Futurebuild 2013

Autumn 2013

Blake Bryson Publishing

the magazine for developers

Fore thought!

A look at golf course design

Reasons to be cheerful House sales on a high

Appeal in an instant (planting know-how)

Out in the wilds Havergate Island

Why landscape archaeology matters Butterflies on the brink SMART thinking Exploring space

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The company currently employs over 30 staff with a range of experience. We are particularly proud of the extensive and varied development experience of our staff, who are able to offer a wide range of services, drawing upon their extensive and varied experience of working on development schemes within multi-disciplinary project teams. It is this breadth of experience which enables us to offer a wide range of transport and infrastructure services. It also means we are always able to see the bigger picture and consider implications outside our specialist areas of expertise.

Services Include: • Pre-Purchase advice; • Preparation of Transport Assessments and Green Travel Plans to accompany planning applications; • Preliminary and detailed design of access arrangements, internal layouts of development sites (including advice on parking provision and servicing arrangements) and off-site improvements; • Detailed design and negotiations of Section 38 and 278 Highway Agreements; • Preparation and agreement of Drainage Strategies, including advice on addressing the interim and future issue of the SuDS Approving Body; • Detailed design and procurement of both adoptable (s104) and private drainage, off-site requisitions, balancing and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS); • Detailed 1d/2d hydraulic modelling, fluvial, tidal breach, fully integrated 1d/2d catchment modelling, which are all used to define/map or challenge existing floodplains;

• Flood Risk Management advice together with advice on the implications of the various requirements and duties under: - National Planning Policy Framework (2012); and Flood and Water Management Act (2010) - Preparation of Flood Risk Assessments; • Product Storage Depots – Risk Analysis of Product Spillage and Environmental Requirements – Oil/ Petro-Chem Industry • Determination of utility servicing strategies and procurement; • Contract preparation, tender analysis and project management; • Noise Assessments; • Site Supervision; • Expert Witness.

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FUTURE BUILD

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Designs off to a tee Andy Watson on the challenges of golf course design

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Ecofender permanent newt panels and why we should use them

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Picture this? Or perhaps not!

James Blake with an extract from Landscapes of Impact

14 All about CAM

A closer look at this Claydon

based company 17

Value engineering and smart thinking on the Smart Seats taking the street furniture world by storm

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Why landscape archaeology matters Ben Cowell explains why it is so important we learn more about our landscapes

20

The benefits of cultivating partnerships Frank Sandford Sales Director, Boningale Nurseries

26 Appeal in (almost) an instant

James Blake

and immediate planting impact 28 Finish those projects

Graeme Jenkins

on the Elveden Instant Hedge

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p18

29 House sales on a high

Things are on the up

Planning questions The National Planning Policy Framework

30 The diligent 7

7 pointers to a sustainable

business 31 Taking the pain out of

playground procurement

Miracle Design and Play 33

From little acorns, great oaks grow Paul Downer Oak View

34 Exploring space

Sarah Burdis

on Regional Spatial Strategies 36 To boldly build...

Permitted Development Order 37 Sustainable urban drainage

systems

Handbook on SUDS 38 Wild about Havergate

Dixe Wells

Book review 41 Telling it like it is

Martin Hopwood

CGEye on CGI 42 Instant hedges

The importance of hedging and

screening

45

Building information modelling James Parsons-Moore CAD software in the housing design industry

47 Eastern region housing market

Guy Jenkinson

in a bullish mood 48 Ancient trees under threat

Action on tree diseases

Design and access statements Scrapped for most schemes

50 Butterflies on the brink

Laurie Forsyth

They need our help 52 Gardens to discover this

autumn

some interesting gardens to visit 56 The hills are alive

John Carter

Rambling in Austria 58 Index

Contributors

AUTUMN 2013

Welcome

W

elcome to another issue of Future Build, the magazine for developers, architects, planning consultants and landscape professionals and anyone else involved with the building and development industry.

Once again we have mixed features on the industry with other articles relevant to our landscape. As a keen, but not particularly proficient, golfer I enjoyed the feature on golf course design. I wonder how many players stop to admire the flora and fauna about them during a round – or wonder what went into shaping their much trodden fairways and greens. Some of this knowledge is helpful to developers establishing sales enhancing green spaces.

Ben Cowell, the newly appointed Regional Director of the East of England National Trust tells us why landscape archaeology really matters and James Blake looks at how to achieve instant landscape appeal.

Elsewhere we ponder the fate of our butterflies. With our topsy-turvy climate is it any wonder that these beautiful, delicate creatures are – in the cases of some of the species – facing extinction. Their absence from the subject of another feature in this magazine – a look at the finest gardens to visit this autumn – would be a great loss.

Oh, and if you really want to get off the beaten track this year may we suggest Havergate Island off the Suffolk coast. A truly remote spot and as far from the rat race as you could wish to be.

Thanks again to all the advertisers and contributors that help make this a lively, informative and interesting publication and enjoy the autumn.

Richard Bryson Director/Editor

Chairman James Blake

Sales & Marketing Joanne Greenhalgh e: sales@bbpmagazines.com Design Valerie Chefdeville General enquiries: 01787 246010

Future Build magazine is published by BBP magazines, (Blake Bryson Publishing).

Call 01787 248216 or email richard@bbpmagazines.com Printed by The Lavenham Press wwwlavenhampress.com Cover image courtesy of www.hdwp.net/Gerard

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How do you lay out a golf course? Andy Watson tells us about the challenges of his job

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AUTUMN 2013

H

ow did you become interested in golf course architecture?

My father and grandfather had always played golf, and from a very young age, they taught me how to play. I really enjoyed the game growing up, but quickly realised that I didn’t have the natural ability or talent to become a professional golfer. I therefore decided to concentrate on my drawing abilities and ventured into a degree in Landscape Architecture and after that, a Professional Diploma in Golf Course Design. I am now one of the youngest fully qualified golf course architects in Europe.

What are the typical challenges facing designers creating a course?

There are many challenges that a designer may be faced with in creating or altering a golf course. At the early stages of consultation, there will typically be many interested parties raising their personal suggestions as to how something should look, be done, or perform, and it is this stage that I particularly enjoy.

There are always a good mix of negative and positive comments, and almost every one of those is useful in some way. I attempt to listen to as many people as possible at this point in order to glean as much information as I can. This will give me the depth of opinion required to determine what will work for this particular client. My solution will then hopefully address a large number of the initial concerns, find favour with many of the comments, above all, be enjoyable to play for all.

Since links courses are shaped by nature most of your work will be on parkland or inland courses. Which courses have you worked on?

This question first of all picks up on the assumption of the natural appearance of links courses. They are of course, just as manufactured as an inland course, but the relationship with their natural surroundings is much closer, creating the appearance of a natural landscape; something that should also be attempted where possible inland. At present I am working with several courses in the North of England. I am working with the Morley Hayes Resort in Derbyshire to provide strategic improvements to their 18 hole championship course, and a new short game practice facility. At Sand Moor Golf Club in Leeds I am working with a development team to provide a set of improvements to the positioning and style of their bunkers on this classic MacKenzie design. I am also working with a development team at the part Braid designed Saltburn by the Sea Golf Club in North Yorkshire. We are also focussing on the bunkering here, and we are looking to improve the layout to place bunkers in positions to more readily challenge the modern golfer.

How much do you get involved? Do you have a say in the types of trees and plants placed on courses?

My involvement on a job depends entirely on the needs of the client. I will always attempt to be as thorough as possible with the brief I have been given, but I am available to work with clients on any level, from ad-hoc single day consultancy visits through to full site reports and detailed recommendations. As for planting plans, my job at this stage becomes relatively simple. If its indigenous, it’s usually okay, if it’s not, it’s almost always removed! The most difficult conversation I will have with a client is the explanation that a golf course has to attempt to mimic nature, and therefore it isn’t just a large garden!

Good drainage must be a key part of your planning?

Good drainage is imperative to a successful layout. This doesn’t always mean that a golf course has to be on perfect soil. In fact, golf courses are known to exist on almost every soil type, although limited expectations have to be appreciated on poorer quality sites such as ex-slag heaps, or boggy moorlands!

Even in these difficult situations, the architect has the ability to create a playable space by the way they choose to manipulate the lie of the land. A successful green will be one that sheds water on four sides, allowing the green keeper to apply a suitable amount of water and be able to control the growth of the surface affectively. A paradox occurs, when the movement of the golf ball is considered in relation to the movement of water. Favoured surfaces should attempt to shed water whilst less desirable playing surfaces such as hazards and rough lines can

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draw water, pulling it away from fairways and greens and keeping them in a better condition. The way water moves across a site is one of the greatest concerns of the golf course architect, but once mastered, fantastic landscapes can be harnessed in a wide variety of situations.

Is there a course in Britain or even locally you would have loved to work on?

I would’ve loved to have been alive and designing or even studying my profession in Britain during the turn of the 20th century, or even up to the 1930’s when so many of Britain’s great clubs were founded or established. It was the major boom time for British golf, and the architects that were busy earning a trade around that time were some of the most influential to have lived. Hundreds of courses were appearing with the expansion of the rail network across Britain, and some of the finest examples of golf course architecture were created at this time.

I especially enjoy visiting clubs founded around this period and discovering old bunker mounds and tees that are no longer in use, sometimes lost to woodland, or removed to save on maintenance costs during or after the Second World War. Unearthing these old features, or repositioning them will once again challenge a golfer and provide

8

great satisfaction to a designer with a great level of respect for the golden age of golf course architecture.

What is your favourite course and why?

I have so many favourite courses, and for so many different reasons. The Brabazon Course at the Belfry was the course that my dad and I would visit to watch the Benson and Hedges British Masters, and it was also the scene of some of the finest Ryder Cup matches of my childhood memory. St Andrews, The Old Course contains some of the finest examples of the harnessing of natural features in order to create a golf course, and is also the most enjoyable to play. Kingsbarns has to be the best course I have played that has been designed in the last 20 or so years: It is a huge feat of modern engineering.

Farmland has been turned into a timeless links land scene seemingly overnight, and it looks breathtaking.

I suppose I also have to mention my home club as well. Windermere Golf Club gave me my first silver ware in nearly a decade, so that has to be in my list of favourite courses as well.

Do you play golf yourself and if so what is your handicap?

I attempt to play to a handicap of 10, and I am hoping to once more breach the single figure mark this season. I haven’t been at those heady heights since my days as a junior, and I practice a whole lot less now, so I am praying for a miracle!

Andy Watson Golf Design www.andywatsongolfdesign.co.uk

AUTUMN 2013

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Picture this? Or perhaps not!

In another extract from his book Landscapes Of Impact, James Blake explains how some revealing photographs helped his company fine tune and improve their plant selections and design 10

AUTUMN 2013

W

e were recently sent some photographs of sites our client liked and those he didn’t like, and it was very useful. It gave an insight into what other practices were doing and the results were a little alarming. There were three photographs that showed large growing plants too close to house walls - plants that look good on planting but will grow to the size of the house.

The first photo showed Photinia fraseri “Red Robin” right against a house wall: This is a shrub which has an influence zone of three metres, which should not be planted adjacent to a building, unless the foundations were either piled, or significantly deepened: Foundations for medium shrinkable clay are 900mm deep minimum but 1200mm minimum for high shrinkable clay. With this proximity, you would need foundations of 1.5 and 1.8m respectively. That’s a big price to pay for a big shrub: And one that will grow 5m high and block windows in time unless pruned hard regularly.

The other two photos showed a hedge of Portuguese Laurel (Prunus lusitanica), and in front of this spikey phormium specimens and yuccas with a cotton lavender edge. The Laurels have an influence zone of 6 metres and unless the foundations are piled, would require significant deepening of foundations to comply with the NHBC guidelines – under clause 4.2, which would preclude insurance. Because most NHBC inspectors do not know their shrubs, they often do not notice this, despite shrubs being categorised as for trees since 2005. These nonNHBC shrubs are large growing plants that can grow as high as 15m in time and are high water demand.

We could specify them, but it would be a very cynical move, because it could prejudice your insurance, cause subsidence and would leave us and our client liable to negligence claims from purchasers. It is not a level playing field in design terms, because responsible firms like ours are losing out to others who do not even know the insurance guidelines. These shrubs have good nursery stock presence, but should not be used within 6m of houses, without expensive special foundation measures.

The ‘how-not-to-do-it’ photo was of a scheme, I am glad was not ours, because it had used a high proportion of Lavender, a plant that has poor nursery stock presence. The remaining plants were bland, no contrast in colour or form, and there was a high proportion of deciduous varieties. This was a good

example of poor design impact.

The last picture showed planting that was excellent. Analysing the shrubs used, these are medium height shrubs (Mexican Orange Blossom – Golden and Green cut leaved versions, Golden Japanese Spindle, Laurel (smaller NHBC compliant variety), and Skimmia (this is an acid, free draining soil specific shrub and was the only one I had an issue with – because it will fail on most clay soils (alkaline clay is common in our region within 1 – 3 years), with specimen Phormium varieties to add an extra layer of height and colour.

The shrubs shown were all 10 – 15 Litre shrubs and big for this size. They fitted the JBA honed rules for putting plants together. i.e.

1. They had clear height bands: Generally medium height shrubs but with tall specimens (of limited ultimate height – so conform to NHBC guidelines cl. 4.2) to give height and accent.

2. There was clear tonal and colour contrast: Lights and darks and gold with green and gold with red leaves.

Excellent foliage contrast is essential to achieve good impact.

3. They were all evergreen (actually – so long as more than 80% is evergreen – you’ll get the right result – but some seasonal highlights too); best added as specimens within a structure of evergreens.

4. The plant forms contrasted: Spikey; blobs; upright.

Some shrubs can tick the boxes for hardiness, soil tolerance, flowers, colour, reliability, price, availability, and are evergreen… BUT they just come in small stock sizes in the pots

5. The texture (leaf size had good contrast): Fine, medium and coarse textures, make for good impact: Large leaves look larger when set against normal sized leaves as a foil.

6. All the shrubs have good nursery stock presence. They looked good in the pot; bushy and tall.

Some shrubs can tick the boxes for hardiness, soil tolerance, flowers, colour, reliability, price, availability, and are evergreen… BUT they just come in small stock sizes in the pots: i.e. they have little nursery stock presence. This is common of faster growing plants like Cotoneaster. Cotoneaster lacteus, for example, is a great hedge plant, but stock is always sold in small sizes (even if in larger pots) and belies the great shrub and hedge this quickly creates.

However, for what clients want, it is hopeless. They need impact - NOW!

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These are the primary factors in good design. Of course, there are other factors in the background, of context and character and factors of plant choice such as those above, but creating contrast and making a impact. However, as you know, design is one factor and there are a number of other matters that are as crucial – if not more so to get the required result on site.

