FutureArch July/August 2017

FUTUREARCH for the UK’s landscape architects

JULY/AUGUST 2017

social housing

a new age ARUP INTERVIEW

surface special B ly k o , S u r e s e t, C E D

simon green

Green city

spotlight on birmingham

Variety’s the spice

Julia Finlayson, Argent LLP FA_Cover_JulyAug.indd 1

11/07/2017 11:19

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10/07/2017 14:39

WELCOME

FUTUREARCH for the UK’s landscape architects

WELCOME Welcome to the July/August edition of FutureArch. It’s still early days for the title, but it has been brilliant to immerse ourselves in the industry, meet some fascinating people, and explore some incredible projects. We hope that you enjoy reading the magazine as much as we enjoyed putting it together. We’re also excited to announce that from the next issue in September, FutureArch will be published monthly.

The key themes we’re exploring in this issue are social housing and surfaces. Our must-read social housing feature from page 38 looks at how landscape design has come to the fore in new development and estate regeneration. We’ve also got a 10-page special from page 48 on choosing the right surface for your project, breaking down your options and where they should be used.

This month we were lucky enough to be invited along to Arup’s London offices to meet its associate director of landscape architecture, Simon Green. We were keen to tap into Simon’s vast knowledge and experience on a whole range of topics, including the importance of using BIM and how our street design should be progressing. With over 12,000 members of staff and 10,000 worldwide projects ongoing at Arup, we were also interested in finding out about the role and influence that landscape architects have within the company.

We would also encourage you to head to page 11 to find out more about our 30 Under 30 competition. It is so important that we recognise the achievements of our industry’s younger members, and help to inspire the next generation.

As always, we would love to hear any feedback that you have on the magazine.

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Have a great month.

Joe Betts joe.betts@eljays44.com

www.futurearch.co.uk

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WELCOME

WELCOME 06 AGENDA 08 NEWS 10 news extra: the LANDSCAPE INSITUTE 11 30 under 30

FUTUREARCH for the UK’s landscape architects

CONTENTS

FEATURES 13 18 24 26 30 33 36 38

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arup: simon green argent llp unniversity of sheffield birmingham city council greenblue urban soil talk: tim o’hare soilscon feature: social housing

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PROJECTs & portfolios 44 48 52 56 59 62

burridge gardens surfaces: blyko surfaces: sureset surfaces: ced brighton station sky central

Eljays44 Ltd

3 Churchill Court, 112 The Street, Rustington, West Sussex BN16 2DA Tel: 01903 777 570 Published by ©Eljays44 Ltd – Connecting Horticulture Printed by Pensord Press Ltd, Gwent, UK The 2017 subscription price for FutureArch is £125.

Subscription records are maintained at Eljays44 Ltd, 3 Churchill Court, 112 The Street, Rustington, West Sussex BN16 3DA, UK. Articles and information contained in this publication are the copyright of Eljays44 Ltd and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publishers. The publishers cannot accept responsibility for loss of, or damage to, uncommissioned photographs or manuscripts.

Whilst every effort has been made to maintain the integrity of our advertisers, we accept no responsibility for any problem, complaints, or subsequent litigation arising from readers’ responses to advertisements in the magazine. We also wish to emphasise that views expressed by editorial contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers. Reproduction of any part of this magazine is strictly forbidden.

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26 EDITORIAL Features Editor – Joe Betts joe.betts@eljays44.com

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Deputy Editor – Nina Mason nina.mason@eljays44.com Editorial Assistant – Ellie Foster ellie.foster@eljays44.com PRODUCTION Production Editor – Charlie Cook charlotte.cook@eljays44.com Subeditor – Kate Bennett kate.bennett@eljays44.com Design: Mark Hudson, Mandy Armstrong

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SALES Group Sales Manager – Luke Chaplin luke.chaplin@eljays44.com MANAGEMENT Managing Director – Jim Wilkinson jim.wilkinson@eljays44.com Editorial Director – Lisa Wilkinson lisa.wilkinson@eljays44.com

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10/07/2017 14:41

AGENDA

AGENDA

Q: WHAT SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT’S PRIORITY BE IN TERMS OF GREEN SPACE? Danny Crump

Catherine Xavier

Carolyn Willitts

Director of urbanism, Broadway Malyan Unfortunately, the introduction and integration of green spaces into the fabric of our major cities remains the exception rather than the rule; if nothing else, this is just bad economics.

Green spaces have a huge impact on a city’s liveability, and a direct and tangible impact on the health of citizens – it is estimated that current green spaces already have a £2.2bn impact on public health in the UK. Urban design can play a key role in supporting and encouraging both physical and mental wellbeing, and plentiful green spaces must be central to any strategy aimed at tackling the issues, which range from inactivity and air pollution to social isolation. reen spaces offer an egalitarian solution to a host of social and economic challenges. High quality public realms and green spaces that are accessible and safe have an impact where the alue significantly e ceeds the cost

Managing director, Guarda Landscape Recently, the provision of green space has been far down the government’s agenda, with the private sector entrusted with facilitating its delivery (as with many other public assets and services). The inability to recognise its importance is a shame, because green space can bring about social, health, environmental and economic benefits in our schools, hospitals, streets and parks – it is the setting in which we li e our li es, engage with others and reaffirm our connection with the world.

