The semi-circular car park on Outland Road was part of the original Mawson design and constructed with the park between 1929 and 1931. A row of former farm trees ran through the car park for several years afterwards as these photos from 1931 and 1948 show.
The trees were eventually felled by axe in 1951.
The mature trees in the grass verge along Outland Road are fastigiate hornbeams and probably planted between 1980 and 1990. A gap remained at the verge’s western end until 2001 when members of the International Tree Foundation, Devon Branch, planted another sixteen fastigiate hornbeams.
The central exit road from the car park was built and its verges planted with fastigiate hornbeams at the same time as the Life Centre in 2012. They have been cultivated as standard trees unlike those in the Outland Road verge which branch from their base.
In the paved area between the car-park’s perimeter road, named Jack Leslie Way in 2022, and the Life Centre, are 7 cork oaks which were also planted as part of the Life Centre’s development.