The first of these is the stock quality available. It takes four years to achieve a shrub of the quality, height and spread you see on a 10 litre pot. Where were we four years ago? In the pit of recession 2009, not many plants were being grown.

So don’t expect the supply to recover for another 3-4 years. There are very few good sized plants about. They run out quickly and then the nurseries try to get away with selling stock that is not ready; i.e. undersized for the pot. The main issue with stock shortages is that all the nurseries have some stock that is okay and a lot that is not. Contractors trying to get hold of stock urgently from one nursery receive a mixed result, with some

(often most) being very small for the pot, and some poor stock too, after a cold wet summer and a harsh and long winter.

The landscape contractor should reject this sub-standard stock, but the reality is that they don’t, because of factors like programme; the lack of alternative stock and the cost of returning to site to replace stock and finally the fact it would not go down well on site to leave half the bed blank while they source alternative stock, that they might only find at much higher than budgeted prices.

One of our clients has addressed and resolved this issue with their new approach to landscape: The designer takes ownership of the scheme from concept stage to sign off on site. This means consistent input at…

A) Concept Stage B) Planning C) Working drawings and documents D) Construction

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AUTUMN 2013

The construction stage is to include: 1. Sourcing suitable plant stock: Including nursery visits: Labelling it up for the site: Sometimes requiring a deposit.

2. Topsoil inspections: 3. Help in selecting a suitable contractor capable of following the specification.

4. Pre-contract meeting with the contractor – spelling out the source of the plants and standard of workmanship/ materials required.

5. Up to 6 interim snagging visits: Frankly 4 is ample for most sites.

6. A final snagging report 7. Handover meeting/ adoption of POS’s.

These measures ensure all bases are covered, but this does mean more fees. They see it as worth it for the total control of the result it ensures.

In terms of the cost of the landscape, it is less important to have 10 – 15 Litre stock throughout if the stock used is of a good size for the respective pot. It can in fact be beneficial to use a mix of 3L, 5L, and 10L with specimens at 15L. It will be significantly less expensive than using 10L stock throughout: Less expensive even with the fees for the necessary control of the process and of sourcing the suitable plants. By using a variety of stock sizes, you can achieve instant layering. Otherwise using 10L stock throughout can result in reverse layering, with less good larger stock being smaller in stature than larger than expected lower growing shrubs at the front. Most crucial is the use of 15L specimens to get extra height contrast within a bed.

Medium and tall shrubs would be best as 5 – 10L stock. It is still useful to use 3L stock for ground cover, though this type should only ever be used in wider multi-layered beds.

Call instant landscape expert James Blake on (01787) 248216.

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FUTURE BUILD

We look closer at the inspired designs of the Claydon-based architectural metalwork company

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All about CAM

AUTUMN 2013

How did the company come about?

Claydon Architectural Metalwork, was formed over 28 years ago, Originating from a traditional blacksmith forge which began diversifying into railings and gates, using innovative techniques for manipulating and jointing metal.

Initially working on private comissions, our reputation grew and we were soon involved in Larger scale projects, with prestigious architects and numerous local authorities.

Moving into larger industrial premises, CAM remains in these premises today, with a loyal workfoce rivalled by many.

Can you explain to the layman how your ‘popular crushing and tube manipulation technique’ works. Is there a basic explanation?

CAM is unique in the Fencing industry for the flexibility that the crushing techniques allow.

Using powerful hydraulic presses, sections of the bars are flattened, crushed, or pinched, to form components to make railing panels. With this technique, simple motifs, company logos, letters and numerals can be incorporated, as well as a vast range of standard patterns that contain either geometric or free flowing forms. providing the client with a truly unique scheme. No need for highlighting in different colours, or adding bits onto a plain railing.

Cam’s water pattern railings derived from the refection of a sheet hanging on the line over a garden pond. The pattern from the rippled surface became an inspirational thought.

Another products form that came from any everyday object was our Fire basket. The inspiration for these came from a simple pull out paper Christmas decoration. The fire basket is formed from one sheet of metal that is cut and pulled

concertina style under heat. Meaning there is no welding involved.

What gives you the edge over companies doing similar work?

Our adaptability and the way which we can utilize our techniques, to create no end of visually interesting features. Our product is patented allowing us to have design rights to the crushing techniques.

All our railings are made to order so every contract is bespoke so anything from serpentine in elevation and in plan our products will be made to fit.

Love your penny farthing bicycle stand.

Can you tell us who thought up the concept? Is it one person’s idea or does it come from a collective thinktank?

Wanting to make what is usually a very utilitarian product more attractive, The penny farthings are like mini sculptures in their own right, when grouped together or used singly, they have an aura about them

that makes you wonder where the rider has gone!

Many people may take railings for granted but to you, presumably, they are a blank canvas for your creative people?

Most railings are merely boundaries, designed to keep people in or out, at CAM we like to take on these challenges, to soften the look of a building, or to enhance a corporate identity with logo panels.

We like to look at how the project sits in its surroundings and draw on inspiration from nearby building or natural features.

What’s been your biggest challenge to date?

When we have worked with schools, we have often asked the school children to help us design the feature panels, taking their drawings and transferring them into

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FUTURE BUILD

workable images. Some of which work better than others.

For a High School in Loughton Essex, we were asked to come up with a design representing a DNA strand that looked three dimensional.

For Leyton Sports and cricket ground we produced a Single leaf Stainless Steel gate which was based on the form of a Cricket Sight Screen, together with a full size cricket bat handle and a cricket ball sitting on top of a stone pier all made from stainless steel. We created a pattern for the cricket bat from stainless plate and fabricated it into a three dimensional bat.

We have created a 20ft high Barleysheaf Sculpture, and a similar similar sized and Trident fork sculpture, complete with tangled fishing net and floats.

Do you work overseas?

We have produced an multi gated entrance for an amusement/ water park in Skara, Sweden, a “working” air flow sculpture at a military hospital in Utrecht, and Railings and gates at the New British Embassy in Moscow. No where is too far.

Has any project proved unworkable?

Never, no matter how challenging, we will always find a solution whilst trying to keep as true to an original concept as is possible.

Have you ever had to create something for a film or television programme?

We worked on a community garden for the TV project Charlies Garden Army, creating the gardens boundary railings and entrance gates. Installing the project to a typically tight TV show deadline, resulting in TV debuts for a number of CAMs employees, who looked their best in specially brought in CAM logo shirts.

With lots of work in and around London our products often appear on the TV, in the background of news reels, and the odd feature film. We have even had some of our railings in an early Take That music video.

What’s been your strangest request?. one has to be a pergola feature with nodding chickens at each corner.

A set of six Caryatid figures holding up a flyover in central london.

There must have been some bizarre/strange occurrences while you have been going about your work?

We always come across characters when installing at large housing estates, or sheltered housing sites.

Our installers are often very well looked after with tea and cakes.

What does the future hold for the firm? Any exciting new projects?

CAM has evolved more over the last 2 years, then ever. With a couple of new team members coming from interior staircase and structural steel backgrounds, We are branching out into exciting new areas.

We are currently working on some sculptures for a public art project, in collaboration with an Art student from UCS, Interior staircases on a 12 storey block of flats, Numerous items of street furniture for a seafront development.

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AUTUMN 2013

Value engineering and Smart thinking

O

n a recent scheme JBA Consultancy Services Ltd. were asked to value engineer the design, and it was noticed that the seats specified were traditional benches / seats – from a well-known street furniture broker. They were the cheaper end of the range, but still needed their legs fixing into concrete below ground and paving around the legs. The supply and fix price was about £1000. We substituted Smart Seats, which although made from recycled chip fat and therefore are a base of polyurethane, they can be selected with traditional and natural colours, pastel greys, autumn browns, ochres or greens, and would cost £250 each with no fixing. Just fill with 2 x 25kg bags of sand (£1.81 each).

The eight seats would therefore save £3000, even if you had 2 x Smart Seats for each bench: If you had one – it would save you £6000. This saving would go a long way to paying for retaining feature plants and trees which otherwise could have been lost to the dreaded VE. Incidentally, we have invented a new money saving idea: ‘Growing Gabions:’ These are gabions filled with stone and soil mixed with grass seed or wild flower seed, so they go green instantly. We even have ones with tree seeds, to create an instant Devon hedge bank. A low cost and attractive way of retaining soil for swales and back gardens. These are available from Lignacite Ltd, where they re-use waste Lignacite blocks,which (being warmer than concrete) makes them ideal habitats for reptiles and amphibians, boosting biodiversity.

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FUTURE BUILD

Why Landscape Archaeology Matters Ben Cowell, Regional Director, East of England National Trust, explains why it is so important we learn more about our landscapes

H

ere in the East of England we are blessed with some wonderful landscapes. We can’t boast of too many rocky uplands or mountains, of course. But nevertheless we enjoy a rich panoply of different kinds of landscape – from ancient forests and woodlands to extensive farming estates, and from coastal heaths to medieval market towns.

A great figure in landscape history was W.G. Hoskins, whose Making of the English Landscape (1955) remains a key point of reference. Hoskins described the landscape as a ‘palimpsest’ – referring to ancient written documents that have been repeatedly written over, leaving multiple layers of meaning for scholars to decode. Hoskins also used the analogy as the landscape as a symphony, a harmony of different elements which is constantly taking the listener – or viewer – in new directions.

Our landscapes here in the East are no different. They reflect thousands of years of human development, and are as rich in information as any book or archive. Far from being a ‘natural’ feature, the Norfolk Broads are the result of medieval peat extraction. Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, by contrast, is a surviving relic of the ancient wetlands that once stretched from here around the Wash. The Fens were home to a wide variety of local crafts and traditions, until the great reclamations of the 17th century turned them into richly productive agricultural land.

Landscape archaeology is the science of interpreting the landscape as the record of former generations. This does not so much involve digging things up as using our eyes as instruments for understanding. The layout of fields, the patterns of urban developments, the crisscrossing of roads and footpaths, can all reveal much about our past.

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I happen to live in North West Essex, just on the border between England’s ‘old’ countryside of patchworked fields, woodlands and dispersed villages and the ‘improved’ landscapes of huge, geometrically shaped arable fields. A sudden right-turn bend in the road at Great Chesterford in Essex actually marks the southern boundary of the second largest Roman settlement in East Anglia, now buried under grass. A little further beyond, outside the village of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, is a long straight road with wide grass verges, hedged with mature hawthorn bushes: a classic indication of early Parliamentary enclosure.

The National Trust looks after some great examples of the most significant landscapes in the East. Hatfield Forest in Essex is a rare survival of a medieval hunting forest, with 18th-century adornments. We manage this landscape in ways that respect its heritage and significance, keeping the deer population under control and paying careful attention to the conservation of ancient trees. Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire and Ickworth in Suffolk are examples of 18th-century landed estates, where life was centred on the great house. Wimpole is unusual in that the Trust manages the farmland directly, and here we are experimenting with new methods of agriculture, just as our 18th-century antecedents would have done.

Another important cultural landscape is Sheringham Park on the north Norfolk coast. The park is laid out according to a design created by Humphry Repton in 1812. We celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2012 with a new exhibition, curated by landscape history experts from the University of East Anglia and the University of Nottingham. Sheringham was the most perfect realisation of Repton’s lifelong ambition to enhance natural beauty through landscape gardening. Subtle planting schemes gave a sense of depth and vitality to the views from a long drive that forms the heart of the landscape, and travels along a high ridge before turning dramatically to reveal the house at Sheringham, designed by Repton’s son. The house is let to private tenants, so our visitors are drawn to Sheringham purely for its landscape and outdoors setting. Our aim is to help visitors to better appreciate what they are seeing, revealing new layers of value and meaning in the landscape.

While formal designations like listing and scheduling help to protect the individual elements of a landscape – buildings and monuments – there are very few protections for historic areas as a whole. The historical value of landscapes is one of the reasons why the Trust made such a big noise recently about the Government’s changes to the planning system. Our concern was that the deregulation of planning rules might lead to a flood of thoughtless new developments on green fields and open countryside, out of keeping with the grain of history. We were pleased therefore that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) confirmed the policy of ‘brownfield first’, meaning that previously developed sites were to be prioritised over countryside.

But, a year on, the pressures to develop landscapes are bigger than ever. Half of all local authorities have a local plan in place, which means that the NPPF could have a disproportionate influence on planning decisions. Our plea is for new developments to be designed in kilter with the way the landscape has evolved over many centuries.

Landscapes have always changed, and the Trust has no wish to stand in the way of change. Understanding the landscape better can help to signpost our way to a better future.

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FUTURE BUILD

THE BENEFITS OF CULTIVATING PARTNERSHIPS WITHIN THE LANDSCAPE SUPPLY CHAIN

By Frank Sandford, Sales Director, Boningale Nurseries

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here’s one mantra that we often hear in the property market: that’s it’s all about “location, location, location”.

That may be true in the property market but as one of the largest amenity nurseries in the UK, we now find that “landscape, landscape, landscape” is just as resonant in our market.

In the early-to-mid noughties, at the height of the housing boom, some might have argued that the landscaping elements of a house build were not a priority – only the show homes and the public spaces that were part of the developers’ remit but now with house builders finding the economic climate more challenging, landscaping has become an essential sales tool across the whole of a housing development.

It has been well documented by industry experts such as the Landscape Institute that good landscaping can assist in the swift sale of properties because it provides kerb appeal and it truly enhances the look and feel of the home environment. As the quality of fixtures and fittings inside a home gives the prospective client a visual clue as to the lifestyle aspirations they can achieve, so does the outside space.

The garden – whether you want a contemporary look with hard landscaping and a sculpted look or a more traditional style of colourful bedding plants and borders – is an extension of the home and should never be thought of in isolation.

At Boningale Nurseries we have seen a marked increase in the quality and variety of plants being specified in

recent years, as landscape architects, contractors and house builders prioritise the importance of creating a good first impression.

And, to ensure the best results for developers from both an aesthetic and budget perspective, forward-thinking landscape architects are now working more closely, in partnership with nurseries and contractors to plan the right planting schemes for all aspects and locations of the development from the initial design stage.

This planned approach is proving to be a key sales differentiator for house builders.

Integrated Approach In the last edition of Future Build, landscape architect James Blake referred to the four Cs – care, commitment, cooperation and constructive contribution – that the client, architect and contractor must adhere to if they are to achieve superior landscaping that befits the specification of a planned scheme.

It is a classic case of joined-up thinking, completing the circle between the partners, and it brings about the best results.

Partnership working may be a buzz phrase in business but it is this approach that works on many levels – from the planning side right across to the potential it has for marketing.

Plus, by involving the nursery as part of this ‘supply chain’ partnership from the design stage, clients can fully maximise the benefits of contract growing, too.

AUTUMN 2013

Contract Growing Contract growing is the most efficient and cost-effective way of producing high-spec plant material in the quantity needed and for the quality demanded. It also means the partners have more of a say.