‘Green space’ should become part of a holistic toolkit with which the government can tackle key issues. Green space strategies should be produced, followed by delivery through the private and public sector. Yes, this does mean that part of our shrinking budget needs to be invested in green space, but I certainly think it’s worth it in the long term.

Maybe the question is not ‘what should the government’s priority be in terms of green space?’ but ‘when will the government prioritise green space?’

Director and landscape architect, CW Studio Urban green space is so important for recreation, wellbeing, biodi ersity, flood mitigation, air quality – I could go on and on, and I know I’m preaching to the converted.

We have recently been asked to provide landscape plans for two schemes that already have planning permission, and for which no landscape proposals have ever been done.

Landscape plans are now needed urgently because the contractor wants to start on site, but a pre-commencement planning condition says that working cannot begin until a planting plan has been submitted and approved for the awkward green triangles of leftover space.

On joyful projects, the landscape architects are involved from the start, alongside clued-up architects and engineers. Design is valued, and meaningful green spaces are created.

Planning policy should be updated so that landscape proposals are a compulsory part of a planning application validation, to ensure that genuinely green infrastructure is integrated into the project – rather than last-minute, strange green shapes that are valued by nobody.

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www.futurearch.co.uk

11/07/2017 10:52

AGENDA

“WHAT IS REQUIRED IS A HOLISTIC REVIEW OF NEED AND OPPORTUNITY, WITH THE EMPHASIS ON CONSERVING AND ENHANCING OUR NATURAL ASSETS” Joe Harries, Thomson Landscape

Richard Willmott

Mathew Hull

Joe Harries

Director, Strata Design Ltd Green space provision on a meaningful scale is largely driven by the planning system and policy backdrop – the government should prioritise producing robust policies that provide planning officers with the resources and tools to resist the deliberate erosion of open space provision that takes place during the planning process. Planning policies should also foster the provision of green infrastructure in proportion to the scale of de elopment, and respond to the pressure to reduce green space within brown and greenfield developments – which leads to underprovision precisely where that space is at its most socially valuable.

Policy and provision should be based on sound research, not on the go ernmental fear of space as a generator of gatherings, protests and street drin ing adly, but understandably, forthcoming policy and green space provision is likely to be driven by spatial security rather than quality.

Landscape architect at Liz Lake Associates isting landscape elements, such as trees, hedgerows and undulating topography, are often eradicated prior to housing developments being constructed. This removal of established elements is mitigated with new proposed features. Trees with canopy spreads of 8m or more are being replaced by trees with canopy spreads of less than 1m (unless they are ‘Grade A’ trees to 01 , which are often retained). Mature vegetation is of such great importance to the landscape, and it should be the government’s priority to ensure that existing landscape elements are not lost as a result of the 00,000 homes that need to be built per annum to sustain our demand for housing.

Granting permission for housing development should not entitle green space to be destroyed. Residential development can be responsible, and can include important e isting features without a large loss of proposed dwellings As such, the harter for rees’ must be legislated by go ernment soon, ma ing the housing of tomorrow a responsible prospect by respecting what we already have.

Head of landscape architecture, Thomson Landscape The government should develop and implement clear and prescriptive policy on the role that green infrastructure can play in providing a framework for sustainable development. The benefits of green space for society, the economy and the environment are well documented – but we await any meaningful agenda to ensure that this understanding is properly integrated into local plans and strategies.

What is required is a holistic review of need and opportunity, with an emphasis on conserving and enhancing our natural assets to accommodate our growing population. We need to thin creati ely, spatially and strategically to plan for long term sustainable development. rucially, we need to change the way we plan and deliver green space. The task is too big and complex for LPAs to do it alone. We need to inject the right skills and resources by properly engaging with communities, local businesses and consultancies from the outset.

The current system fails repeatedly to build the communities and infrastructure that we all aspire to, and there is no remedy in sight

www.futurearch.co.uk

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11/07/2017 10:53

NEWS

NEWS

£2.3bn investment in infrastructure for new housing

Fields in Trust publishes impact report for 2016 Fields in Trust has published its impact report for 2016, looking at the value that parks and green spaces bring to people’s lives.

Last year was an important year for parks and green spaces. The trust’s primary research on Centenary Park in Rugby demonstrated the value that green space brings, while data from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s State of UK Public Parks 2016 reported that 50% of all local authorities have sold or transferred management of parks and green spaces in the last three years. The announcement of a parliamentary

inquiry into the future of these vital community spaces was welcomed by the trust.

