Kilkenny Floral Mile

The acquisition of the 16 acre former Smithwicks Brewery site by Kilkenny City Council is providing an opportunity for the City to reorientation itself towards the River Nore. The construction of the new pedestrian bridge and the development of the Central Access Scheme further prioritises this central urban area.

Cathal O’Meara Landscape Architects and Peter Cuthbert Horticultural Services were tasked with redesigning Peace Park to reflect this new priority. The brief was to create the Floral Mile, the largest urban meadow in the country, forming a vibrant, contemporary approach to planting, and year round textural interest whilst keeping on-going maintenance to a minimum. Specific plants were selected to attract pollinating insects.

The National Biodiversity Date Centre, Waterford are recording the pollinating insects present in an attempt to further understand the connecting between specific plants and the associated insects.