We are similar to many large amenity nurseries because we grow the majority of our stock each year based on trends and calculated predictions for general sale.

This is the traditional method of production and while it may not cause many problems for some contractors in certain areas of the market place, it does mean there is an appreciable degree of uncertainty around the availability and quality of some stock at different times of the year.

Leaving the planning for required plant stock until the last moment means landscape contractors and architects can be left scrambling around for the appropriate stock to complete a site and it simply may not be available when it is needed.

Last-minute orders might have to be sourced from a range of growers elsewhere, either in the UK or abroad, if the nursery does not have the variety and specific size required in stock to complete the order.

The result is inevitable: because the process is far more time consuming, it adds to the overall costs and can also lead to the contractor having to compromise on the specification and selected varieties of plants.

Looking back at the Winter edition of

Future Build, James Blake referred to the problems associated with poor planning.

He described how one of the main problems he faces is finding good quality plants due to a combination of bad winters, recession and growing demand. “... substandard stock is everywhere and easy to get hold of. Good stock is rare and harder to find. It takes researching and seeking out. This takes time,” he wrote.

These are sentiments that I am sure will resonate with many contractors and architects alike.

Short lead-in times inevitably cause problems because it means contractors and landscape architects are forced to accept poorer quality stock from nurseries, which in turn have to source plants in a very short time – sometimes just a few days.

Substitute plants or varieties that have less impact may have to be used – and some builders should be warned that some stock may even contravene NHBC guidelines.

We often think about the last minute orders being similar to Christmas shopping, if like most of us men you leave it to Christmas Eve then you end up buying the best of what is left and not necessary the items that would give the most pleasure on Christmas morning.

Such last-minute panics create stress where none is needed, so we are pleased to see that many landscape architects are beginning to include more planning time.

Working with the architect and the contractor from the start of a project takes out the guess work and allows us to contract grow to specification.

It removes the uncertainty of whether or not a specific plant can be sourced in time and gives the client more assurance about the quality of the products they can expect.

It also maximises stock availability.

Importantly, from a client’s point of view, they have an agreed budget and are guaranteed the varieties and sizes of the plants because they have been specified in the brief. They know when the stock will be ready to be delivered.

FUTURE BUILD

In addition, the stock is available for inspection at any time and it is quicker for growers to turn around orders if the items are in stock. This, in turn, also reduces – or even eliminates the number of “follow on” orders.

Of course, such an approach requires careful planning at the beginning of a building project but this early ground work will bear fruit in the later stages of the project.

One of our key clients described his utter frustration at how the current system worked with many housing developers. His main problem was the way the competitive tendering system was open to abuse, which could see him losing out to cheap competitors who go on to cut corners and erode the quality of the landscaping, downsizing trees, and shrubs, substituting plants for cheaperalternatives and short changing the client on ground preparation.

This leads to suspicion in the supply chain and prevents professional contractors from gaining the trust of clients and designers who have all too often suffered from such shoddy practices.

His view was simple: build relationships and understanding between like-minded parties who can and will deliver a quality project at a competitive price. Do not confuse price with cost. Low prices may end up costing you more in the long run.

Green Credentials The benefits do not just come from being prepared and organised. Because plant specifications now play an integral part of the eco-rating of a building, contract growers canensure that any project receives the correct varieties that are needed to enhance its BREEAM score.

Green credentials are becoming even more of a priority for house builders, contractors and landscape architects within housing developments,especially in the open public space areas.

Boningale is proud of its very strong green credentials. We hold the ISO 14001 EMS accreditation and have also produced a leaflet that is aimed at contractors and landscape architects who are keen to maximise their ecological credits.

This 20-page “Plants for Wildlife” catalogue, which was developed with globally renowned WYG Environment, sets out for landscape architects hundreds of approved plant species and varieties that encourage ecological diversity and attract myriad wildlife to new-build sites and green urban spaces, including green roofs.

Green roofs are niche but are becoming more popular. Contractors looking to include green roofs in their sustainable homes targets can also use Boningale’s specialist GreenSky division, which was set up through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme in conjunction with green roof experts from the University of Sheffield. Boningale GreenSky is producing pioneering substrates manufactured for specific environments and a wide range of specialist plug plants specifically for this specialised growing environment.

Growing expertise By taking a detailed audit of the site and soil, the landscape architect and contractor can design concepts and contract growers can use their wealth of expertise to advise on suitable plant varieties or help to source suitable alternatives when a stock line is out of season or simply not looking at its best for the time of year that it is required.

Understanding the sites earmarked for planting means that we can work with the contractor and designer to suggest design options, so if other changes are required, we have the detail knowledge required to offer speedy advice on alternatives that would work.

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And specialist nursery suppliers such as Boningale, which has more than 30 years’ experience in the house building market, can keep the landscape architect informed about new or improved plants that have come to market , which enables them to keep their designs innovative and fresh.

Contract growing is a simple process and one that has been proven to work time and time again.

Working as a team means that there are no nasty shocks towards the end of a building scheme and no panic-buying inferior goods that will do nothing to enhance the rest of the project.

It can provide clients with a real point of difference from their competitors because it demonstrates solid management practice and collaborative strengths, especially when the grower works closely with the landscape architect and contractor.

For further information visit www.boningale.co.uk

THE WORLD’S

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st CARBON NEGATIVE MASONRY ON THE BLOCK

Introducing ‘The Carbon Buster’, the new building block from Lignacite.

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Incorporates recycled and carbonated aggregates from by-products

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Captures more CO2 than is emitted during its manufacture

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Invented and made in Britain

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Key to meeting zero carbon home targets

For the full story visit our website www.lignacite.co.uk

Concrete Masonry Products Brandon: 01842 810678 | Nazeing: 01992 464441 | info@lignacite.co.uk | www.lignacite.co.uk

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st CARBON NEGATIVE MASONRY ON THE BLOCK

Building blocks are not traditionally known for their green credentials. Mainly due to their cement content, which is highly carbon-intensive to produce, they have been seen as a major contributor to rising levels of greenhouse gases. Lignacite is the first company in the world to challenge this reputation with the launch of the first ever carbon negative building block.

“By mixing the residue with water and carbon dioxide, we were able to transform the material into what the Environment Agency has agreed is a product suitable as a virgin aggregate replacement.”

Appropriately named ‘The Carbon Buster’,

the new building block from Lignacite is a British innovation, which has been developed by the company in partnership with Carbon8 Aggregates, using their award winning Accelerated Carbonation Technology.

Following the EA review, Carbon8 erected a £1 million carbonation plant in Brandon, Suffolk, adjacent to Lignacite’s masonry plant. Here, the residue is carbonated, mixed with binders and fillers before being pelletised and used as a key ingredient in the Carbon Buster block.

‘The Carbon Buster‘ is made up of more than 50% recycled material. This includes the Carbon8 pellets which are produced by combining CO2, sand, cement and water. The result is a unique aggregate that, when incorporated into Lignacite’s products, creates the first ever carbon negative building block.

FACT: More CO2 is captured within the block than is emitted during its manufacture... 14Kg of CO2 per tonne to be exact.

Carbon8’s Technical Director, Dr Paula Carey, explains: “On the back of research carried out at The University of Greenwich’s School of Science, Carbon8 identified an end use for thermal residues from waste to energy plants.

Because of its high pH, the majority of residue has until recently been destined for landfill. But with rising landfill costs and an increasing focus on recycling and re-use, we set out to remove the hazardous characteristics of the residue using accelerated carbonation”.

Concrete Masonry Products Brandon: 01842 810678 | Nazeing: 01992 464441 | info@lignacite.co.uk | www.lignacite.co.uk

Note: At the time of going to print, Carbon8 Aggregates had been shortlisted for the National Recycling Awards, Recycled Product of the Year.

For Lignacite, which is a family owned company that dates back nearly 70 years, the use of carbonation technology is simply an extension to their long standing commitment to sustainability: “We were the first block manufacturer in the country to introduce recycled and waste materials into our products, and one of our ranges already contained 90% waste materials and has been supplied to high profile projects including the Shard, the Gherkin and the Olympics Village,” explains Lignacite’s Chief Executive, Giles de Lotbiniere.

“However, we firmly believe that constant innovation is key to creating a brighter and more sustainable future for everyone, and so we are now working with a number of architects and specifiers and incredibly excited to take this strategy to the next level with the launch of the Carbon Buster.

“With the Government’s commitment to zero carbon homes, as reiterated by the Chancellor in the last budget, we are confident the Carbon Buster has an important role to play in helping to meet the 2016 targets,” he concludes.

FUTURE BUILD

Appeal in (almost) an instant!

James Blake on how to achieve immediate planting impact

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his is an increasingly important area for JBA’s clients, and I have been holding CPD seminars on for a couple of years now, drawing upon 25 years of working primarily for developers.

Design layout and plant choice suitable for the layout are two of 4 key parts of the formulae for successful achievement of impact planting (although important ones): A strong design layout and solid core of evergreen shrubs, flowering and architectural specimen features and a structure of crisp instant box hedges, planted and then clipped back into a really neat and sharp hedge shape, (also with crisp timber edgings to lawns and perhaps a stone or slate mulch to the box hedges) – with some architectural forms, will deliver what you want for certain: And all year round too.

Of course budget is important with box hedges, but specialist box nurseries have some good impact stock at reasonable prices: and this should be used in prominent areas only.

This brings me on to the third key ingredient of impact landscapes. That is the designer’s research into what is available at the time of construction in big sizes for the pot and price, from specific and known quality nurseries: The design can be fantastic, but if the stock has run out (very common in recent years), you’ll get tiny plants in a big pot of soil at a high price.

Intelligent substitutions, rather than the contractor’s or nurseries’ choices is the key factor here: By us, the designers, contacting the nurseries and sourcing really bushy, vigorous and healthy looking stock, talking to the nursery after designing it and getting it put aside and labelled up in the nursery: Specifying on the plan – clearly which nursery it is coming from (initials on the schedule – with full contact details on the plan), you can achieve consistently large stock for the pot size.

It is important to understand that you don’t want every plant to be the same size, but just large for the relative position in the bed and your desired structure (i.e you need layers of shrub heights from front to back – but even the front ground cover shrubs should be bushy and fill their space laterally).

The fourth key ingredient is the Contractor: They have to be

competent, but once you find a good one, they MUST then buy the sourced and labelled up stock from the specified nurseries to be sure of getting the impact stock, but everyone in the chain needs to communicate well: Particularly the contractor with the nominated nursery to be sure to get the labelled-up stock: Yes this has really happened, for a site in Northampton, – the nursery operatives put out the wrong stock for collection and the contractor did not check it was the right stock and went to site with tiny plants cowering in large pots of soil, despite us having sourced good material there and it being labelled up! D’Oh! Needless to say - not much impact on site, and an unhappy client and some head scratching as to how it happened.

By using evergreen shrubs, with high contrast and colourful foliage, you’ll get all-year-round impact, but by

adding specimens liberally through this background, in and behind the layers of evergreen shrubs, you can achieve the added wow factor - injecting summer flower colour or architectural forms and accents.

So the key is in sourcing large and evergreen stock for the main areas and also specimen feature 35L size palms, tree ferns and 3L flowering herbaceous specimens in amongst the main structure.

The designer does need to make sure the nursery labels up the plants for the site, once designed – by a follow up call and scan email of the schedule, and that the nursery contact details are on the plan.

For advice on creating Impact Landscapes call James Blake on (07771) 780199.

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FUTURE BUILD

Don’t stop planting just because it’s summer – finish those projects!

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ith the winter dragging on many developments are well behind which has thrown out planting plans and means that projects will have to wait until the late autumn to be finished. The Elveden Instant Hedge™ can solve the hedging element of this problem.

The Elveden Instant Hedge™ has been designed to be planted in the summer, as well, of course the rest of the year.

The Elveden Estate’s unique production method allows the hedge to be lifted at a time to suit the requirements of your project and isn’t governed by the usual constraints of the root ball season.

Mature and flat sided the Elveden Instant Hedge is grown up to 1.8 metres high across a range of species including Yew,

Common Laurel, Holly, Green Beech, Hornbeam, Portuguese Laurel, Photinia, Purple Beech, Native Mix, Privet, Holm Oak, Berberis and Thuja.

Sales and Business Manager Graeme Jenkins explains further: “we are currently producing over 40,000m of UK provenance hedging. Production has increased which enables us to now offer the hedge to the trade at a discount’’.

The Elveden Instant Hedge™ is available from Practicality Brown Ltd who with over 30 years’ experience installing hedges and semi-mature trees across the UK are a great choice for a range of clients including: developers, landscape architects, garden designers and private home owners.

1.8 metre high Elveden Instant Hedge™ at the nursery

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Practicality Brown planting the Elveden Instant Hedge™

Practicality Brown Ltd is the sole supplier of the Elveden Instant Hedge™. It has won a host of awards including most recently at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show where Elveden Instant Portuguese Laurel Hedge was used as the backdrop for David Austin Roses’ Gold Medal winning stand.

Graeme concludes: “The Elveden Instant Hedge™ is a great product that is particularly useful for developers’’.

For more information contact Practicality Brown Ltd on 01753 652022 or email: hedge@pracbrown.co.uk www.pracbrown.co.uk

AUTUMN 2013

Planning questions

Earlier this year Robert Halfon MP asked the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department plans to introduce legislation giving deemed planning consent for housing applications in local authority areas which have not adopted local plans or do not have a five-year land supply by 2015.

House sales on a three year high

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he United Kingdom housing market is picking up, perhaps partly due to help from the Bank of England lending scheme, with house sales at a three year high and prices broadly stable, from recent surveys.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said prices were stable - that is to say equal numbers of its members reported price falls and price rises over the preceding three months. Of course, the traditional strongest areas were the winners, London, Cambridge and the Home Counties.

RICS said its members helped sell an average of 17.4 homes each in the first three months of 2013, the highest number since the first quarter of 2010. RICS felt it was the government initiative to encourage more banks to lend for mortgages that was making the difference with the Funding for Lending Scheme, which offers banks

and building societies low cost finance if they maintain or increase net lending to households and businesses, further endorsed by George Osborne’s “incentives for home-buyers” in his budget statement.

RICS’ members forecast price rises to come, however, mortgage lending data from banks show mortgage approval figures are half the level seen before the financial crisis.

The construction sector generally remains weak, and it was a major factor behind the treble dip during the first half of 2012. The irony here is that the banks created the crash which blighted construction first and hardest of all sectors, and then was more reluctant to lend to this sector because it perceived it as highest risk. Arisk they created and is still in their power to change: In fact this is the primary reason we are struggling to get out of recession; construction being such a significant sector for the UK.