A statement on the trust website said: “Supporting the parks and green spaces we protect in perpetuity is an important strand of our work, to help ensure these spaces are used and loved by their local communities.

Our team of development managers is always on hand to offer advice on field management, financial support, and improving facilities.”

The full impact report can be viewed online. www.fieldsintrust.org

A £2.3bn infrastructure fund has been launched

by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.

Speaking at the LGA Conference, he said that the investment will help to fund projects such as roads, bridges, energy networks and utilities.

The investment through the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) aims to solve this problem, and is open for bids from local authorities in England, who can come forward with proposals to help get homes built faster.

“To build the homes this country needs, we need to deliver the right infrastructure,” said Javid. “Investing in local infrastructure can help to unlock the building of thousands of new homes in areas where they are needed most.”

LGA chairman Lord Porter said: “We’re pleased that the government has followed through on its commitment to invest in infrastructure linked to housing, and that this is to be led by councils as we outlined on our Housing Commission findings last year.” www.local.gov.uk

LXB appoints Strata Design for second phase of Rushden Lakes LXB has appointed Strata Design as landscape architect for Phase 2 of the £140m Rushden Lakes shopping and leisure scheme in Northamptonshire. It follows director Richard Willmott’s previous successful design work and supervision on Phase 1.

The scheme combines its location in an area of outstanding natural value with shopping and leisure pursuits. Phase 2 will build on Phase 1’s landscape features, which include lakes and woodland, a boathouse and boardwalk with

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waterside dining, a wet play area, a central water feature and a 54m rill. Over 43 shops and restaurants will open as part of the first phase.

Developer Mike Bell from The Crown Estate told ITV News Anglia: “We think this is the first time in the UK that shopping and eating have proactively been brought together with more unusual outdoor activities.”

Phase 2 proposals include a leisure terrace, 14-screen cinema and more restaurants. www.strata-design.co.uk

www.futurearch.co.uk

11/07/2017 10:29

NEWS

New partner at Gillespies among several senior management changes As part of this year’s round of promotions, Gillespies has announced a new partner and eight changes to senior management across the practice s four o ces.

Armel Mourgue has been promoted to partner in acknowledgement of 15 years’ service and e ceptional pro ect management. ased in illespies ondon o ce, Armel has provided design leadership for many of the practice s high profile, including the award winning MediaCityUK in Salford and the NEO ankside in ondon.

The eight senior promotions see Warren Chapman and Adam Greatrix become associate

partners, and Philip Smith and Gorana hepherd ecome senior associates. o Copeland, liver uguid, Helen ohnson and avid Cunningham, meanwhile, will ecome associates.

Steve Wardell, managing partner at illespies, commented: “ ach of these talented individuals has contributed to our success as a usiness. These promotions are in recognition of our desire both to reward skill and talent, and to grow the practice and our management team effectively. We wish them continued success in their careers.” www.gillespies.co.uk

Survey reveals a third of industry unclear on compliance with Government BIM mandate NBS’s seventh annual BIM survey reveals that, a year since the BIM Level 2 mandate came into force, a third of the industry is still unclear on what they have to do to comply with it. epeated issues were the government’s failure to enforce the mandate, and a lack of education for clients of clients don t understand the enefits of I .

N chief e ecutive ichard Waterhouse said: “The introduction of the I mandate has roadly een a success. I adoption in the is growing in both extent (more people using BIM) and in depth (people moving up the levels . However, there are areas in need of attention.”

Awareness of BIM is at near universal levels (97%) and 62% of practices are now using I , up from last year. ver of I users agree that it has re uired changes in their work ow, practices and procedures ut only wished that they hadn t adopted I .

Adrian Malleson, head of research, analysis and forecasting at NBS, said: “ ower costs, higher profita ility and the a ility to take on larger pro ects are some of the enefits that companies are e periencing.” www.thenbs.com

www.futurearch.co.uk

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LUC working on integrated green infrastructure and landscape sensitivity study LUC has started work on an integrated green infrastructure and landscape sensitivity study in eicestershire. ocal authorities are in the process of preparing a non statutory trategic rowth lan for eicester and eicestershire. This will identify longer term proposals for housing and economic growth, and will inform the preparation of local authorities ocal lans. The clear evidence found in the landscape and visual sensitivity study, and the closely linked I study, will help ensure that locations identified for economic and housing development are delivered in a way that conserves and enhances landscape, iodiversity and green infrastructure.

LUC’s Landscape Planning & Management and Planning teams say they are delighted to be working with the local authorities and partners on this e citing study, continuing their long history of work in the county. www.landuse.co.uk

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11/07/2017 10:30

NEWS EXTRA

LANDSCAPE INSTITUTE update

Daniel Cook, chief executive of the landscape institute, gives an update on the organisation’s 2017 conference and its future plans

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n 22 June, the Landscape Institute held their annual conference, titled Landscape as Infrastructure, at Manchester Metropolitan University. “The conference went really well, we had over 250 people attend with a really diverse range of speakers from across the UK, Canada and China,” Daniel tells us.

