Venco Campus Eersel

The Venco Campus in the Dutch town of Eersel is an international knowledge, research and innovation centre for poultry farming as well as the most sustainable building in Europe. This black, egg-shaped building has been integrated into the landscape in an unusual way. A perfect symbiosis of four different disciplines ensured a landscape design in which there is space for ecological measures and optimum experience of nature. So the design included local planting, nature-friendly banks, a water purification system and measures for butterflies, bees, kingfishers, nightjars, bats and owls.

Know-how to grow

The client, Cor van de Ven, and landscape designer Jeroen Klerks came to Ebben Nurseries to select the multi-stem and standard trees. These had to be planted around the Venco Campus in August, outside the planting season. In consultation with Ebben, the decision was taken to create a temporary depot at the Venco site and to 'pot up' the trees there in a layer of good soil two metres thick, with an irrigation installation. Ebben came to check the condition of the trees on site every week. In August, the trees were moved from the depot to their final location. The controversial experiment turned out to be very successful and only one tree had to be replaced. The others all grew extremely well.