The reply was that the National Planning Policy Framework, published in March 2012 introduced a presumption in favour of sustainable development, which reinforces the role of the statutory development plan for an area. The presumption indicates that proposals in line with those plans should expect to be swiftly approved and that where the development plan is absent, silent or relevant policies are out of date, permission should be granted unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the framework taken as a whole; or where specific policies in the framework indicate development should be restricted. ( For example, those policies relating to sites protected under the Birds and Habitats Directives and/ or designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest; land designated as Green Belt, Local Green Space, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Heritage Coast or within a National Park (or the Broads Authority); designated heritage assets; and locations at risk of flooding or coastal erosion.)

Where a local authority cannot identify a five-year supply of deliverable sites, the relevant policies for the supply of housing should not be considered up to date.

In such cases, the decision taker should apply the presumption while taking into account any other material planning considerations. The Government has no plans to legislate to give deemed consent where there is not an up-to-date plan in place or a five-year housing supply.

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FUTURE BUILD

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The diligent You may have drawn up plans to sustain your business during another uncertain year but this simple check list should keep you on the right track . . .

Get your cash flow in order We all know that cash flow is the most important key to sustainability. Make sure you have systems in place to enable you to manage cash flow, as well as strategies to get cash through the door.

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Revisit first principles Before you invest in new technology or systems, ask yourself if you are really getting the basics right. If you start with a mess and simply add technology, you end up with an automated mess. Get down to brass tacks to ensure your processes are really working and ensure that future improvements won’t be compromised by a shaky foundation.

Review your costs and look for efficiencies See if there is scope to save, either by reviewing your suppliers, changing processes or embracing new technologies.

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But be smart about it. There’s the example of a retailer who had decided to save electricity costs by turning off the lights. This made his shop look closed and uninviting which of course impacted on sales. By investing in technology such as LED lighting, he could have reduced energy costs without affecting sales.

Get informed about trends in your industry and be aware of changing external environmental conditions This can include technology, overseas competition or changes in your customers’ behaviour. You need market intelligence and to stay abreast of changes that could impact your business. Industry associations, magazines and websites are good places to start.

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Understanding risk and having a contingency plan are also important to help you adapt to a changing environment. Ask ‘where is my business the strongest and what might threaten that?’ and ensure that

you’re doing everything you can to minimise your weaknesses and make the most of opportunities.

Whether you’re a tradie or a marketing consultant, knowing where your industry is headed, minimising risk and being able to offer the most current service will help your business stay ahead of the pack.

Think digital Retailers need to be ahead of the game when it comes to providing customers with a quality online shopping experience.

It’s not just about retail, however. The internet means that recommendations are king. Ensure your customers can at least find your business online, and stay abreast of any online reviews. Think of it as word of mouth on a massive and instant scale, and make it count for your business.

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If you already have an online presence, now’s the time to review its success.

Refocus on customer service Don’t feel that because you run a small business you’re not competitive; good customer service will set you apart from the pack.

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In a competitive environment, customer service can keep customers coming back or at least mentioning their experience to their friends, and that’s publicity that money just can’t buy.

Conduct a relationship health check Revisit old relationships; there may be scope to pick up an old client or negotiate better terms with a previous supplier.

If you’re involved in a dispute or think you may soon have one on your hands, don’t let it fester. It’s better to resolve a dispute and save a relationship than build a new one, which will cost time and money.

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You might also look at opportunities for new relationships in 2013, including being involved in a business group such as your local chamber.

Networking in this way can help you stay informed, reduce isolation and generate ideas to help your business.

Now’s the time to review its success.

AUTUMN 2013

TAKING THE PAIN OUT OF PLAYGROUND PROCUREMENT

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iracle Design and Play Limited is one of the fastest growing and most successful playground companies in the UK. So how has this been achieved?

Their focus is on consistent delivery of a PERFECT PLAY AREA EVERY TIME for their clients. They are very confident of achieving this goal because the Miracle team are an incredibly close unit, and it is this team togetherness that is their key to providing totally bespoke designs and perfect delivery for each and every project it works on.

According to Richard Howard, Managing Director, “Our success has been a result of bespoke designs and our drive to always achieve value innovation for our clients on every project regardless of the deadline involved. We love a challenge at Miracle and we enjoy finding unique playground solutions that suit our client’s budget by carefully considering our procurement options to provide the best value for money on each site nationally.”

Richard explained the story of the Fairway Housing Development in Leicester,

demonstrating Miracle’s approach to what proved to be two quite challenging sites. The two LEAPs were both situated on slopes and the Design Team had to consider how they could make the original Architect’s designs work (which appeared to have been conceived as flat).

“We needed to achieve level plateaus for the equipment using cleverly designed landscape contouring to overcome the issues presented by the sloped nature of the sites and raised bark pits using timber sleepers were also incorporated into the design.”

Miracle worked very hard with their client Taylor Wimpey and also with the Local Authority to produce something that both parties were happy with. The Local Authority were fully engaged at every step of the design and construction and regular site meetings were held to ensure all parties were satisfied with how both sites were progressing.

Adrian Edge of Leicester City Council, whose role in this project was to approve the schemes for final adoption, said “Miracle were able to create two attractive

and stimulating play areas despite the challenges and obstacles present. They managed to successfully adapt the approved designs to fit the locations and kept us informed and involved throughout the design and build process.”

Richard Howard of Miracle said “We understand that our Developer clients find playground procurement quite a painful procedure and our aim is to take away that pain and help them through the process.”

Miracle also includes in its service an End of Defects Period Snagging Meeting after 12 months. The meeting is organised

by Miracle and the purpose is to identify any work that needs rectification and to handover the project to the Local Authority.

Again, the team at Miracle offer this service in order to assist the Developer by ensuring that this important meeting is planned in and the adoption process is painless for all parties.

It is easy to see why Miracle’s “hands on” approach has been instrumental in is success within this highly competitive market. Anyone can sell you a playground but Miracle offers the whole package!

QUICK, EA SY

SOLUTIO

N

TO YOUR PLAY AREAS

WE OFFER: POS Design Adoption and Planning Negotiation Project Management Ongoing Maintenance Miracle Design and Play Limited 14 Duncan Close Moulton Park Northampton NN3 6WL t: 01604 658 240 f: 01604 496 967

Adoptions Management

01604 658 240 www.miracledesignandplay.co.uk

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Installing tanked tree pits in Ilford for Skanska Construction.

From little acorns, great Oaks grow

Oak View planting at Trumpington Primary School, Cambridge for Willmott Dixon Construction.

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he extended winter and poor spring impacted considerably on Oak View Landscapes anticipated work schedule for major house builders and commercial contractors. ‘It would have been easy to just sit back, do nothing and try and ride out the unpredictable weather but instead we used the slow period to re focus our attention on other fundamental parts of our business’, says Paul Downer, Oak View’s Managing Director.

Our first port of call has been client relations. We wanted to make sure our existing clients and potential new clients who we regularly tender for are fully aware what we can offer as an established landscape contractor and how our service distinguishes us from our competitors. Too often the focus is on price alone and little consideration is given to reliability, expertise, hassle free installation and ease of contact. These are factors that we have built our business on together with a core understanding of our client’s requirements and timescales which has resulted in involvement in national award winning projects.

This shift in focus has certainly paid dividends leading to contracts with three new major clients.

In February 2013, Willmott Dixon Construction awarded Oak View a landscape contract for Trumpington Primary School, Cambridge value circa £115,000. The project entailed extensive top soiling, grass & wildflower seeding, tree and shrub planting, aquatics, sleeper planters and 12 months maintenance.

This award followed on from one of our largest contracts circa £400,000 with Skanska Construction for a new academy school in Ilford. This was a demanding contract with a number of environmental considerations regarding land contamination and Environment Agency issues regarding underground aquifers. This resulted in large areas of the site requiring fully tanked tree pits.

Brooks & Wood Ltd has recently awarded Oak View a £177,000 landscape project for Bloor Homes. This will be an interesting project due to the historical nature of the site and the number of stakeholders involved, including JBA Consultancy Services Ltd. The site is currently a natural grassland area adjacent to the historical Martello Tower along Felixstowe South sea front. Our works are predominantly soft landscaping including top soiling, top dressing, wild flower seeding, plug and shrub planting.

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FUTURE BUILD

s Exploring a c e Sarah Burdis looks at Regional Spatial Strategies

R

evocate or Reinstate?

As we all know May 2010 saw a change in the political landscape with the election of a coalition government. Rationalising the nation’s plethora of planning requirements became a major focus of legislation. By reducing red tape and re-distributing power from regional authorities to local councils and neighbourhood groups the new policy direction was aimed at encouraging those affected by planning decisions to be involved in shaping their area and develop knowledge of aspects of planning that shape their place.

A good idea you may think?

Midway through the Coalition Government’s term of office, this article assesses the progress made to date, the potential for planning turmoil and considers whether such a huge overhaul of planning policy is beneficial and effective.

The previous System Under previous governments, planning and the environment was governed by a ‘plan-led’ system throughout the UK, based on legislation such as the Town and Country Planning Act (1990) and the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act (1990).

One piece oflegislation, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004)

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scrapped county level structure plans, replacing them with statutory regional planning. This is where regional spatial strategies fall into the mix.

The main role of a regional spatial strategy was to provide a strategy within which local authorities’ planning documents could be prepared. These documents, known as Local Development Frameworks, determine the way in which our cities, towns and villages are shaped. The overarching theme guiding the policies within regional spatial strategies was to bridge the gap between local planning issues as established by local planning policies and nationally determined policy aspirations, such as new housing quotas.

Did they work?

Views are mixed on just how effective these regional spatial strategies were.

Some believe they were a means of incorporating a wide cross-section of interests in creating planning strategies that dealt with various local authorities, resulting in close co-operation between a specific local authority and other, appropriate interested partners. With inputs from a wide variety of institutions, public bodies and interested parties a sound, solid evidence base was collated from which planning decisions could be shaped.

AUTUMN 2013

However, more negative views came from the public as regional planning, encapsulated in regional spatial strategies, are both lengthy and complex in completion. This, coupled with a major, recurring concern for the lack of reflection of community aspirations, needs and wants in regional spatial strategies undermined their overall effectiveness.

Once elected, the coalition government, hearing this public plea for more planning involvement, wasted no time on shaping planning reforms.

The current system The need for radical planning reform was well known. Shortly before the election a Green Paper entitled ‘Open Source Planning Green Paper’ was published, it included the statement: ‘Given the scale of the problems we face, piecemeal reform of the planning system is simply not an adequate response. Only a radical reboot is going to deliver the planning system that we need to succeed in the years to come’.

The solution to this problem, as described within this Green Paper, was the proposal to move from the then current, single, centralised planning structure to a system that was seen to be more localised, with the overarching aim ofenabling local people, within a national planning policy framework, to workalongside their local authorities.

The ideal behind the theory allowing for those with appropriate local knowledge to determine how much and what kind of development is needed, and where. On the surface it seems that local authorities, consulting widely and transparently, will be able to produce their own policies that allow for sustainable, attractive and appropriate community development.

Good news aslocal communities get to shape their places.

Radically, the Green Paper proposed the abolition of Regional Planning Bodies, removing the entire tier of Regional Planning Policies, the polices held with Regional Spatial Strategies. The ball really got rolling to abolish Regional SpatialStrategies with the royal assent of the Localism Act in November 2011.

The Act included a number of changes to the planning system, but maybe most significantly, Regional Spatial Strategies were abolished with immediate effect, to be replaced with local plans. While these plans have to conform to aspects included in the guidance found in the National Planning policy Framework, all other aspects within the local plan have

to be determined bylocal people. Central government no longer having the power to override local sentiment.

Is this really the end of Regional Spatial Strategies everyone cries?

Where did it all go wrong?

The Secretary of State had wanted to avoid any periods of uncertainty with regard to planning policy by revoking Regional Spatial Strategies with immediate effect. However, it appears that uncertainty is exactly what prevailed and confusion caused. With many local authorities not being fully prepared for this enormous upheaval to policy, local plans were not sufficient to carry the weight that was once on the shoulders of Regional Spatial Strategies. This led to their reinstatement. So, we have re-vocation then re-instatement. Is this a ‘U’ turn? Are regional spatial strategies back for good?

Oh no!! Re-instatement has been allowed with the intention that they will be revoked at the earliest possible time. It appears they have been re-instated as a bandaid, ready to be ripped off at the earliest possible date. This date has already arrived forauthorities such as Essex who’s Regional Spatial Strategies were revoked once and for all on 3rd January 2013, however other local authorities such as Warwickshire still adhere to the Regional Spatial Strategies policies. So we have now gone through revocation,reinstatement, partial revocation leading to total revocation at the earliest possible date. A bit of a merry-go-round for planners trying to get to grips with the latest legislation and guidance.

Given the scale of the problems we face, piecemeal reform of the planning system is simply not an adequate response

Looking to the future.

In brief, the new system had the good intentions of involving communities at a local level, with the hope that neighbourhoods would be more accepting of much needed new development.

It may well be too soon to consider whether such radical planning reform, especially in relation to regional spatial strategies, is the panacea. The practicalities of implementing new laws, producing detailed guidance and local policies all take time.

Such fundamental change is bound to raise anxiety and already there have been claims that the new system is confusing and slow. But this may reflect the teething troubles of any great change and new approches will have positive effect once implemented fully.

On the surface the concept of local planning is admirable, only time will tell.

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FUTURE BUILD

TO BOLDLY BUILD WHERE NO-ONE HAS BUILT BEFORE – A THREE YEAR MISSION Pickles – Boles launches the new Permitted Development Order •

Commercial extensions (to shops, A2 uses, offices) previously 25% of the original building or 50 sq m, can now be 50% or 100 sq m, whichever is the lesser amount,

•

Industrial/warehouse extensions can now be up to 50% of the original building or 1000 sq m, whichever is the lesser amount and with reduced figures in protected areas, and new buildings can be up to 200 sq m,

• CHANGES He’s only gone and done it! A year after superhero team Pickles and Boles announced the most outrageous changes to the Permitted Development regime and mere months after all but 15% of consultees said it were a daft idea, the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (England) Order 2013 today (30 May 2013) makes sweeping changes to what can be built without the need for planning permission.

Meanwhile, we might all have some sympathy for the civil servants who have to tidy up after the freewheeling politicians and insert some sense and rigour into their promises and for the local planning authorities who now have to do more work earning less from application fees.

Attentive and retentive readers will recall that this is supposed to be a temporary measure to aid the economy and the building industry by permitting whopping great house extensions and the change of underused/vacant buildings to other uses, thereby reducing the workload on hard-pressed planning officers and the fee income paid to cash-strapped councils in application fees and S106 contributions.

