“Ballymore is leading the way’
Ballymore has become the first Irish property developer to partner with the 100 Million Tree Project in planting a native Irish Tree mini-forest at Sea Gardens in Bray.
Led by our Deputy Managing Director in Ireland Linda Mulryan, alongside our Director of Construction Paul Carty, Hayleigh O'Farrell - Head of Brand and Communications, other Ballymore colleagues and local schoolchildren, the tree planting comes ahead of a commitment to create even more new urban mini-forests at viable developments.
The 100 Million Trees project, founded by brothers Richard and David Mulcahy and administered by their sister Tina, is a not-for-profit, community driven initiative dedicated to planting native trees throughout Ireland. In this article David Mulcahy, also a practicing Consultant Cardiologist, shares his passion for trying to make a meaningful contribution towards increasing native afforestation in Ireland while also significantly increasing areas of biodiversity, and attempting to mitigate against climate change. He also reflects on the exciting new collaboration with Ballymore.
I am a cardiologist and was lucky enough to start training at a time where there was an explosion in developments to treat heart disease, the leading cause of death in the western world. Over the past 40 years huge inroads have been made in the detection and treatment of heart disease, but in that time climate change has slowly but inexorably progressed and can now be very definitely considered a threat to human health. We in Ireland (11%) and indeed in the UK (13%), have a very low rate of afforestation compared to mainland Europe (35%), and one of the ways we can make our own small contribution to mitigating against climate change is to plant trees, possibly the best way to assist with carbon capture, while also returning some of the lost habitat for our birds, bees, and insects.
I set up a small environmental group (Bugs, Bees, and (native) Trees) with some friends about a week before the pandemic hit in 2020, travelling round the country when it became possible to, planting copses of 5–6-year-old trees in schools, hospitals, and private lands. My brother Richard suggested that we should think bigger and aim to plant 100 million native trees over a 10 year period, and thus the project was born, with sister Tina becoming the organiser after retiring from the Council of Europe. In our trial season, in order to assess the feasibility of planting mini-forests (2,500 native trees in ¼ acre site), we trialled 18 sites using volunteers, and planting just over 20,000 native trees in densely packed mini-forests (something known as the Miyawaki method). In the 2023-24 season (Nov-Apr) we planted over 200,000 trees, and this season we plan to plant 550,000 trees (approx. 225 sites). This is only being made possible by people offering their land for the planting of these mini-forests, and is truly a community driven project. Ireland is fortunate in that the soil is mostly good, and trees tend to grow easily. There is also plenty of water, so drought is less of a problem than elsewhere, and thus management of these miniforests is less problematic.
Ballymore on board
We were delighted when a such a stellar national brand as Ballymore offered to take part in the project, creating a mini forest as part of the first phase of the Sea Gardens neighbourhood in Bray. Ballymore is leading the way as the first developer to support the project and their help in further spreading the word for us is just brilliant, as is their ongoing commitment to plant more trees.
Trees planted in urban areas will have enormous benefits, not just for the birds and the bees, but in terms of cleaning the air, temperature control, noise reduction, and also generating a feeling of wellbeing within the areas.
Our mini forest was planted at Sea Gardens, with the final trees being planted by Linda and Sean Mulryan, members of Ballymore staff, including Charlie Conlan who drove the project, and a very enthusiastic group of local schoolchildren, who showed us how it should be done! It was wonderful to have them involved, and of course if we are going to deal with the climate crisis over the next 20 years, the young people are going to have to spearhead all our efforts.
We planted a total of 1,500 native trees of 13 different varieties; cherry, bird cherry, blackthorn, dogrose, Guelder rose, Crab apple, Rowan, Common Alder, Downy Birch, Oak, Scots pine, Hazel, spindle, and Hawthorn trees. We planted them closely packed to help them grow quickly to chase the light; different varieties will also grow to different heights, leaving a layering of the mini-forest, and a wonderful min-ecosystem.
With sufficient enthusiasm from members of the public and wonderful companies like Ballymore in offering land, we hope to plant 550,000 native trees this season (159,000 planted to date since end November 24), and 1,000,000 next season.
Ballymore is eager to do more, and we can’t wait to work with their team again. But if anyone is interested in working with us, we would love to hear from you. We provide the trees, and plant them, and they are YOUR TREES! Hopefully together, we will achieve the 100 million trees planted within the 10 years. Hopefully also young people will get increasingly involved in ensuring maximal care for our wonderful world.