“Some of the key themes of the conference were economic and social inclusion. There is a real need for us to for us to become more connected to the landscape. If you look at the likes of the US and China, they have a real understanding there, which we can learn from in the UK. “Hardscape, the conference’s biggest sponsor, also took us on a jogging tour of Manchester. There is so much progress and development going on in that city at the moment so it was great to see it all. It also tied in nicely with the theme of getting people to become more active and lead healthier lives.”

Daniel explains that the event being held in Manchester is all part of making the institute more inclusive to a wider audience, outside of London. It follows the institute s recent sta ng restructure, which created more access to regional centres across the UK, to provide more support over a wider area.

Next year’s conference will take place in September 2018, with the theme of transforming the landscape.

Away from the conference, we ask Daniel about the big issues the Landscape Institute is focusing on at the moment. “Something very prominent at the moment, with regard to Brexit, is the fact that a lot of our members are from the EU or outside of Europe. If

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this stream of skilled workers is cut off or reduced in the Brexit negotiations then there will be a real problem in our industry – there could be a huge skill shortage.”

How is the institute looking to deal with this? “We need to do everything we can to encourage a wide range of people to oin the industry. A special effort needs to be made to show the next generation here in the UK that it is worth getting involved.”

In the latest round of institute elections, Adam White was nominated as president-elect. Adam recently received best in show at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, and Daniel believes his election is part of a change in attitude towards the UK’s landscapes: “If you look at the shows, there are a few bigger landscapes on show. People are appreciating what the landscape can do for us in the UK, as well as the skills that landscape architects possess.

“We are increasingly finding that landscape architects are being used to lead housing masterplanning – developers are realising that they have a fantastic understanding of the surrounding landscape, the health enefits landscape can ring, and how best to use that knowledge to make the area as enjoyable as possible.”

What should we look out for from the institute in the near future? “We have some exciting things coming up, such as new competitions and awards, which will be fully announced before the end of the year.

We are also going to e upping our efforts to inspire the next generation in the UK; we will be launching a programme for that which you can find out more a out around September time.”

“WE ARE INCREASINGLY FINDING THAT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS ARE BEING USED TO LEAD HOUSING MASTERPLANNING”

www.futurearch.co.uk

11/07/2017 10:31

30 UNDER 30

Why you should apply to...

30 UNDER 30: THE NEXT GENERATION 2017

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Showcase your work and celebrate your achievements The 30 Under 30 awards present a fantastic opportunity for you to celebrate everything that you have achieved in your career. It is our belief that we should bring the young people in the industry together to recognise their amazing achievements, and to look forward to what they will be able to accomplish in the future. Don’t just take our word for it, though. One of last year’s winners, Scott Hawkes, told us: “It was incredibly satisfying to be acknowledged in the industry along with so many other talented individuals, demonstrating the passion and skill set that the landscape sector’s younger generation possesses. It’s something I’m very proud to be part of, and a great scheme for future stars of the industry.”

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Providing opportunities for the future Being named one of our 30 Under 30 is a great way for winners to build their confidence and find opportunities to de elop their career. “The award has helped with networking and putting my name on the landscaping map – having the award attracts positive attention,” said Andrew Ryder, one of last year’s successful applicants urielle ayer spo e of the confidence that the award gave her: “I have been given more responsibilities within my company, and feel e cited and confident about reaching my eventual objective of becoming a sales director.”

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CONTINUED COVERAGE

After the awards, we don’t forget about our winners – we love to eep up with how they’re doing and continue to find out what they’re up to with coverage across our magazines. The award not only celebrates the work that has already been achieved, but also to pick out the industry’s key players of the future.

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THE FUTURESCAPE AWARDS CEREMONY

Winners will be invited to a dinner and awards ceremony in the evening of our FutureScape event on Tuesday 14 November at Sandown Park Racecourse. James Sadler, contract delivery manager at Ground Control and a previous winner, said: “It was great to sit among leaders from some of the largest companies in our industry, and witness their support for the winners.”

It’s simple to apply – just email joe.betts@eljays44.com to receive an application form, fill it in explaining why you or your nominee deserves to be chosen, and send back the completed form by 1 September.

SHOW SOMEONE ELSE SOME RECOGNITION You don’t have to nominate yourself to be named one of our 30 Under 30. If you feel that someone you work with deserves some recognition for the outstanding work they have achieved within the industry, then fill out an application form and nominate them to become one of our winners. This is a great way to show your appreciation for an employee.

www.futurearch.co.uk

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11/07/2017 10:45

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08/06/2017 21/06/2017 16:52 14:12

INTERVIEW

Interview

SIMON GREEN arup Simon green, Associate Director at Arup, discusses landscape architecture on a global scale and arup’s ethos of shaping a better world

“WE ARE NOW MORE THAN 13,000 PEOPLE IN 85 OFFICES ACROSS 35 COUNTRIES. AT ANY ONE TIME, WE HAVE ABOUT 10,000 DIFFERENT PROJECTS ONGOING”

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Simon, could you tell us a little about the history of Arup?