In a nutshell, these are the new rules:•

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Domestic extensions can be up to 8 metres deep on detached houses and 6 metres on other houses (doubling the previous allowance),

•

•

Changes of use from offices to residential (B1a à C3) will be permitted development outside certain designated areas which secured exemption from the new regulations (eg CAZ in central London now known as Article 1 (6A) Land), Changes of use of agricultural buildings to shops, services, restaurants, offices, storage, hotels or leisure uses will, up to a 500 sq m threshold, not need permission, Temporarily, for two years only, buildings within Use Classes A, B1 and D can be changed to A1, A2, A3 or B1 use without the need for an application, though they revert to their lawful use at the end of that period,

•

The 235 sq m threshold in B1/B2/B8 changes extends to 500 sq m,

•

There are a number of provisions allowing various buildings to be used as state-run schools.

In a bigger nutshell, each of these giveaways come with provisos and constraints which relate to the economic reasons for the changes and the opposition voiced to their introduction, so:•

Prior to building the enlarged residential extension (not the smaller, existing allowance) the developer must seek clearance from the LPA that prior approval is not needed,

•

This involves the LPA in notifying adjoining neighbours, taking account of any amenity-based objections and deciding, on the basis of yetto-be-published guidance, whether permission is needed after all,

•

This enlarged tolerance runs only to 30 May 2016 and does not apply in conservation areas, AONBs or National Parks,

•

The larger extensions to commercial premises runs only to 30 May 2016 and still does not apply at all to catering establishments,

•

Before changing offices to resi, the developer must seek confirmation from the LPA as to whether prior approval is needed after all, but this can only be required on the basis of transport impact, contamination or flooding,

•

The LPA can take up to 8 weeks to make this determination and can require the payment of a fee for this “service”,

•

Lots of other stuff regarding the level of detail required for a prior approval determination.

THOUGHTS There is tremendous scope, in considering the new regulations, for the mixing of metaphors and, like most planning consultancies, Walsingham Planning does like a mixed metaphor. Messrs Pickles/ Boles have dug themselves a hole and kept digging, opened a can of worms, let several cats out of numerous bags and, having flung open the stable door, let a whole menagerie out. This appears to be tinkering on an unprecedented and unjustified level.

Though well-meant, the premise that relaxing planning regulations for house and other extensions would stimulate economic growth and revitalise the building industry, already on its knees, is a flawed one. The same can be said of the Portas-

AUTUMN 2013

led suggestion that would-be High Street entrepreneurs need a temporary fix in the change of use regulations in order to stimulate retail growth.

The demand for 8-metre house extensions is likely to be limited and such monsters are unlikely to be attractive additions to their host buildings. The 6-metre extension is, however, going to flourish on the back of terraced properties, many of them in HMO or C4 use, giving rise to untold neighbour disputes, enforcement problems, design nightmares and compromised household security. Councils are likely to be inundated with prior approval notifications, will lose fee income, incur additional expenses and get dragged into cross-boundary householder arguments.

The change of use of offices to resi is a change which perhaps had to be tried but it too puts a new burden on LPAs and their officers. Like pre-app discussions, the prior approval process will remain down the pecking order of priorities, compared to proper feepaying applications, and an 8-week turnaround for a decision is unduly long, especially when no mention is yet made about an appeal process or arbitration over disputed rulings. The throwaway line, that a fee might be charged for the determination, is, at present, too open-ended, but we’d be surprised if fees were not set at the same level as an application. Little thought seems to have been given as to how these PD rights might impact upon the need for affordable housing, the contributions paid by residential developers through S106 Agreements or, until the proposed CIL changes take effect, through CIL. If offices are converted to flats there will be less market for other flat developments which means fewer will be built which means there will be fewer affordable units provided as part of those schemes. That sounds a little bit like a negative impact – but of course the politicians will know better than us simple planners!

It might seem cynical to suggest that, by 30 May 2016, another government will be in place to pick up the pieces of these changes, but, as the national debt is not going to be paid back in this parliament, we can anticipate more tinkering in due course, when the deadlines have to be extended or the whole idea abandoned.

Most people will see these changes as unnecessary and unlikely to achieve the purpose for which they were devised.

The government will probably conclude that it’s worth giving it all a try, with no harm done if it fails, but, to conclude on another animalism, it’s all a bit of a dog’s breakfast.

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems adoption in Cambridgeshire

A

pproval and Adoption policies have been under discussion and consultation of late following the publication of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 with the responsibility for adoption heading towards county councils. The Act introduced the SUDS Approval Body (SAB), a role to be taken up by county and unitary authorities, who will be responsible for approving and in some cases, adopting and maintaining new SUDS schemes.

The Flood and Water Management Act (2010) designates the County Council as the ‘Lead Local Flood Authority’ in Cambridgeshire. One of the new statutory duties for the Council is to become a SUDS Approving Body (SAB). The Council as a SAB will be responsible for determining SUDS applications for new developments and adopting and maintaining the appropriate SUDS. However, in recent discussions with Cambridgeshire County Council SUDS Drainage Engineer it seems that it may well be some time before their policy of adoption of SUDS schemes will commence due to further rounds of consultation presently being carried out by Government Departments.

Given the uncertain timescales of the SAB commencement, and the level of development already planned within Cambridgeshire, the county council is taking a proactive action regarding SUDS. Working in partnership with key stakeholders including the Environment Agency and District Councils, the county council is developing a handbook to promote the use of SUDS in new developments, and to provide support to local planning authorities before the SAB commencement. This handbook will be used as the local standards for SUDS in the county supported by the National Standards. In addition to detailing the local standards for SUDS in Cambridgeshire, the process of developing the handbook also helped raise awareness of the SAB duties, the associated implications, and reinforced on-going partnership working in flood risk management.

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FUTURE BUILD

Wild about Havergate

Dixe Wells, the author of a new book on Britain’s tiny islands, visits the littleknown bird sanctuary by the North Sea coast and the River Ore in Suffolk

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I

n the year of 1947 a seminal event took place in the life of Havergate Island: eight avocet chicks were reared here. That may not seem such an extraordinary occurrence, but for the fact that avocets had abandoned Britain 100 years beforehand and had not been seen since.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) promptly snapped up the island the following year (brilliantly, the first warden was called Reg Partridge) and the avocet of course is the RSPB’s emblem.

Suffolk’s only island (assuming you don’t count the man-made ones on Thorpeness Meare) is a joy to visit, though its status as a bird sanctuary makes the joy a rare one, with boat trips strictly rationed.

It’s also in no danger of being mistaken for any other British island. For all that it’s a river isle – squeezing itself into the narrow Ore – it feels distinctly as if it’s off the coast, since it is separated from the sea only by Orford Ness’ narrow strip

of shingle, and is surrounded and often flooded by saltwater. Furthermore, it only came into being some hundreds of years ago and has retained its sense of impermanence.

The quay from which the boat to Havergate sets sail provides a clue to the mystery of the island’s relatively recent creation. This is the Orford Quay, once a substantial sea port, where ships were built that waged war for a succession of English monarchs and made Orford one of the most important towns in the land. Today it is a quiet and unassuming place on the River Ore. When Daniel Defoe visited in 1722, Orford was already so reduced in stature that he could describe it as ‘once a good town but now decayed’. Orford Ness, the nemesis that brought about the town’s downfall, is almost literally a stone’s throw away.

A bank of shingle that once made Orford a safe and valuable harbour stretched an arm five miles southwards, all but cutting the community off from the English Channel and, at the same time, moulding

AUTUMN 2013

two marshy islands in the newly formed river. By the 16th century this pair had become one and Havergate Island – just under 2 miles long and half a mile in breadth at its very widest – came into being.

Landing at a long wooden jetty poking out into the river, visitors become aware immediately that much of the island is under water. A series of lagoons of varying brackishness takes up much of the northern half. These were partly created by the RSPB and are managed by a system of sluices to ensure the most favourable conditions for a variety of birds.

Meanwhile, marshes and little artificial islets on the lagoons provide space for building nests.

As a result, Havergate Island has become the place to come to if you want to get your fill of avocets. The series of five hides – four in the north and a single lonely one in the west – allow visitors to watch not only avocets but a huge array of other feathered guests such as curlew, terns, redshanks, gulls, turnstones, lapwings and plovers (including the beautiful golden plover).

Spoonbills feed here, sweeping their extraordinary probosces from side to side in the shallows before flipping their heads skywards to swallow the stickleback or shrimp or whatever other doomed prey they’ve hoovered up from the mud.

It’s not all waders and seabirds though.

Barn owls are a common sight, plundering the grassland for voles and shrews, while wheatears arrive en masse in the spring and autumn. Understandably, given its recent arrival on the planet, Havergate Island does not have much of a history prior to the coming of the RSPB. An embankment was built around it some 500 years ago to allow agriculture to take place, and there were farmers here eking out a living until the 1920s when the island’s cottage was finally abandoned.

A short-lived experiment soon after to extract shingle proved a financial failure. Somewhat comically, the electric generator installed in the cottage (to power the buggies that took the shingle from the pits to the Thames barges) shook the building to pieces. The foundations are all that remain, though nowadays there is a little cluster of wooden huts providing temporary accommodation for Kieren, the island’s warden, and the volunteers who help keep the island in order.

Earlier visitors included smugglers, who found Havergate Island’s isolation and proximity to the sea particularly advantageous, and made it a base for operations. In 1800, a local maidservant called Margaret Catchpole fell for one of these smugglers. Fell so badly indeed that she stole a horse and rode to London on

his behalf, an offence for which she found herself on a ship bound for Australia.

Inside the entrance to the Jolly Sailor pub in Orford you can see the poster offering a reward of £20 for her capture.

While there was much ado during World War II on Orford Ness – most of the radar that was used so effectively during the Battle of Britain and afterwards was developed there – Havergate Island has less of a distinguished military record.

Although it was taken over by the War Office, it was neglected and became partially flooded.

Only when the RSPB stepped in were matters remedied. Through their work, Havergate Island has become a glorious place to watch birds. Perhaps more surprisingly, it has also become a glorious place to watch hares. With no natural predators (assuming they keep their newborn from the attentions of the barn owls) a thriving colony has developed among the gorse bushes towards the western end of the island. They show rather less fear of humans than their mainland cousins and allow visitors to come quite close. ‘If the birds can find sanctuary here,’ they seem to say, ‘then so shall we.’

Tiny Islands

by Dixe Wills (AA Publishing), is out now in paperback, £14.99.

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AUTUMN 2013

Verified Views – Telling it like it is You may be familiar with CGI’s (computer-generated images) and how these impressive art forms are playing a key role in property marketing, but one area of this work you may not encounter so often is verified views.

Leading studio CGEye Ltd has been at the forefront of property visualisation for the last ten years, and Production Director Paul Smith explains why verified views are proving to be an invaluable tool in the planning process.

“From our perspective, our clients are reporting that planning committees are demanding more and more from applicants, particularly in sensitive areas of course, and a request for a verified view is pretty common these days”.

So what exactly is a verified view and why do they carry so much sway in planning decisions? “ To deal with the second part first, in simple terms verified views tell the absolute truth, and it gives an irrefutable insight into how a development will look in context. It answers all the questions about how it sits alongside neighbouring buildings, about how it might occlude other important buildings or landmarks, and generally leaves nothing to interpretation. If the planning committee like what they see, the chances of the application being passed quicker go up significantly”.

Camera setup

Homerton before

Paul explains the methodology behind verified views. “Firstly, the client has to decide which viewpoints are needed.

We then visit the site with our surveyors to record photographs from those positions. We note the camera height above ground, the lens settings and the time and date, with a plumb line suspended below the tripod to mark the spot precisely. Then, the surveyor sets up a station at exactly the same point and plots it’s position using GPS.

The next stage is to identify five reference points that will be visible in the photograph. These can be tops of lamp-posts, chimneys, church weathervanes or any easily identifiable point.

The surveyor then records these five points relative to their station and from this supplies us with a 3D CAD file and and Ordnance Survey map of the area, so we can place our 3d model of the building in the correct place.

The rest is down to us. We have to match the fives reference points in the CAD file to the corresponding points in the photograph, and that automatically positions the building model correctly against the photograph. We use the data from the time the photo’s were taken to position our sunlight model accurately as well. The final part of our job is to work a little magic in our image editing software to produce a convincing CGI – a composite image formed from the rendered building and the background photo.”

So what is the success rate of verified views? Well, the evidence is strong that they are working to great effect. CGEye have reported a success rate in excess of 95% in terms of successful

Homerton after applications where they have been used. Some of the biggest names in housing, including several regions of Linden Homes and a number of leading architects have benefited from the visuals prepared by CGEye. There’s little doubt that verified views are becoming an indispensable tool for anyone looking to smooth out the planning process, and should be high on the list of every developers’ armoury.

For more information call Martin Hopwood at CGEye Ltd on 01787 223674 or visit our website – www.cgeyeltd.com

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FUTURE BUILD

instant hedges T

he importance of hedging and screening can be overlooked – that is until you suddenly find yourself in need of privacy or protection. We receive many phone calls each day from people who are desperate for a solution to block out external influences from their private space but are unsure of how to achieve it. The reason behind their request can vary hugely from problematic neighbours to noise pollution from roads to visual eyesores. Regardless of the reason we are passionate about finding the correct solution for their specific situation. We are proud to be able to offer a range of hedging and screening from 60cm to 600cm tall.

Instant Hedges has been based on our main container nursery in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, for 8 years. We are fortunate enough to have the space to continue to grow and expand not only our container production side of the nursery but also our field grown production. Our central UK location allows us to deliver to the whole of the UK. Over the years we have identified some key trends in screening and have responded to these by increasing our range. The popularity of pleached trees over the past few years has skyrocketed. Pleached trees have the advantage of sitting neatly over a fence panel and extending the screening by almost the same height as the fence. In the past conifers may have been used to gain the height required but as land becomes more precious, economically and aesthetically, pleached trees have really found their niche. The structure of the pleached tree means minimal space is used in the garden and screening is given exactly where you need it. We offer a wide range of pleached trees both deciduous and evergreen. We also offer a variety of stem heights, both standard pleached trees and low pleaches to solve all screening needs. All ranges of budgets are catered for with freshly pleached and established mature pleached trees. Our range includes Liquidamber and Pyrus Chanticleer as well as Carpinus and Parrotia persica.

We have also seen a major uplift over the last couple of years in the demand for mixed native hedges. This was accentuated at Hampton Court this year where mixed native hedges seemed to be on trend. Our mixed native hedge supplied to Weald Design was awarded a gold medal and has triggered a surge in recent demand. We offer the flexibility to adapt the mix to your specific requirements.

Some of the species included in the mix are Prunus spinosa, Corylus avellana, Acer campestre and Viburnum opulus.

Instant Hedges business and reputation has grown over the years but our commitment to offering complete end to end service from consultancy through sourcing, supply and distribution to planting and maintenance has remained. Managing Director Nick Angel concludes: “Our reputation has been built on the expertise of our personnel, our appreciation of customer expectation, the quality and service and the value-for-money we are able to deliver on each and every project.”

