Whatever the scale of your landscaping project, it’s important to choose the right materials that not only allows for greater creative freedom, but also meets your sustainability goals. Choosing sustainable materials for can hugely benefit your projects. If it’s sustainably sourced from responsibly managed forests, wood is one of the most sustainable materials on the market because it’s a natural, renewable resource. It’s also an easy material to work with.
MEDITE SMARTPLY is renowned for adapting products and services to suit end users’ needs whilst maintaining a consistent stance on sustainability and creating environmentally conscious products that add value throughout the supply chain.
Carbon is stored in MEDITE SMARTPLY panels from the growth of the trees in the Coillte-owned sustainably managed forests to the point of manufacturing, and remains locked in for the lifespan of the product and the building they are used within. Each panel is fully certified, UKCA and CE marked. One such panel that offers landscapers and gardeners great versatility and peace of mind is the ground-breaking MEDITE TRICOYA EXTREME (MTX).
What is MEDITE TRICOYA EXTREME?
MTX is a revolutionary panel that provides the ideal solution for a wide range of outdoor applications. It’s a high performance engineered wood panel that demonstrates outstanding durability and dimensional stability. This allows it to be used in applications once limited to products such as concrete, plastics or metals.
This innovative panel has a guarantee of up to 50 years above ground and 25 years in ground, making it an ideal product for long-lasting, creative designs. Additionally, its resistance to rot and fungal decay allows it to be used in external applications such as planters, garden buildings and decorative fixtures. It’s particularly beneficial in environments where humidity and weather are usually concerns.
Similarly to the other products in the MEDITE MDF range, MTX is made with timber from sustainably managed FSC certified forests, and has a supporting, product-specific Type 3 Environmental Product Declaration.
With the combination of acetylated wood fibre and the manufacturing technology of MEDITE MDF, MTX can be used in applications and services where normal MDF panels cannot, while still retaining all the design, fixing and machining flexibility of MDF. It gives landscapers greater design freedom – the only limit is your imagination.
What are some of the most popular applications for MEDITE TRICOYA EXTREME?
For landscapers and garden designers, MTX has proven to be a popular product for an array of outdoor projects, from small scale to large scale.
1.Urban spaces
With the drive to be more sustainable, there’s also a drive to create more spaces that place a great emphasis on health and wellbeing, particularly in urban areas. Wood has a natural, calming effect, which makes it a great material to revitalise urban spaces. To demonstrate this, and the sustainability benefits of wood and engineered wood panels, MTX was used to create the stunning centrepiece of the MEDITE SMARTPLY Building the Future garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022.
MEDITE SMARTPLY headlined the event, partnering with the world-renowned show’s most decorated designer, Sarah Eberle, back in May 2022. The incredible centrepiece, which was inspired by natural vertical rock strata, was created out of MTX and was heralded as a celebration of the brand’s commitment to sustainability, innovation, and wellness. The use of MTX also demonstrated the panel throughout its life cycle and highlighted the versatility of engineered wood panels. The garden went on to win two prestigious awards: Gold for Show Garden and Best Construction Award.
- Planters
Planters are an easy way to brighten up any landscape, private garden or public space. As MTX is resistant to rot and fungal decay, it will last a long time and requires very little maintenance.
The Edible Bus Stop, an award-winning landscape architecture and design consultancy, in partnership with Decorum London, specified MTX for a collection of distinctive planters at Hammersmith Station. Bradmore Square was reinvigorated to create a calm, relaxing space that encouraged people to stop and spend time in the area. MTX was chosen for its longevity, versatility and easy machinability.
“We used various creative interventions for this project, including a bespoke floor treatment, along with mirrored fins and bespoke twisted planters made with MTX, outdoor MDF, and Shou Sugi Ban, the distinctive charred wood, to bring some more green to the space,” said Mak Gilchrist, Founding Director, Curator and Producer at The Edible Bus Stop. “Being a public realm site, it was essential the material used was robust and fit for purpose, which is why we chose MTX for the planters’ construction.”
- Garden buildings
MTX is an excellent material for garden buildings and sheds thanks to its ability to withstand environments where humidity and weather are usually concerns.
Garden building suppliers Timberbox LTD, created the ‘PassiveBox’ for their garden building range, using a range of MEDITE products including MTX. “MTX provides us with an unrivalled exterior cladding option alongside its excellent machinability, high quality finish and stability,” said Arthur Moore, Director of Timberbox LTD. Another two MEDITE MDF panels were used in conjunction with MTX for this exclusive range of garden buildings. MEDITE VENT for the structural sheathing and MEDITE MR for the interiors, which could range from bars to cupboard doors. “By using a combination of MEDITE’s sheet materials in conjunction with other high specification building products, we are able to provide customers with a superb garden room package.”
- Decorative fixtures
Of course, one of the most popular benefits of MTX is that you can create virtually anything from it – which makes it the perfect product for decorative fixtures. The panels can be easily machined to the desired size and shape specified by the designer or client.
On The Isle of Mann, a project was commissioned to replace the old ‘Electric Railway’ sign displayed on the Derby Castle cliff face. It was to mark the centenary of the Manx Electric Railway, a local heritage tramway that runs from Derby Castle Depot in Douglas to centre of Ramsey, and the letters were created out of MTX. “I have used MTX on virtually every other outdoor project on the island,” said David Roberts, the joiner who made the new letters. “Even 25 miles from the coast, materials still can suffer the effects of a coastal atmosphere. On an island this size, there is nowhere that is not coastal, so MTX is a pretty essential product for me in my day-to-day work.
“MTX allows me to accomplish my work without using any plastics or metals, helping me work more sustainably. Furthermore, the versatility of the product ensures developing a solution that must be like for like with a heritage or historical project is rarely an issue – crucial for projects such as this one. It is a remarkable product that more joiners and architects should embrace – it’s not just any MDF!”
The potential of MTX is truly limitless. For more information or to request a sample, visit https://mdfosb.com/en/products/medite-tricoya-extreme.
For lots more inspiration, join the MEDITE Makes It Real exclusive community. Landscapers and garden designers can share work, gain inspiration, and win prizes that will enable the user to build bigger and better with MDF on the MEDITE MDF community site: www.meditemakesitreal.com.