The company was founded in 1946 by Ove Arup.

He’s known for his amazing work on Sydney Opera ouse, and one of the first projects they did was the penguin pool in London Zoo. He was a preeminent engineer of his time.

His big thing was ‘Total Design’, which is the philosophy around an integrated, multi-disciplinary style of thinking and design approach. His vision is more relevant now than ever before with the challenges that we face in climate change, health and wellbeing, air quality and water scarcity. A member of the board once remarked that if Ove Arup was around today he would probably be a landscape architect, because he always approached projects from a holistic point of iew and that is one of the things that makes us interesting as a profession today – landscape architect as integrator and orchestrator.

Our mission statement as a company is about shaping a better world. We’re a privately owned company held in trust for the benefit of employees, which means we’re able to independently determine our own priorities and direction as a business.

How many people work here?

We are now more than 1 ,000 people in offices across 35 countries. At any one time, we have about 10,000 different projects ongoing We’re organised around four key overarching markets: cities, water, energy and transport. I think because of our engineering roots we’re often seen as mainly engineers, but we are so much more than that today and operate as an interdisciplinary firm of designers, planners, engineers and consultants.

There are about 90 landscape architects globally of which in London we have around 40. In the UK, we have teams in London, Birmingham, Bristol, ardiff, ewcastle, and Leeds lobally, we also ha e landscape architects in Dubai, Australia, Shanghai, ong ong, and ew or Who makes up the landscape architecture team?

The team is diverse – we have landscape architects, architects, designers, illustrators and people who studied product design and graphics. We sit adjacent to the urban design team who we are totally intertwined with on many projects We’re currently wor ing on projects with them such as and overseas masterplans in India and China.

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INTERVIEW

The team has been involved in many infrastructure projects such as the Olympic Park, but since then it has grown considerably and developed into lots of new areas, building up a diverse portfolio of work. We still do infrastructure work but are also heavily involved in master planning, regeneration strategies, EIA’s, public realm projects and design guidance. We are also doing a lot of work around technology and BIM in particular. Clients are increasingly interested in the whole project and asset life cycle, and this technology allows us to help them develop long term management and maintenance strategies.

How important is new technology and BIM? is something that is going to affect the majority of the landscape profession, and we see it as a really e traordinary opportunity in terms of differentiating our offer we ha e a dedicated and technology team embedded in our landscape team, which makes us more productive and allows designers to spend more time designing which is great.

We do however still put a lot of emphasis on the ‘power of the pen’ and exploration of ideas through s etching We are also finding the analogue and digital worlds are combining, with the likes of 3D printed models being used on many of our projects.

What are the central focuses at the company?

The company motto is ‘shaping a better world’ which sounds easy to say, but I truly believe that this is the company’s driving force and fundamental to the way we approach our work. We respond in an integrated way to the unprecedented challenges that we face such as huge technological, political and economic change. Landscape architecture is relevant to a whole range of different wor , for e ample we recently worked on country-wide resilience strategies in the eychelles which loo ed at the economy, housing, flood resilience, food, security and tourism, and equally we are working at the other end of the scale on small public realm schemes and community pop-up street transformations. We’re also working with the international development, air quality and energy teams on resilience strategies, so landscape architecture and green infrastructure play a central role within all this work.

We approach e ery project differently ach site and client is different, and we don’t ha e a house style because of the variety and the complexity of the different cultures we are operating in he thing that is consistent is the need to create integrated environmental design solutions.

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What is your personal role?

I am now joint leader of the London team, so I’m responsible for managing the team. It’s interesting that as your career progresses you move more from day to day practice to a more management-orientated role, but I’m still very active on the design side, working closely with the team on design quality and shaping concepts. We’re very lucky that we have a diverse and committed team that is highly motivated and passionate about what they do. As well as that, I do a lot of business development, bidding and work on the marketing side of things. I believe that you are only as good as your last project so I aim to ensure that we’re keeping on top of quality and optimising design to make sure we’re fulfilling the potential on e ery project I’m involved in an interesting project with Hertfordshire County Council in which we’re working alongside the highways team and their engineers to promote a different way of approaching their projects. As well as looking at the geometry and mechanics of the street environment, we’re able to also look at the wider

www.futurearch.co.uk

12/07/2017 08:49

INTERVIEW

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“BIM IS GOING TO AFFECT THE MAJORITY OF THE LANDSCAPE PROFESSION, AND WE SEE IT AS A REALLY EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY”

6 Hotel Park, Doha Olympic Park, London Hotel Park, Doha Olympic Park, London Reem Island, Abu Dhabi InMidTown Walk, Holborn, London 7 Cities Alive – Rethinking Green Infrastructure Initiative

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placemaking potential of the schemes to see how they can be enhanced to deliver bigger transformations for the community. Many of the projects are modest in size but I really enjoy the work as they’re delivered on the ground and ma e a difference to many people’s everyday lives.

