Natural Foundations with George Gallagher at Tract Landscape

Following a fruitful relationship with landscape architect Ellis Stones, Merchant Builders worked collaboratively with Tract Landscaping, a practice of landscape architects, planners and urban designers to create the gardens and green communal areas in its developments.

What was unique about the heyday of Merchant Builders in the 1960s and 1970s?
 
It was a period of rapid innovation and progress in all things related to the built environment, housing, and community development. A common cause was the mutual and collaborative bond that gave strength to our fledgling practices and institutions.

Purchasers were passionate about their homes and would come intermittently through the office and talk to the architects, then they’d come to us and we’d apply the particular aesthetic to their landscaping scheme. It was often a big deal for clients, as they’d signed up for a different kind of house that hadn’t been built and it was pretty brave of them to put their trust in us. The customers took on the role of pioneers and not being part of the crowd when it came to landscaping and architecture.
 
How would you describe the Tract approach to landscaping with Merchant Builders?
 
The whole landscape was very understated. It was naturalistic and full of mature trees and the paving was also very understated. It was all very subtle and functional - there was no bling. It wasn’t like a Backyard Blitz where you had a million things to do and maintain. We were also able to work directly with the architects on the detailing of simple things like palings and boundary fences to design them using some of the same materials in the housing so it looked like it was designed and built with care without being more expensive. We learned so much from that process of being involved with the architects so we could become more refined and efficient at what we did.
 
What was the mix between native and European planting?
 
Interestingly enough, it wasn’t driven as it is now by a “nativism,” that it had to be native. Surprisingly a lot of the plants used weren’t natives but the trees were typically native. Because the housing lots were relatively small you couldn’t put big plants on, and a lot of native plants are large, and also a lot of them are short lived. There were African daisies, Plumbagos and ivy and all these things but they were used with gravel and bricks and rocks and sleepers and all that sort of stuff. It was really low key, the most sophisticated thing would be the house, which might have a pergola but it would be pretty simple timber, nicely proportioned and detailed without bells and whistles and decorations on it. So the landscaping just flowed from that. We get the drainage and movement right, room for the rubbish bin and the clothes line, out of sight but still useful. 
 
Tract was involved with Merchant Builders projects from the very beginning. In what ways was this beneficial?
 
We were involved with the architects on site from the very beginning so we were able to make things fit better together and we were both learning from each other as we were going. And because there were so many of these projects, we got very good at it, in understanding what each person needed to make it the very best for them. Sometimes you would do the building levels and the landscape levels at the same time and having those discussions together led to much a better and more efficient outcome.
 
What were some of the challenges Merchant Builders and Tract faced as outliers in the residential field?
 
There were big battles that were fought to change council and planning regulations to allow more naturalistic landscaping and fit-for-purpose driveways so there was a lot of negotiations and you need particular skills to be a good negotiator. By the mid 70s Merchant Builders needed a professional doing this, who was Howard McCorkell, a planner and architect who together with David Yencken helped transform the whole planning system. Everyone at Merchant Builders had their own twist on things, but they all respected the same principles; that the houses were liveable and low impact and that the landscape had to be liveable, useable and easy to look after.

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