Office Garden and Landscape Design in Indore

Under the 2022 bylaws, non-residential buildings of any size must install a prescribed rainwater harvesting system, and larger buildings, between 10,000 and 25,000 sq ft, need a harvesting pit of 4 metre diameter and 15 metre depth somewhere on the plot. An office garden on the terrace of such a building is planned after the recharge pit and roof drainage lines are located, so planters, lawn edges and paved seating sit clear of the inspection points the corporation checks.

Buildings taller than 12.5 metres with their own sewage treatment plant now also need dual plumbing, so a terrace garden brief for one of these towers should note where that separate line runs before any bed or paving is fixed in place.

Non-compliance carries a real cost: the corporation can levy a penalty of ₹5,000 on a building that has not installed the required system, and a further ₹500 a day, up to ₹5,000, if rainwater is found running into the civic sewer instead of the harvesting system. An office garden's own drainage channels are graded to carry excess water toward the harvesting inlet rather than a stormwater or sewer line, partly to keep the building clear of that penalty.

Working with Indore's dry stretch and short wet season

Most of Indore's rain, roughly 700 to 800 mm of it, falls between June and September, and April is close to the driest month of the year with next to no rainfall recorded. A vacant courtyard turned into a garden needs an irrigation line rather than a reliance on rain, since the planting will sit through a long dry stretch from October to May with barely any natural water.