That is an example of a project that started as a brief phonecall about some surface material options for a station interchange, which has developed into a much deeper relationship working with their engineering teams on multiple projects. We’re also working with them on county-wide guidance for streets across Herts, ensuring there is a consistent integrated design approach that delivers a transformation in the look and feel, performance and quality of much of the county’s road and street network.

In my role, I do a lot of travelling to many different parts of the world ’ e just got bac from India – it was fascinating, an amazing country with huge energy. Their environmental ambitions really struck me too. I enjoy travelling, but it is quite hard with a family. It does keep you fresh

and it’s interesting to see how other countries are responding to global issues.

Is the role of landscape architects changing?

I have seen a huge change in my career since I started 0 years ago, when was filling in the gaps between buildings with planting on suburban housing estates – what I like to call the ‘parsley round the pig’ landscape!

Now we are central to so many projects, plans and strategies at a range of scales working with a multitude of different disciplines, embedded in project teams from the start – not bolted on at the end.

Clients have become a lot more sophisticated about how they involve us. However there is more to do, particularly at a government level about the importance of our streets, parks and open spaces.

There appears to be a lot of siloed thinking which I actually think is a big political issue. I think we should be a bit more provocative and political as a profession and say things that we feel are important. For example, why do we only spend 0.15% of public money on parks and open spaces even though they are central to the health, wellbeing and identity of our nation?

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INTERVIEW

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“WHAT STRIKES ME IS THE APPETITE OF PEOPLE TO BE TOGETHER IN AN INCREASINGLY VIRTUAL WORLD. PEOPLE WANT TO BE WITH PEOPLE AND THIS CAN HAPPEN IN OUR PUBLIC SPACES”

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Are there any current issues which you would like to see change? ne of the things find per erse now is that we ha e ast sums of money being spent on medicine, obesity, diabetes and mental health, yet we ha e huge cuts to budgets for par s and the two totally tie together or me that is where a longer term, strategic iew needs to be ta en we need to do more for those inds of spaces ’m of course going to be biased but the power of landscape architects to transform li es through their wor is massi e What really stri es me now is the appetite of people to be together in a world in which we increasingly spend a lot of our time in a irtual e istence A good analogy is the music industry in an age of streaming, the appetite to go to li e gigs has gone through the roof and thin that is where there is an interesting opportunity around the public realm now eople want to be with people, and our public spaces are good places for that to happen here is opportunity for landscape architects to raise the importance of public realm and in particular our streets or the past 0 years streets ha e been designed around the motor ehicle, but we ha e seen a ast change in this attitude rance for e ample has introduced car free days in the centre of aris, whilst other cities ha e implemented cycle highways and designed more attracti e, pedestrian friendly streetscapes for people to enjoy We’ e been wor ing on a treets for eople initiati e, which loo s at introducing pop up par s in some of London’s busiest streets for residents, wor ers and isitors to enjoy

Do you recommend suppliers? t aries depending on the project, the client and the supply chain We always loo for locally sourced materials where possible he client recently isited in ndia was really interesting because they ha e de eloped their own on site nursery where they grow all their stoc in a three stage process t naturalises in the microclimate there, and that increases its chances of establishing well hat is a really good tool for those bigger projects and brilliant for building local s ills, capacity and supply chain How important is green space?

We did a report for A loo ing at the benefits of large species trees and the impact they ha e on our cities or me it is fundamental to human health and happiness t is an intrinsic part of our cities reen space is more than just trees and par s, it also includes the street networ now not all streets are tree lined or green, but they are ital parts of our cities and as such they connect a wide range of other open spaces they are the life blood of our urban areas We’re doing a really interesting piece of wor as part of the Wild West nd programme which is implementing green spaces, walls, roofs and planters across the West nd in London his in ol es a number of pri ate project partners wor ing together to increase green infrastructure and ecology in central London he World ealth rganisation recommends that there is 10m2 of space per person he city we ha e just come bac from in ndia has only m2 per person, and the population is doubling in si e from three to si

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million people. This level of urban growth poses huge challenges to the world’s cities to accommodate green space, and that is why buildings and roofs as well as streets and parks are part of the solution.

Are there any trends you’ve seen in your projects? ur profile is changing We get in ol ed a lot earlier in projects now We’re now less peripheral and more central – there is much more interdisciplinary working.

There has been a transformation in the private sector’s view of landscape design and good public realm design. If you look at King’s Cross, much of its success is about the public realm and the way spaces are used, getting the public realm activated early, getting people to use the spaces with lots of different events and creating a real buzz. This underpins the investment and the land value – it’s really encouraging to see that is increasingly the norm now.