For more information contact Instant Hedges on 01296 399585 or email sales@instanthedges.co.uk. www.instanthedges.co.uk Twitter: @InstantHedges Facebook: Instant Landscapes Ltd.

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AUTUMN 2013

Building Information Modelling: Ask The Expert James ParsonsMoore tells Future Build about the use of CAD software in the housing design industry and the future of the design profession.

Tell us a bit about yourself Working as an architectural technician for a predominantly housing-based architectural practice, I started to realise that the way in which we worked clearly wasn’t the way things should be done. Using basic 2D CAD to produce both planning and working drawings would often become a logistical coordination nightmare. We’ve all been there, where we have to produce a window/door schedule for a project and slowly drown in a sea of drawings and highlighter pens! I remember one particular project having 530 units; the window schedule alone took days to fully coordinate. Even then there was still a lot of work to do to keep it up-to-date and revised accordingly with any changes to the design.

A few years previously I received training on Autodesk ADT (Architectural Desktop) and figured that this could definitely help us improve certain aspects of our workflow and coordination. It did in many ways, but it also lacked that extra little bit of magic I felt we needed. It was then (2005) that I looked at my 1st BIM Solution. It completely changed the way I thought! It was my “eureka” moment! I knew right then that this is the way in which we should all be working. So, I taught myself how to use the software over the next few months, before starting to use it on project work. I became proficient fairly quickly and learned the best ways in which to use the software. As the CAD manager for the office (around 40-50 Architects and Technicians) it was part of my job to implement new procedures and help anyone in the office if they were struggling with anything. I decided that I actually really enjoyed doing this part more than the design work! This led to me joining one of the largest UK Autodesk resellers as one of their application engineers. After learning how to train and implement the software as an “Autodesk Approved Trainer”, I could see how the design software market was moving forward and knew I could play a part in helping it along. In the last 4 years I have trained close to 1000 people in the industry how to use Revit.

What services do you (Computer Aided Business Systems) offer?

Our aim is to educate the masses by bringing the new drawing methods to designers and showing them how to make their job much easier! I’m pretty confident that we can help 99% of architectural, interior design, structural engineer and M&E consultants to improve the way in which they work. Whether it is getting them to use the software that they currently use in a better and more productive way, or showing them the benefits of BIM and how it will help them to work more efficiently.

What’s the difference between BIM and CAD software?

CAD is the generic term for any computer-based design software. It actually covers anything from a small 2D sketch to a full 3D parametrically constrained BIM model. As long as you’re designing it on the computer, then it is CAD (Computer Aided Design).

BIM is the AEC equivalent of digital prototyping in the manufacturing world. Just like with digital prototyping, you create a full model of the building design on the screen using tools for each discipline to help you quickly and accurately create a detailed model, adding materials, building component information, costing and schedules.

You can then ‘simply’ create different views of your model. Automatically producing sections, elevations, details, schedules, material take-offs, 3D visualisation and photorealistic renders.

What are the advantages of using BIM? The 2 key words when using BIM are PRODUCTIVITY and CO-ORDINATION. The speed in which you can work using any BIM solution is phenomenal compared to using traditional 2D CAD systems. For instance, you can move and change a window style/ size/position in an elevation and have it automatically update the plan, the sections cutting through it, the schedule that its being picked up in and in any 3D visualisation.

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FUTURE BUILD

Currently most designers will use a mixture of CAD, such as AutoCAD or Microstation and then use Excel to produce any schedules. Afterward they would then use a visualisation piece of software such as Trimble SketchUp or Autodesk 3D Studio Max to produce any visualisations they require. This all often involves reproducing many steps of the design work in a completely uncoordinated manner. BIM allows you to do all of this work at once, in a completely coordinated way, by either looking at your model in different views and by extracting information in the form of a schedule.

Imagine being able to snag problems on the computer rather than on site: A problem on site can hold up the entire construction phase costing thousands if not careful. Using a BIM model to create a prototype of the building on the screen means you can check so much more at a much earlier stage.

Can anybody learn how to use design software, or is it worth employing a specialist?

Literally anyone that is part of any design team involved in construction can and should learn how to use Revit. There isn’t one part of the team that it couldn’t help to improve their current workflow.

I would say that an essential yet mostly underappreciated role at any architectural/design practice is that of the CAD Manager. Yet it seems most smallto medium-sized practices completely neglect this role, instead choosing one of the technical staff to help out as and when they can. This often works out badly as the technical staff will always have pressure of project work and deadlines, meaning that they will often not get time to give this joint role the time and effort it needs.

One way around this is to have what I call a “Mobile CAD Manager” - someone that can come in once or twice a month and help with any problems, training or content creation for family/block libraries. This could very easily work out as a cheaper and a much more efficient way of managing your BIM/CAD systems.

We currently have several companies on CAD Management support contracts, helping them all to work more efficiently and productively, without having to worry about losing a member of staff to do the work.

In today’s environment, it’s important to have a balance between cost and speed. Surely it’s cheaper to just hand draw everything? If you asked a BMW engineer to design you a new engine, do you think he’d crack open the “Rotring” pens? Do you think he’d open up his copy of AutoCAD 2004 and start drawing? Would he even open up a copy of AutoCAD 2013? Of course not! There is a good reason for this: It’s not because the programmes and aids haven’t been OK in the past; it’s just that the design and manufacturing industry has moved on. They know that if they tried to design this new engine in any of these ways it would take them forever and a day. It wouldn’t necessarily be the time it takes to draw, it would be the coordination of the whole thing. For example, making sure that there are no clashes

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and that everything is in the right place. This is all extremely important in the manufacturing industry when you consider the cost implications of perfecting designs on the “Drawing Board” before any prototypes have been built. From one design, there could be literally thousands of products produced, so imagine if there was even one small problem with the design! This is why the manufacturing industry is always looking at new ways of making their design phase work better. A manufacturing designer would use a piece of CAD software called Digital Prototyping: Basically creating the finished article on the screen. This way they can test the design, take off quantities of materials, run analysis and produce the manufacturing drawings straight from the design.

This means that they have an accurate, perfectly coordinated set of drawings and design data. The AEC Industry however, is somewhat behind in this development. The software and expertise is already here; there just always seems to be a reluctance to move forward.

Is there an argument that if designers rely on software, the skills of architectural design will die out?

Design is an art form! The design process can often start far sooner than any CAD software has even been touched. There will always be a place for getting ideas down on to a piece of paper and using a drawing board. The simple answer is no, because a designer should never rely solely on the software for design. Any CAD system is a tool to allow the designer to accurately produce design documentation.

Where do you see the computer-based housing design industry going in the future?

I strongly believe that Building Information Modelling is here to stay. The technique of using a building model with information rich, intelligent components will be the way that designers work for many years to come.

Within the next few years nearly everyone will be using BIM in some form or another. It’s evolution: Drawing board to digital drawing boards (CAD) to BIM. The next advances will be around the technology we use for output and coordination. We are at the dawn of great hand held technology such as iPads and other tablet-style devices. Augmented reality is becoming a part of design. I don’t think it will be long before we start to see ‘Minority Report’ style computers where we’re using touch and hand gestures to design and coordinate. In this fast moving pace of modern technology it’s becoming more important to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ because if you don’t keep up… you’ll be left behind!

James has recently joined Computer Aided Business Systems as BIM Implementation Specialist.

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Eastern region house market In bullish mood

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he Eastern Region house sector has recorded an increase in planning applications, new developments, transaction volumes and mortgage approvals according to new research from Bidwells, one the UK’s leading property consultancieswww. bidwells.co.uk/research

this decade. However, with housing construction persistently well below demand for the past twenty years in most markets (approximately 110,000 new homes come to market every year, but informed commentators suggest that the figure should be over 200,000), it is unlikely that new supply will have a moderating effect on pricing.

The latest research, which provides an overview of the housing market with particular reference to the East region and the Northern Home Counties, concluded that:

The Report concludes that The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has yet to fulfil the Government’s ambition of stimulating economic growth via new construction, as housing land allocations in England actually fell sharply in the two years to mid-2012 and over 272,700 new homes disappeared from the development pipeline. It highlights the fact that as Local Authorities are no longer required to follow the provisions set out in Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), most Councils appear “ill-prepared” for NPPF despite the year’s grace they were given - resulting in a contraction of the national residential land.

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House prices in the East Region have firmed up in the past six months. The Cambridge and Milton Keynes markets have recorded quarterly increases of 1-2% - almost double the national average

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The Government’s Help to Buy scheme is anticipated to prove more effective in terms of stimulating the market than any of its previous interventions

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There has been a notable upturn in activity from both first-time buyers and private investors attracted by a lettings market which has grown by 4-5% per annum over the last seven years

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The Cambridge residential investment market is buoyant - driven by rapid population growth, limited supply, a prosperous economy and a strong private investment sector, as well as institutional investors from both the UK and overseas

Bidwells expects the supply of new houses to rise gradually in 2013 and for the remainder of

Commenting for Bidwells, Guy Jenkinson, Head of New Homes said: “The Report reinforces what we have been thinking for some time: that the Eastern Region is probably the fastest growing region outside London for a whole host of reasons.

For example, places like Cambridge are attracting major international brands (and therefore creating thousands of jobs), many consumers are opting for the lifestyle choices the region offers and homes are more affordable than London and many parts of the Home Counties. In addition, the Cambridge Lettings market has more in common with London than East Anglia, therefore the collective impact of all these factors on the region’s housing market will inevitably lead to sustained and uninterrupted growth.”

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Ancient trees under threat

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his is the time of year to spot diseases such as ash dieback, but there are plenty of other threats to our natural landscape.

The Woodland Trust is concerned almost 84,000 ancient, veteran or notable trees are in danger from a multitude of pests and diseases, including 7,000 treasured ash trees which could be at risk from ash dieback. More than 115,000 trees, some of which have survived for more than 1,000 years, are registered on the charity’s Ancient Tree Hunt website and the majority of these could face direct threats from pests and diseases.

Ancient trees are the natural equivalent of listed buildings; they’ve stood for hundreds of years and witnessed historic events while watching silently in the background. Many, like the 11 metre girthed Big Belly Oak in the Savernake Forest, have played a crucial role in our history and folklore, and can never be replaced through replanting. Sadly, ash dieback is not the only threat to our ancient trees; there are at least 15 known diseases and pests that pose an immediate threat.

These include Acute oak decline and the oak processionary moth, Phytopthora Kernoviae, which affects oak and beech, and Dothistroma needle blight which affects Scots pine.Not all the dangers

These huge stalwarts have taken centuries to grow and their loss would just be devastating not only for the landscape but also for the environment facing our ancient trees are natural; some are man-made such as HS2.

Austin Brady, head of conservation at the Trust, said: “Losing some trees to diseases and pests is all part of life and death in the forest, but to lose our precious ancient trees would be absolutely terrible. These huge stalwarts have taken centuries to grow and their loss would just be devastating not only for the landscape but also for the environment.

“At the Woodland Trust we are looking at ways to fight tree disease and we will be holding a conference in June with some of the top minds in conservation, forestry and tree health to find a way forward for our country’s trees and woods. We need

DESIGN AND ACCESS STATEMENTS SCRAPPED FOR MOST SCHEMES

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esign and access statements will be scrapped for the vast majority of planning applications in England and Wales, the UK government has confirmed.

Only major projects and schemes involving listed buildings will now require the statements, which until now have been needed for almost all planning applications. Where design and access statements are required, the government said it would also reduce the amount of information required.

The announcement was made as part of the government’s response to a consultation held earlier this year on streamlining the planning application process.

DCLG said: “Reducing the number of applications that require a Design and Access Statement would remove statutory burdens on applicants, but it is not considered that this would be at the expense of good design and accessibility.

As such, the proposal will be taken forward as consulted on.”

the public to help by getting into the great outdoors, looking at trees and checking them for signs of disease, so we have as accurate a picture of the situation as possible.”With spring finally here, the next tree to come into leaf will be our iconic ash which is threatened by ash dieback or Chalara fraxinea.

At this time of year one of the easiest ways to see if a tree is suffering from ash dieback is to look at a young branch and scratch a little of the bark off, if it is green underneath the tree is healthy, if it is brown it is not. Watch out for wilting on the leaves, which may throughout the summer become more blackened but still stay on the branch, diamond-shape lesions on the trunk or a balding crown.

To find out more about spotting ash dieback and other tree diseases already present in the UK, or to record possible disease in an ancient tree near you, download the Tree Alert app or visit www. forestry.gov.uk The Trust is also working with UK nurseries to avoid any diseases being accidentally imported into the country on young saplings. The charity is working with Forest Research on test sites, growing 30,000 ash trees from 11 different seed provenances at two sites, in order to find a genetic strain of the species resistant to the disease to safeguard it for the future.

However, the response also stated that councils will be able to set their own design and access policies in local plans leaving applicants to explain how they meet these criteria “in a proportionate manner”.

Advantages: saves wasted time regurgitating the same or similar text and images of development for dubious benefit, when the character is either obvious or not in need of over justification and dressing up, for what is an allocated housing (or whatever) site. Design is a cohesion process arising from the soup of facts and information which is laborious to then re-analyse and pull out the sequence of such facts and information in what is an artificial extrapolation. Designers just design and it works. They have convergent thinking minds, not the more common divergent thinking intelligence of normal academic analytical measurement. Creative minds produce answers (design solutions) that are best discussed around a planning table – and producing a fancy glossy document is unnecessary window dressing.

On the other hand, the D&A (as it is always shortened to) offers the opportunity to explain the thinking process and benefits of a scheme, and set out a logical compendium of the thinking process. This is from site analysis through to final solution, bringing in windows of each component part, from soil analysis, remediation, archaeology, vegetation, microclimate, adjacent land use, constraints –in the form of services, easements, rights of way, designations, ecology etc, and the design factors, character, urban design, landscape design, architectural references, etc. It forces a discipline that allows boxes to be ticked off, and certainty of the right solution being delivered for a political arena of adjudicators who are not necessarily experts in all these fields.

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Butterflies on the brink Walberswick may have lost its silver-studded blues, but a new colony at Blaxhall Common flourishes. By Pete Eeles

Summer 2012 was a calamity for butterflies, and they need help, says Laurie Forsyth

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W

e just love talking about weather. In no other country do complete strangers have such a great excuse for a natter, and it seems only yesterday we were all grousing about the agonisingly slow spring that even in May had barely begun. The British Isles are squeezed between an enormous landmass to the east, and a vast ocean to the west, so no wonder we get weather, and lots of it. Throw in the extreme weather events happening annually because of global warming, and you have enough to keep people chatting for ages.

In cold weather we worry about our gardens. Farmers are anxious about crops. Seaside businesses pray for the sun, but for nobody in East Anglia is cold weather a life-or-death crisis. People who lived in caves during the last glaciation knew a thing or two about icebox weather, and the effect of late, cold springs. They were hunters, and their survival depended upon the animal herds that migrated each spring to feeding grounds on the tundra.

