Barry Lupton talks with Les Moore, head of Dublin City Parks Department
 Leslie Moore’s name will be familiar to most people working in Irish horticulture. As the head of the parks and landscape services at Dublin City Council, he has responsibility for green infrastructure which encompasses almost every aspect of the sector. Parks, gardens, urban spaces, 60,000 trees, meadows, sports grounds, leisure facilities, woodlands, coastal areas and burial grounds are just some of the areas which fall within his remit. He is also deeply involved in the UNESCO Dublin Bay Biosphere Partnership and the Dublin Mountains Partnership, two inter-authority agency projects which are both significant for the conservation of the natural heritage of the city and recreation. The decisions he is charged with making have a significant impact on our sector, and on how our capital’s residents engage in and perceive horticulture. I caught up with Les recently to gain a greater understanding of his work and perceptions of the sector. |
What inspired you to pursue a career in horticulture?
Initially, I had thought of studying forestry but wanted to use my drawing skills and interest in design. The landscape horticulture course had been established in the agriculture faculty in UCD and that is where my interest in horticulture began.
What were the significant career milestones in the journey to the head of parks and landscape services?
My first employment was with Dublin City Council under Michael Lynch who had a very strategic view of developing regional parks around the city. He acquired historic demesnes such as Marlay, Malahide, Ardgillan, Newbridge, Cabinteely and other parks such as Corcagh and Shanganagh. It was great being part of that team.
I joined South Dublin County Council in 1994 under Dr. Christy Boylan, and that was an exciting time as a new local authority where there was the opportunity to develop parks which were basically green fields. In SDCC we utilised watercourses and availed of funding for flood protection to develop ponds and wetlands in Tymon Park, Corcagh Park, and Rathcoole Park as well as the town centre park in Tallaght.
With Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, for eight years I led the planning, design and development of a number of significant improvements to parks and gardens, notably the flagship parks where amongst other improvements I developed tearooms in Killiney Hill Park, Cabinteely Park, Marlay Park and the People’s Park, Dun Laoghaire. The Japanese Courtyard Garden in Cabinteely Park was a project of which I am particularly proud because of the excellent team effort involved in designing and constructing the gardens and tearoom there.
I joined Dublin City Council in 2012.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
It’s seeing people and families enjoying the parks that we have developed or improved. It is amazing the value people get from their local park whether it is for rest and relaxation, playing sport, using one of the now 55 playgrounds in the city, attending an event or enjoying the markets and tearooms.
Conversely, what are the most significant challenges you face on a day-to-day basis?
For me personally the biggest challenge is keeping the paperwork up to date as there is so much work going on and my team is quite stretched.
Landscape Architectural practice in Ireland has come a long way in the last 20 years but some would say it still has a long way to go. From your experience, how do you think the Landscape Architecture community can improve what it does?
I think the Irish Landscape Institute has become very active in partnering with other parts of the landscape and horticulture industry. I know their new president Kevin Halpenny has an ambitious schedule to get landscape practicioners at a professional level, working closer together with clear and defined standards.
Over the years I’ve had the quality of landscape planning submissions described to me as ‘A mixed bag at best, of little worth, a mishmash of illconsidered cut and paste nonsense, architects playing with green markers…’ expletives not included. What’s been your own experience? And if things are bad, how can they be improved?
I would say that there is room for improvement in terms of landscape submissions. However, I think in many cases the Landscape Architect’s work is constrained by the scope or brief given by the design lead, which inevitably is an architect or engineer.
In Dublin City Council we are employing a lot of Landscape Architect consultants to deliver our capital projects and we find their work excellent. They work closely with my own inhouse team which is highly skilled and we like to think that we are fostering young Landscape Architects to give them experience on show piece projects.
There has been a lot of coverage regarding the potential removal of established urban trees to facilitate transport infrastructure. Having a deeper understanding of the value of trees, the wider horticulture community is fearful of any tree loss. What is your take?