We’ e seen technology play a much greater role around green infrastructure and holistic design We’re emulating the principles we know make a successful streetscape and then fusing that with innovations around sensors, LED technology and smart systems – our view is that the future of landscape design will be a hybrid between low and high tech, tradition and innovation combined.

Communities are also becoming a lot more involved. The Peckham coal line for example has very similar beginnings to the Highline in New York.

Both have involved repurposing old infrastructure that communities didn’t want to see removed, giving them a new purpose and green space. Both were driven by

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passionate local people who want to get involved and drive positive change in their communities.

How do you measure the success of a project?

This is a really important topic that we are being asked about a lot. Everyone knows that it’s nice to have green spaces in cities, but what are they doing? How many degrees have they cooled? Are they improving health and wellbeing? How much water and carbon are these spaces and trees absorbing We pull these stats together because they’re quite compelling, and at the end of the day we wor in a financial system so we need those solid stats and facts.

Broadgate Circle, City of London 9 Irfan Masterplan, Oman 10 Croydon Green Infrastructure Vision 11 Jaguar Land Rover, Wol erhampton 8

Do you do much work outside of cities?

There has been a lot of emphasis on cities and that is definitely where my true interest lies here ha e been some interesting opportunities working on big infrastructure projects connecting cities through rural areas, however, we need to be thinking about our rural areas more for food security, water management and energy.

How do you win contracts?

Because of our size and reputation, we inevitably get involved on projects that have been brought in through other teams and that is great. However as a substantially sized landscape architecture business, we’re winning very big commissions of our own.

We also do a lot of our own bidding for both public and private clients and commissions in the UK and overseas. As we’re a diverse team in terms of the type of work we do, the scale of work we do and the types of client we have, I think that gives us huge stability.

We ha e a ery low turno er of staff which is down to our diversity of work, the way we work and the fun we ha e while doing it We ha e a networ of offices overseas so there are also lots of opportunities for short and long term assignments on projects.

We are uite selecti e when it comes to bidding for contracts We need to now beforehand that there is there an approach that we can take to make it a winning formula We want to understand our client’s issues and concerns. Often they will identify something in a brief, and from dealing with that we’re able to open up other opportunities and resolve other issues, which goes back to our ethos of Total Design.

arup Arup is an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists working across all aspects of today’s built environment.

W: www.arup.com

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INTERVIEW

VARIETY’S THE SPICE Julia Finlayson, project director at Argent LLP, reveals why creating diversity of places and experiences is key to the company’s green space strategy

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1 Ghat Steps at Granary Square 2 Children playing in the fountains at Granary Square 3 Regents Canal with Wharf Road Gardens in the background

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n a warm summer’s day, Pancras Square in London’s King’s Cross is buzzing with people. ffice wor ers ha e a picnic on the grass or sit by the waterlilies on the terraces, enjoying an alfresco helping of street food. At the foot of the s uare, older residents find shelter from the lunchtime sun on benches encircling a 0 year old pin oa tree And just opposite King’s Cross station, on Battle Bridge Place, a child squeals with laughter as he’s pushed on the swing that sits under the giant birdcage of dentified lying bject, a stri ing installation by rench artist ac ues i al t’s hard to thin of a better ad ertisement for the ital role that green space plays in a new de elopment what once was a grey and tired neighbourhood has been transformed into a ibrant urban oasis nce the wor is complete, about of the estate’s 67 acres will be public space – and much of it is already open to people We’ e finished about 50% of buildings, and we’re about 75-80% of the way through the principal areas of public space, says ulia inlayson art of Argent’s ision is to always do the public realm early.” The same approach will apply at Argent’s new rent ross outh de elopment, a bn regeneration scheme that will deli er , 00 homes and three schools, plus par s and community facilities t is an e pensi e strategy he way it wor s with these big schemes is that you borrow money to build a building, and then you lease it and pay the money bac , says osie ade, Argent’s project director for

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“THE PUBLIC REALM IS HELPING EVERYONE. IT’S TURNING KING’S CROSS INTO A PART OF LONDON THAT PEOPLE APPRECIATE” and communications reating open space first, in contrast, re uires the de elopers to ma e a significant upfront in estment, for which they don’t recei e any immediate return.