With superb artistry, they ‘captured’ the animals on the rocky walls of caves.

Woolly mammoth, reindeer, musk ox, woolly rhinoceros – they are still there, waiting in the blackness of caves, 30,000 years after they were painted during the great cold. Might one of those brilliant and observant artists have grown tired of painting enormous, ponderous beasts and

painted a colourful butterfly instead? He could have if he saw one, but he didn’t get the chance, because butterflies can only flourish in a world of warmth. For them, cold, wet weather really is a life-or-death matter, because without warmth, they can’t function at all.

Butterflies in the UK have been in a spiral of decline for decades. Poor summers have been an important factor, and so has the deterioration of butterfly habitats. Intensive farming methods strip a landscape of farmland flowers that are a life-sustaining source of nectar to butterflies and other insects. Overgrazing of pastures, meadows and marshes can change the composition of the flora for the worse, whilst the absence of grazing or haymaking may see flowers replaced by scrub. Left unmanaged, woodland butterfly habitats will become too shaded for the profusion of wild flowers that produce nectar for adult butterflies, and which are food plants for caterpillars.

Unfortunately for butterflies, instead of the increase in temperatures that global warming seems to imply, we are getting its downside: climate change and extreme weather events that have become an annual occurrence in the UK. Climate change is never far away: the Romans produced wines from very many vineyards, but then came centuries of the Little Ice Age, when Frost Fairs were held on the frozen river at London

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Bridge. People and wildlife must adapt. Insects respond rapidly to changing conditions, and experts observed decades ago that some butterflies in England are moving north, and even into Scotland.

Northern species that prefer colder temperatures are being found at higher altitudes on hillsides and mountains.

The summer of 2012 has gone into the record books as the The Summer That Never Was: it was the wettest summer for 100 years.

Surveys of butterflies show that for 52 of our 56 UK species, 2012 was the worst year ever. In some areas of the country, some of the rarer species – fritillaries – now face extinction. The relentless rain and cold were disastrous for butterflies seeking shelter, food or mating opportunities.

Against the odds, some of the summer species increased in number. The deluge stimulated a vigorous growth of grasses, which was good for the grass-eating caterpillars of the meadow brown, gatekeeper, grayling and ringlet – all butterflies you are likely to see in Suffolk and Norfolk. Also - great news – the resurgent silverwashed fritillary was seen in 17 Suffolk woodlands, and is known to be breeding in five. Other local butterflies however fared badly, including the brimstone, common blue, green hairstreak, white-letter hairstreak, small tortoiseshell, orange-tip, all three ‘whites,’ and the seemingly extinction-bound wall brown.

Many of these butterflies were already in low numbers, following years of decline. Conservation efforts by our two county wildlife trusts, the RSPB and Butterfly Conservation (BC) have boosted populations, but the gains have been offset by the losses of last summer and the recent cold spring. ‘Our work in recent years to halt declines has been halted by the 2012 catastrophe,’ says Dr Tom Brereton, BC’s Head of Monitoring. It has been a serious downturn for butterflies and for conservation hopes, but it will stimulate even greater effort to improve the fortunes of even the most common species. Thousands of gardeners in Suffolk and Norfolk want to see butterflies flitting in their flower borders. They add colour, movement and life, and almost any garden can become

Suffolk is on the verge of losing its wall browns.

By Pete Eeles

A new colony of white admirals in Bradfield Woods is now 8 years old. By Pete Eeles

2012 was a bad year for migrants like the painted lady

The comma was late to emerge from hibernation this year

Norfolk beauty: the swallowtail. By Jill Clarke

a place where they can refuel by sipping nectar, mate and lay eggs.

You don’t need to let your garden become a jungle to do so, and most of the useful butterfly plants are very attractive indeed. Think buddleia, candytuft, salvia, sage, catmint, lavender, thyme, hyssop, alyssum, ice plant and sedum.

By supporting the work of Butterfly Conservation as a member you will keep abreast of events in the world of butterflies and also moths. You will support the multi-faceted activities of the charity via the Suffolk or Norfolk branches of BC, through member newsletters, meetings and field trips: you can also join butterflymonitoring surveys. In Suffolk, excitement is high about the silver-studded blue butterfly: this rare heathland species was translocated to heathery Blaxhall Heath five years ago, and year by year, the colony has increased, despite the 2012 deluge. Meanwhile, volunteers are steadily improving Purdis Heath and a dozen fragments of Ipswich heathland for the blue, and other heathland species. In Norfolk, apart from watching over the butterflies of the county, BC members join surveys and also visit Catfield Fen nature reserve – a wonderful, reedy expanse of the Ant Valley, and home to the gliding swallowtail butterfly. The nature reserve is one of 34 scattered across Britain that are owned or managed by BC. Sir David Attenborough is the President of Butterfly Conservation. Nationally the charity is working to develop a network of 12 landscape-scale conservation areas, by connecting valuable fragments of good habitat to create single large units, rich in wildlife and potentially of great benefit to butterflies. Everybody loves butterflies: Butterfly Conservation was delighted - and astonished – when over 25,000 people joined the Big Butterfly Count in the awful summer of 2012. The survey will be repeated in July and August.

To find out more, and how you can help the butterflies of East Anglia, or become a member of Butterfly Conservation, please visit either www. suffolkbutterflies.org.uk, or www.norfolk-butterflies.org.uk

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Gardens to discover this autumn

Looking for some interesting gardens to visit this autumn?

From Beth Chatto’s remarkable ex-wasteland plot to a stunning water garden at West Stow, we’ve picked out some of the best in Suffolk and Essex

WOODWARDS The owners of this award-winning sloping garden have designed it to appeal all year, with splashes of colour from the thousands of bulbs, perennials, island beds and shrubs. The last three years have seen more than 25,000 bulbs planted in this pleasant and imaginatively created garden.

Woodwards, Blacksmiths Lane, Coddenham, Ipswich, IP6 9TX www.ngs.org.uk Opening times: Suns, 26 May, 18 June, 21, 30 July, 6, 25 Aug (10.00am 5.30pm). Also by appointment mid-Mar to late Aug. Call 01449 760639 Admission; £2.50, children free

SUFFOLK EAST BERGHOLT PLACE GARDEN There’s much to see in this pleasant garden,which has been described as a Cornish garden in Suffolk, with 20 acres ofunusual flowering trees, rhododendrons, wild flowers and woodland walks.

Rambling roses and hydrangeas bloom in summer, while autumn sees stunning colour changes. There is also a specialist plant centre in a Victorian walled garden.

The Place for Plants, East Bergholt Place, CO7 6UP www.placeforplants.co.uk Opening times: 1 Mar to 30 Sept, daily except Easter Sunday (10am-5pm).

Call 01206 299224 Admission: £6.00, children free KENTWELL HALL GARDEN One of the best parts of this moated Tudor mansion’s garden is the walled

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garden, with scores of espaliered fruit trees including about 60 types of apple and nearly as many pear. The moat running through the garden makes a wonderful scene, as do majestic trees like cedar, oak, and lime, and the acers and flowers of the shrubbery.

Kentwell Hall, Long Melford, Sudbury, CO10 9BA www.kentwell.co.uk Opening times: Visit website or call 01787 310207 to enquire Admission: £10.80, children aged 5-15 £7.20. Discounts available online LUCY REDMAN GARDEN AND B&B Described by owner Lucy Redman as ‘maximalist’, this intriguing garden is divided up into themed compartments.

The Woodland Garden, Unusual Bulb Garden, Asian Border and Rhizome Garden and others are filled with a wide range of plants, interwoven with sculptures.

Call: 07772 457063

FULLERS MILL GARDEN Rare shrubs, lilies, perennials and marginal plants lead down to the River Lark in this enchanting garden, which has something to see all year. Visit the Meditteranean-style Top Garden, the River and Mill Pond, the floral displays of the Quandaries, the sun-loving plants of The Strip and more.

Fullers Mill Garden, West Stow, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 6HD. www.fullersmillgarden.org.uk Opening times: From 1 Apr to the end of Sept, Wed, Fri and Sun (2.00pm 5.00pm). Oct, Wed and Fri (2.00 5.00pm). Call 01284 728888 Admission: £3.50.

HENSTEAD EXOTIC GARDEN Designed by Andrew Brogan, this garden is crammed with all sorts of exotic plants, such as tree ferns, bananas and more than 200 bamboos. Look across the garden from a Thai-style viewing pavilion on stilts, take the tiered walk through bamboo and gunnera, and see palms and ferns growing among rock formations.

Henstead Exotic Garden, Yew Cottage, Church Road, Henstead, NR34 7LD. www.hensteadexoticgarden.co.uk Opening times: 2.00pm to 5.00pm every Wed. Call 07715 876606 to confirm.

Admission: £3.00, children free.

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ICKWORTH HOUSE AND PARK Around this famous Georgian palace are some of the finest Italianate gardens in the country, with box hedging and Mediterranean planting. Besides these, you’ll see the large Victorian stumperies, a temple garden, and a 19th-century orangery, and extensive parkland.

Ickworth House, The Rotunda, Bury St Edmunds, IP29 5QE. Opening times: go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ickworth or call 01284 735270.

Admission: House, park and gardens £10.40, child £5.00, NT members free.

SOMERLEYTON HALL GARDENS The gardens around this excellent TudorJacobean mansion are sure to delight visitors. This is where you can find iron and glass greenhouses created by Joseph Paxton, architect of Crystal Palace.

Roses, clematis and vines rub shoulders with a yew maze from 1846, monkey puzzle, tulip trees and Eucalyptus Gunii.

Somerleyton Hall, Lovingland, NR32 5QQ www.somerleyton.co.uk Opening times: April to Sept, Tues-Thu and Sun, BH Mon (10.00am-5.00pm).

Call 01502 734901 Admission: Hall and gardens £9.95, children £4.95.

ESSEX MARKS HALL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM Among many highlights here is the historic Walled Garden, a mix of modern and traditional landscaping and planting.

The Millennium Walk is a great

combination of scenery, structure and scents. Visitors can also see a swamp inspired by Florida’s Everglades, as well as Europe’s largest concentration of the endangered Wollemi Pine.

Marks Hall, Coggeshall, CO6 1TG www.markshall.org.uk.

Opening times: March to Nov, Tues-Sun and BH Mon (10.30am-5.00pm).

Call 01376 563796 to confirm.

Admissions: £4.50, children £1.50.

RHS GARDEN HYDE HALL Whenever you visit, RHS Garden Hyde Hall has a lot to offer. Spring sees rhododendrons and camelias at their best, and daffodils flowering in the Queen Mother’s Garden. In summertime, the drought-resistant plants of the colourful Dry Garden are a must-see, while autumn provides a riot of colour across the garden.

RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford, CM3 8ET. www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/hyde-hall Opening times: Mar to Oct (10.00 am-6.00 pm), Nov to Feb (10.00am-4pm).

Call 0845 265 8071 Admissions: £7.95, children aged 5-16 £4.00, children aged 4 and under free.

FEERINGBURY MANOR GARDEN On an ancient site once owned by William the Conqueror, 14th-century Feeringbury Manor is surrounded by carefully conceived gardens, complimented by Ben Coode-Adams’s innovative metal sculptures. With ponds, a main lawn filled with wild flowers overlooking the River Blackwater, and a huge array of shrubs, annuals, perennials and other plants, there’s something to see here all year.

Feeringbury Manor Garden, Coggeshall Road, Feering, CO5 9RB. For the National Gardens Scheme go to www.ngs.org.uk.

Opening times: Thu-Fri, 4 Apr to 26 July, 5 Sept to 27 Sept (10.00am-4.00pm).

Call 01376 561946. Admissions: £5.00, children free.

SALING HALL GARDEN A visit to the evocative garden at Elizabethan Saling Hall reveals pools, a temple, rare trees and a walled garden that can be traced to 1698. Each part has been carefully designed to create different moods, with classical and oriental references. Since 1975, gardening writer and owner Hugh Johnson has documented the garden in Trad’s Diary www.tradsdiary.com Saling Hall Garden, Great Saling, Braintree, CM7 5DT. www.salinghall.com Opening times: email visits@salinghall. com. For more details and prices call 01371 850243.

BETH CHATTO GARDEN Garden designer and author Beth Chatto has transformed an unpromising area of wasteland into a wide range of garden displays. These include clay, gravel and alpine planting alongside a colourful water garden and woodland, giving great examples of gardening in difficult conditions.

The Beth Chatto Gardens, Elmstead Market, Colchester, CO7 7DB www.bethchatto.co.uk Opening times: 1 Mar to the end of Oct, Mon-Sat ( 9.00am - 5.00pm), Sun (10.00am - 5.00pm), 1 Nov to the end of Feb, Mon-Fri (9.00am - 4.00pm), Sun 910.00am - 4.00pm). Closed 2 weeks over Christmas. Admission: £6.95, accompanied children 14 and under free.

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norfolk EAST RUSTON OLD VICARAGE GARDEN A microclimate in the heart of a prairie landscape, this impressive and diverse garden by the North Sea has previously been named one of Europe’s 50 best gardens by The Independent. Sheltered

by Monterey Pines, Eucalyptus and Italian alder, displays include Mediterranean Garden, Rose Garden, Desert Wash and Exotic Garden.

East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden, East Ruston, Norwich, NR12 9HN www.e-ruston-oldvicaragegardens.co.uk Opening times: 27 Mar to 26 Oct, Wed-Sun and BH Mon (2pm - 5.30pm).

Call 01692 650432 Admission: £7.50, children aged 3-14 £1.

OXBURGH HALL GARDEN Against the backdrop of a beautiful 15th-century moated manor house, these gardens are well worth seeing. Begun in the Victorian era, they include the vibrant French parterre, filled with thousands of plants, a herbaceous border and a walled garden. Close by, the woodlands are perfect for a peaceful walk.

Oxburgh Hall, Oxborough, near Swaffham, PE33 9PS Opening times: go to www.nationaltrust. org.uk/oxburgh-hall or call 01366 328258 Admission: House and garden £8.10, children £ 4.05, NT members free

NORFOLK LAVENDER GARDEN England’s premier lavender farm is one of this region’s gems. These famous gardens are at their best during the summer months, when the various lavenders are in full bloom. You can also learn how to grow your own lavenders, and visit the lavender oil distillery. A Farm Shop and Rare Breed Animal Centre are extra attractions.

Norfolk Lavender Garden, Caley Mill, Heacham, King’s Lynn, PE31 7JE www.norfolk-lavender.co.uk Opening time: Mon-Sun (9.00am 5.00pm). Call 01485 570384 Admission: Free.

