Blakedown Landscapes has been appointed the main contractor for a permanent public artwork at Cambridge University.

Designed by contemporary art group, Troika, the artwork will be a ‘real world version’ of a virtual tree library, with a composition of 15 different tree species, a collection of different coloured and textured grasses and white grid lines across its surface.

The trees will comprise both native and non-native species, arranged in an alphabetical grid to create a juxtaposition of nature and artifice.

With a planting scheme that favours sustainable, resilient and adaptable specimens to combat the climatic changes.

The project “sets a new bar for the University in integrating public art with two major building projects. It superbly anchors the landscape to form the gateway of a future linear park running through the West Cambridge site,” says Luigi Scalera, project leader, University of Cambridge.

The artwork will be located in the new JJ Thomson Garden, at the West Cambridge site. The garden is the first of four new green spaces that form ‘The Weave’, an interconnected series of landscapes from east to west and north to south.