There is an on-going dialogue with our engineering colleagues about transport improvements and how this impacts on the historical integrity of the city streets (which in many cases derive from a medieval layout) and street trees. If it means adding five minutes onto a commuter journey to conserve a street of mature trees, is that a price worth paying? There are some parts of the city where people are very protective of their trees, to the extent that it is difficult to remove even potentially dangerous trees. In other parts of the city people complain about the shading and leaf fall and would like to clear fell the street.
We are trying to educate people as to the value of urban trees and even our drainage engineers now appreciate the importance of trees, particularly the tree pit and the capacity of soil to attenuate localised pluvial flooding.
Following from the last question, can you outline the top line strategic objectives for Dublin’s urban trees?
Our main objective is to employ a tree officer to deliver on the city tree strategy that we published in 2015. I hope this position will be advertised soon.
You have built an understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the Dublin landscape. What are your top five preferred trees and shrubs for use in urban contexts?
I think there are so many site specific issues that need to be addressed that it is difficult to say. The London plane (Platanus) obviously is still an excellent tree in the city and Lime trees (Tilia) can be pruned into shape very successfully in very formal situations such as in front of the GPO. Perhaps with the warming climate we ned to try some more exotic species. I know Gleditsia is becoming more popular. In terms of planting, we are moving more towards perenniels and pollinator friendly species.
One clear way to capture how well our green infrastructure is valued is to follow the money. Can you outline how funding has increased or decreased over your career?
It is not always about increasing funding. Sometimes delegating responsibility or an organisational change can improve the efficiency of what we do without additional funding. I have found that if you can demonstrate that your existing resources are being well used, the business case for seeking additional resources to deliver clear and specific objectives or outcomes will be well received.
One could be forgiven for thinking that if the current government had its way, our parks and green spaces would be operated as pay-as-you-go private entities. Is there some truth in this, and if not, what is the funding model going forward?
Parks will always be free to access. The development of tearooms in parks has raised the issue of commercialisation of parks but I think in every case where we have developed tearooms the local community is very appreciative of the added value these ameities provide to their local area. However, the tearooms, markets, concessions and commercial events do bring income into my department which does support our expenditure.
Through your experience of taking on graduates and students, what is your opinion on the quality of design and horticultural education in Ireland?
I think there has been an unfortunate loss of skilled gardeners coming through the traditional horticultural colleges and everyone now wants to be sitting at a desk drawing up plans for gardens. The traditional skills of a hands-on horticulturist and gardener have value and a place both in the private and public sectors. We have been employing gardeners recently and I think this will be apparent in how city parks and public realms
are presented.
In terms of a Level 8 qualifi cation, we are still getting excellent graduates from different sources and often with a number of courses completed. The horticultural element of their training is not what it might have been in the past, but perhaps that is the way of the future. Provided that the parks team has a complement of the necessary skills including horticulture, we will remain relevant to delivering on the key objectives of local authorities.
How have perceptions of public horticulture and green space changed over the course of your career?
They are a core part of the green infrastructure of the city which is so Important from an environment and health and wellbeing perspective. Biodiversity is also key to what we do, both in the design and management of public realm. While maintaining an excellent standard of maintenance of parks and public realms, our work is now much more focussed on improving the parks and their facilities for sport, play and recreation. A signifi cant part of my team is engaged in project design and management.
Can you provide some examples of how new ideas are being explored and experimented with in Dublin’s parks and green spaces?
Increasingly we are leaving railed parks open at night time as we have found that this reduces the level of anti-social activity. When gates are left open it is easy for the Gardai to enter at will and monitor the situation which would not be the case if gates were locked. In the recent past parks staff have been attacked when closing gates and asking people to leave, so this new practice also avoids that potential hazard. Any new parks such as Weaver Park, Cork Street and one planned for Bridgefoot Street are designed with no railings or gates.
How would Dublin change if you were given carte blanche to fulfil your highest horticultural aspirations?
If you look at the conservation plans we have published for Merrion Square and Mountjoy Square (and other historic parks) where improvements are underway, the new parks we are developing, the parks we are refurbishing and the greening of streets such as St Nicholas Street and High Street (at Christchurch), I think that we have set ourselves an ambitious programme that together with the employment of more gardeners will see the horticultural presentation of the city better than ever. ✽
