nursery. We sourced the plants from Qld Indoor Foliage, Tropical Exotics (both on Bribie Island) and Tingalpa Wholesale Nursery. These are best practice nurseries (so clean you could eat of the nurseries floors) and we did not want the plants to pick up a bug or even a worm in our nursery.

At the end of the installation we ended up with a truck load of cardboard boxes which we folded and gave back to TCC for recycling. The planning was worth the effort because everything went smoothly. We are proud of this achievement because it also included the hassle of hiring six extra bodies for three days but we finished the installation half a day early.

The Architects knew which product they wanted but AIPS had to clarify the actual quantities and pot sizes so that the office had sufficient plant density to meet the two points that was required for the Green Star Office Interiors rating. There are different ways of calculating the Green Star points and after some discussion everyone was happy to use the NLA method. Defining the final number of containers and plants can be tedious but after lots of perseverance, several spread sheets and iterations we came to an agreement and every planter was located on the floor layout. The architects placed the plants intelligently, large plants around the perimeter of the floors beside the huge windows where they get plenty of natural light. No plants in meeting rooms where access is not always possible. The majority of the plants were in “Urban 8 Planters” on cabinet tops. A plant on a cabinet top is closer to the ceiling than a plant on the floor; hence closer to the light source - and believe me this does make a difference. Santos used a different theme on each floor with the colour representing Santos work places. For example, Ocean locations were represented with Ultramarine Blue and Indigenous locations with Ochre. These colours were used in the kitchen splash backs, easy chairs, the carpets and of course The Container Connection supplied Urban Containers. The Urban range is available in about 80 designer colours so it was an easy job to choose colours to match the Santos themes.

Initially we also tried to match the plants with a suitable theme but it was pretty much impossible. However, we did place the Dracaena Massangeana (Happy Plant) which is variegated bright green and yellow, in the Ultramarine pots for a stunning effect. The Architects also specified only one species per floor. Mass planting as such gives a very clean design solution. Ten floors with 10 species - that uses about every available indoor species. Luckily the Urban Range is sub-irrigated with a water reservoir that holds sufficient water for any species even the thirstiest Spathiphyllums. Most plantscapers service on a fortnightly cycle so the water must last two weeks. We actually visit Santos every week but only service half the floors at a time. In this way we can do a quick walk through of the un-serviced floors and make sure everything is 100 per cent. Among the plants we used, were Rhapis Palms and Chameadorea Seifrizii Palms (Bamboo Palm) in 200mm growing pots. We had not used them in this size before; usually they are in 250 or 300mm growing pots. Both species are doing well but we do have to lop the Chams to keep them all the same height and the little Rhapis are very sensitive to low light. Unlike some, these two species can be recycled. When they are no longer suitable for an office they will be suitable for growing to the next pot size or getting a good price at the markets.

The Spathiphyllums all flowered at once and were a spectacular sight but unfortunately a woman on the floor was extra sensitive to the pollen. So we swapped them with another floor that had Dracaena Janet Craigs. The Container Connection designed the Urban Range with the horticultural needs of the plants and the servicing in mind. The growing pots are suspended from the plate that is built into the containers so the roots never sit in water and there is an inspection hole to allow for a pipette to determine whether the plant needs to be watered or not.

Every plant has a wick. Unfortunately, we did not initially wick the Sansevieria thinking that enough water would evaporate from the reservoir into the potting mix, but that was not the case. After a few months some of the stems on plants nearer the stronger light started to wrinkle, so we added wicks and fixed the problem. There was also a spath that wilted after four weeks. The problem was a wick that was sticking up rather than hanging in the water. They are great plants. We fixed the wick and the plant stood up again. Our aim at AIPS is to have green and growing plants. Our skilled technician can keep a plant alive with a little water but we do not believe this is optimum for reducing the air of VOCS. The Santos office has a lot of space and so we are able to use a large species of the Spathiphyllum family and grow them up to a metre high and a metre wide. The appearance is absolutely sensational. If our plants grow too large and that is the only problem, we do not care – that is no problem.

This is a dream job for us. Santos, the customer is easy to work with, the containers supplied by The Container Connection are easy to use, and the building has good natural light. It has been a fairy tale project, but this is not the end, only the happy beginning of many more large jobs for IEQ Indoor Plants - indoor plant hire Brisbane, Caboolture and Gold Coast.