THE EXOTIC GARDEN Will Giles’s unique garden is a remarkable tropical experience. In the summer it becomes a true jungle, as tree ferns, palms and banana trees like the purple Abyssinian banana form canopies over the displays. Smell exotic scents of jasmine and gingers, and see a host of tropical and sub-tropical plants including Monstera and Bromeliads.

The Exotic Garden, 126 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1UL www.exoticgarden.com Opening times: Every Sun from 16 June to 20 Oct (1.00pm - 5.00pm), Sat afternoons from 6 July to 31 Aug (1pm 5pm). Call 01603 623167 Admission: £4.50.

HINDRINGHAM HALL GARDENS On either side of a complete moat dating back to 1100, these gardens contain a wide variety of plants, trees and flowers.

Enter a copse of chestnut, hornbeam and evergreen oak trees, which fills with seasonal flowers, take the shady Victorian nut walk, and see the Water Garden and radiant herbaceous borders.

Hindringham Hall Gardens, Blacksmiths Lane, Hindringham, N” 0QA www.hindringhamhall.org Opening times: 27 Mar to 9 Oct, Weds (10.00am - 4.30pm). Call 01328 878226Admission: £6.

FELBRIGG HALL GARDEN The garden at this 17th-century country house contains plenty of inspiration for visitors. There is a wonderful walled garden with fruit trees, flowers, and shrubs, an orchard with beehives, and one of the country’s last working octagonal dovecotes . Also, look out for the west garden’s collection of redwood trees.

Felbrigg Hall, Felbrigg, Norwich, NR11 8PR Opening times: go to www.nationaltrust.

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org.uk/felbrigg-hall or call 01263 837444 Admission: Whole property £9, children £4.25, NT members free.

HOUGHTON HALL GARDEN A winner of the Christies and Historic Houses Association Garden of the Year Award, Houghton Hall Garden is filled with many beautiful sights. There is a rose parterre that is home to over 150 different varieties of rose, an Italian Garden and an impressive double-sided herbaceous border. A temple, a glass house and Jeppe Hein’s Waterflame fountain add to its appeal.

Houghton Hall Garden, King’s Lynn, PE31 6UE www.houghtonhall.com Opening times: 17 May to 29 Sept, Wed-Sun and Bank Hols (11.00am 5.00pm, last admission 4.30pm). Call 01485 528569 Admission: Gardens and grounds, £8, children £3 BLICKLING HALL GARDEN Daffodils, wisteria, rhododendron, hellebores and primroses are just some of the plants you can find in this attractive garden. There is a superb parterre that was created in the 1930s by socialite

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www.bressingham.co.uk Opening times: 28 Mar to 3 Nov, daily (10.30am - 5.00pm). Call 01379 686900 Admission: £8.75, children aged 3-16 £5.

SANDRINGHAM HOUSE GARDEN The Queen’s Norfolk retreat is surrounded by 24 hectares of the best Royal gardens in the country, and the tastes of numerous generations of the Royal family are reflected in its layout. Of particular interest are the beautiful Stream Walk, the carrstone rockeries, and the pleached lime avenues in the North Garden.

Sandringham House Garden, Sandringham, PE35 6EN www.sandringhamestate.co.uk Opening times: 30 Mar to 3 Nov, except for the period 27 July to 2 Aug, reopening on 3 Aug (11.00am - 4.30pm; 3.30pm in Oct). Call 01485 545408 Admission: House, museum and gardens £12, children aged 5-15 £6.

Norah Lindsay, an orangery garden and nearby woodland with dazzling bluebell scenes.

Blickling Hall, Blickling, Norwich NR11 6NF Opening times: go to www.nationaltrust. org.uk/blickling-estate or call 01263 738030 Admission: Whole property £11.35, children £5.65, NT members free.

PENSTHORPE WILDLIFE AND GARDENS All year round, Pensthorpe’s spectacular gardens make a perfect destination. The renowned Millennium Garden combines perennials and grasses to great effect, and the Wave and Wave Line Garden is a relaxing lakeside spot under oak and birch trees. Then there is the Wildlife Habitat Garden, a haven for birds, insects and other small creatures.

Pensthorpe Wildlife and Gardens, Pensthorpe Road, Fakenham, N” 0LN www.pensthorpe.com [9]Opening times: Daily except Christmas Day and Boxing Day (10am - 5pm). Call 01328 851465 Admission: £9.75, children aged 4-16 £6.25.

FAIRHAVEN WOODLAND AND WATER GARDEN With a dazzling array of wild flowers from spring to winter, these tranquil woodlands and water gardens are well worth a visit throughout the year. Look out for the resident deer, kingfishers and nesting birds, and the 950-year-old King Oak. You can also take boat trips on Fairhaven’s own private broad.

Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden, School Road, South Walsham, Norwich, NR13 6DZ www.fairhavengarden.co.uk Opening times: Mar to Nov, daily (10.00am - 5.00pm), Dec to Feb, daily (10.00am - 4.00pm), open late every Wed during May, June, July and August until 9.00pm. Call 01603 270449 Admission: £6, children £3.50.

BRESSINGHAM STEAM AND GARDENS Visitors are sure to be impressed by these striking gardens. There is a wonderful assortment of perennials, while elsewhere you can see ornamental grasses, fragrant flowers, and trees and conifers such as the giant redwood. Bressingham is also home to a steam museum and the national Dad’s Army exhibition.

The Bressingham Gardens, Bressingham, Diss, IP22 2AB

GOODERSTONE WATER GARDENS These peaceful water gardens were previously damp meadowland, which was too wet for cattle to graze. Around the gardens are now 13 bridges, a trout stream, and a kingfisher hide, besides mature trees and shrubs, impressive borders and a bamboo grove.

Gooderstone Water Gardens, The Street, Gooderstone, King’s Lynn, PE33 9BP www.gooderstonewatergardens.co.uk Opening times: Daily (10.00am -5.30pm, last admission 4.30pm). Call 01603 712913 Admission: £6, children aged 0-16 free (accompanied only).

SHERINGHAM PARK These marvellous landscaped gardens were designed in 1812 by Humphrey Repton, who adapted them to incorporate sea views. Wildlife and flowers from around the world can be seen here, and mid May to early June is the time to view masses of brilliant rhododendrons in bloom.

Sheringham Park, Upper Sheringham, NR26 8TL Opening times: go to www.nationaltrust. org.uk/sheringham-park or call 01263 820550 Admission: Free, NT parking.

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FUTURE BUILD

The hills are alive . . . to the sound of rambling John Carter, expresenter of TV’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ programme and seasoned globetrotter discovered that ‘rambling needn’t be rough’ at the four star Hotel Goies in glorious Ladis, Austria

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I

’ve lost count of the number of times I have visited Austria over the years.

The earliest trips were to ski resorts, where I tried to learn how to slide down mountains without breaking my neck.

Though I managed, by and large, to remain upright, I was never bitten by the ski-ing bug, and in later years preferred visiting in the late spring and throughout the summer.

These were gentler excursions.

Undulating meadows offered pleasant walking. There were masses of wildflowers, warm sunshine and good companions to share the exercise and the food and wine - the well-earned food and wine, we always told ourselves - which followed. It was, I hate to admit, a sort of Sound of Music scenario come to life, the hills being alive with the sound of rambling and general merriment.

Not all my Alpine excursions were as pleasant, however. Once, I went to make a location report for a television travel programme, expecting the usual experience of flower-filled meadows, hearty food and wine and healthy exercise.

Unfortunately the director decided to “spice up” the trip by organising an adventure.

Clad in wet suits and hard hats we were required to travel on a large rubber raft at high speed down a rock-strewn river. For someone who does not swim this was not a good idea, though our guides pointed out

that even the strongest swimmer would be unlikely to survive the current and the rocks.

Discovering afterwards that they themselves had only done the trip once before - on the previous day “to find out if it was possible” did not help.

You can understand, therefore, why I studied the small print in the brochure which is on the desk before me as I write.

From RWH, it lists several Austrian walking holidays none of which, I am pleased to say, mention foaming torrents or rubber rafts.

It is safe to expect undulating meadows, moderate to tough terrain, energetic days and enjoyable evenings. I’m particularly taken with the holidays based in the tiny hamlet of Ladis, located a little under 4,000 feet above sea level in the far west of the Tyrol. With a population of less than 600, it usually links up with the neighbouring communities of Serfaus and Fiss to promote itself as a holiday destination. It is a long time since I was there, I have to admit, but what is best about Ladis is unlikely to have changed.

Back in the Middle Ages it was famous for its sulphur and salt springs, which were supposed to cure all manner of ailments, and though that aspect of Ladis is no longer heavily promoted, you can still take water from a local fountain, or buy it ready bottled.

The holiday that caught my eye - seven nights’ half-board accommodation in the four star Hotel Goies - provides guided

AUTUMN 2013

walks in Grade D+ as well as the tougher Grade C terrain. It is based on flights between Manchester or Heathrow and Zurich. The Goies has a good reputation, having been run by the Larcher family for many years, and its food is particularly singled out for praise by those who have stayed there. A five-course buffet meal every evening comes as part of the package. After a day’s walking these will, naturally, be well-earned meals!

As with all such holidays, it is best to know your capabilities and, for the sake of the group, not to take on routes that are beyond them.

A walk through the high meadows to the Anton Renk Hut, or the panoramic path at Kaunertal, with stunning views of glaciers, is graded D+, but an attempt on the 3,004 metre Furgler peak, one of the C options, is an obviously tougher prospect, even though the brochure promises “easy scrambling”.

At a time when some tour companies are in danger of losing sight of what their core clientele expects, it is good to see such well-organised holidays for serious walkers in such an up-market destination and hotel.

To savour this guided walking adventure for yourself, prices start at £920 per person for one week www. ramblersholidays.co.uk Tel: 01707 386 671.

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FUTURE BUILD

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Smart SEAT

Bollards International t: 01485 601145 e: bollards.admin@bollards-international.com www.bollards-international.com

ASIS

OASIS t: 01787 246 005 www.oasisltd.co.uk

Open-space Adoption - Simple Intelligent Solutions

We are successful, well established town planning development Seeand page 59 consultants opera ng

See page 17

The OASIS Vision is to ensure open spaces become a true asset of local communities. mainland UK. We have a wide range charities of exper se in as dealing Workingthroughout with community members, alongside registered (such West with the commercial, Suffolk Mind), OASISleisure, has a strategy thatand ensures rapid open educa on, residen al retail sectors.

Wespace take aadoption, personalised, posi ve, proac ve exemplary maintenance standards, reduced adoption cost and real community no-nonsense approachadds advising a wide variety of and clients.

We regard it as our role to answer participation, which altogether massive value, above beyond that commonly experienced from management companies.

your planning queries and solve your planning problems.

OASIS can take responsibility for the design, planning and adoption of public open spaces (POS), thereby saving developers time and hassle, as well as cost.

Get in contact and see if we can help

Save yourself time, hassle and money: Opt for OASIS – simple intelligent solutions to help you ensure your POS legacy becomes a true asset to the local community. Call OASIS now…

Practicality Brown t: 01753 652 022 e: sales@pracbrown.co.uk www.pracbrown.co.uk See pages 3 & 28

Just call us for a quote on: 01787 246005 (Ask for Luke Mitchell or Robert Tash) or write to us at: The Black Barn, Hall road, Lavenham, Suffolk CO10 9QX www.oasisltd.co.uk oasis_hp_ad.indd 1

Walsingham Planning t: 01628 532 244 e: bourne.end@walsingplan.co.uk www.walsingplan.co.uk 11/07/2012 15:05

See pages 32 & 36

HY-TEX

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Lignacite t: 01842 810 678 e: info@lignacite.co.uk www.lignacite.co.uk

Miracle Play t: 01604 658 240 www.miracledesignandplay.com

See page 23 – 25

See pages 31

Oak View Landscapes t: 01206 243 300 e: info@oakviewlandscapes.co.uk www.oakviewlandscapes.co.uk

CAM – Ltd t: 01473 831 000 e: sales@cam-ltd.co.uk www.cam-ltd.co.uk

See pages 32 & 33

See page 14–16

CabsCAD t: 01707 258 338 e: sales@cabs-cad.com www.cabs-cad.com

Ardent t: 020 7430 1209 e: enquiries@ardent-ce.co.uk www.ardent-ce.co.uk

See pages 44–46

See inside front over

Hy-Tex t: 01233 720 097 e: sales@hy-tex.co.uk www.hy-tex.co.uk

Charcon t: 01335 372 222 www.charcon.com

See page 9

See pages 12

www.instanthedges.co.uk See pages 42 & 43

AUTUMN 2013

Boningale Nurseries t: 01902 376500 e: enquiries@boningale.co.uk www.boningale.co.uk See pages 21 & 40

Instant Hedges Red Oak Farm t: 01296 399585 t: 01296 399585 e: sales@instanthedges.co.uk e: sales@instanthedges.co.uk www.instanthedges.co.uk

www.instanthedges.co.uk

See page 42 & 43

Cgeye t: 01787 223874 CgEye Ltd e: info@cgeyeltd.comt: 01787 223674 info@cgeyeltd.com www.cgeyeltd.com e: www.cgeyeltd.com

See page 41 and outside back cove

Red Oak SeeFarm pages 42 & 43 t: 01296 399585 e: sales@instanthedges.co.uk www.instanthedges.co.uk

See page 41 and outside back cover

See pages 42 & 43

Boningale Nurseries

Boningdale Nurseries t: 01902 376500 t: 01902 376500 e: enquiries@boningale.co.uk Boningale Nurseries e: enquiries@boningdales.co.uk www.boningale.co.uk t: 01902 376500 www.boningdale.co.uk e: enquiries@boningale.co.uk

See pages 21 www.boningale.co.uk

20–22 See pages 21 & 40& 40

& 40

BlakeBryson Publishing t: 01787 248216 e: richard@bbpmagazines.com www.bbpmagazines.co.uk www.bbpmagazines.co,

See pages 21 & 40

Oasis Ad_Layout 1 29/08/2013 16:22 Page 1 CgEye Ltd CgEye Ltd 01787 223674 t: 01787t:223674 e: info@cgeyeltd.com e: info@cgeyeltd.com www.cgeyeltd.com www.cgeyeltd.com

Here’s an alternative way to secure adoption fast See page 41 and outside back cover

See page 41 and outside back cover

Adoption of open space to fit your needs, programme and budget Dispose of all or just part of the space at one time (perhaps temporarily keeping some as your compound) – OASIS equals flexibility to suit your needs.

OASIS has a proven track record in adopting SUDS installations, and our investment strategy ensures water authority and local authority agreement to our adopting these facilities.

Call Bob Tash or James Blake on 01787 246005 and we’ll assess the open space and give you a quote back fast... and let’s explore together how we can assure you a hassle free and money saving adoption process!

www.oasisltd.co.uk

Open-space Adoption - Simple Intelligent Solutions

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Please call us to see how our services could help you

01787 223 674

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