There is an upside to this way of doing things, though ulia mentions ranary uare, the main open space on the King’s Cross estate. Designed by ownshend Landscape Architects, who also de ised the masterplan for the entire site, this wide, café-lined space – roughly as big as Trafalgar Square – is the de elopment’s beating heart, a gathering place that doubles up as open air enue for festi als and e ents ts clean design centres around four fountain ban s with more than 1,000 indi idually controlled jets, echoing the s uare’s past as a wor ing yard for the barges that sailed on the egent’s anal ranary uare opened in 01 there was nothing else on the site, says ulia y starting with an area of public realm, and one that was incredibly successful, it attracted people. That helped us publicise the estate to future tenants, which then ob iously helped the alue to increase

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4 Lewis Cubitt Park 5 Lewis Cubitt Square featuring artwork by Rana Begum 6 Landscape planting at King’s Cross 7 Handyside Gardens 8 Pancras Square

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Variety of place Because Argent wants to encourage a real diversity of people, variety is its guiding principle in designing green areas. The masterplan for King’s Cross, for example, was determined by what Argent thought the activity levels should be in each area. “Not everyone wants to be in the middle of Granary Square, some people want to be in a quieter space,” says Julia. “It’s getting that balance right, making sure that people want to use each place and making a judgement call as to how busy you want each place to be. You need that variety of places and experiences.”

Green spaces in the north of the estate, which are predominantly residential, are designed to be peaceful.

Lewis Cubitt Square, for example, has a fountain, but it’s less intense than Granary Square. “Then you have Lewis Cubitt Park, which is much more of a passive recreation space, with people sitting and soaking up the views,” Julia tells us. “And in Wharf Road Gardens, there are planting and grassed areas overlooking the canal – they’re incredibly popular with people to picnic on at lunchtime, but also in the evening.”

While diversity is the paramount consideration when shaping green space, Argent is also keen to ensure its designs remain true to the history of a site.

Take Handyside Gardens, which, like several other gardens in King’s Cross, was created by Chelsea Gold medal-winner Dan Pearson. In this contemplative space, which has a children’s playground and a water rill, the seasonal planting reflects the railways that used to run through the area, with plenty of asters and willows peppering the grass.

Argent also likes to incorporate original features into its schemes. In Granary Square, old train tracks, turntables and crane bases have become an integral part of the design, while the abundant use of water features references the canal that surrounds it. Further north on the estate, the wrought-iron frame of a historic gasholder – built in the 1850s for Pancras Gas and dominating the local skyline for more than 150 years – was carefully dismantled, refurbished and rebuilt on the opposite side of the canal. Today it shelters a small but perfectly formed park designed by Bell Phillips Architects.

“It’s a quiet space, but it’s also used by schools.

We have two schools here and they come and use it before and after lessons – it’s a lovely interaction,” Julia explains. “We try to get that synergy all the time between tenants and public spaces. It’s about creating spaces that everyone would like to use.”

The importance of public realm Argent’s vision of green space as a sequence of different landscapes holds true e en in the pri ate gardens they create for residents and office tenants For example, the new Google headquarters near Pancras Square – recently submitted for planning – will have a lush rooftop garden, with four areas that will range from formal landscaping to meadows.

When it comes to bringing its green space vision to life, Argent tends to work with established contractors and big names in the industry. “We were one of the first de elopers to bring garden designers into the public realm,” says Julia. At King’s Cross, alongside an earson and odd Longstaffe owan, Argent called on another Chelsea Gold medal-winner, Tom Stuart-Smith, to design Jellicoe Garden and introduce a different loo into estate t’s a ery interesting design because it’s based on a Persian-style garden, but Tom combines that with the English-garden tradition,” Julia tells us. “Even though the form of the garden is going to be very geometric, with a water rill, pools and a timber pavilion, all the planting is Englishgarden style.” eing fle ible is crucial to Argent, as it constantly reviews and adapts green space design as estates takes shape. At one stage of the King’s Cross development, for example, senior project director Ken Trew decided to bring more green space into the masterplan, and tapped into Dan Pearson’s specialist knowledge to add more ‘zing’ to the scheme. As a result, the site now has more than 440 species of plants – from white lavenders and blush pink roses to the staghorn sumac, which turns a magnificent shade of orange in the autumn.

“It’s all about creating a place that is attractive and appealing to anybody who wants to come.” After all, Julia concludes, “public realm is what most people will use on any estate.”

About Argent Argent is involved in the full development process from identifying and assembling sites, developing designs and obtaining planning permission through to financing, project management of the construction process, letting and asset management.

W: www.argentllp.co.uk

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FEATURE

THE NEXT generation T On the eve of its 50th anniversary, we visit the University of Sheffield to explore how its landscape architecture department is shaping the next generation of inspired and talented industry leaders

he Department of Landscape at the University of he eld will e cele rating its th anniversary at the start of the next academic year. ocated in he eld s iconic and newly refur ished Arts Tower, the department is spread across three oors, where its students enefit from light and airy studio space, with on site IT and printing support, as well as having access to the e perimental garden at near y Crewe Hall. Currently in attendance are undergraduate students, postgraduates and h students, which Head of epartment ames Hitchmough says is more than the rest of the s landscape architecture students com ined.

Image ©Grants

Ready for work The department s graduate employment rate stands at . “ tudents go on to do a road range of things,” says irector of earning and Teaching el urton. “ ost gain work in private and pu lic practice in the , ut many also go on to work a road. We cover the full readth of this e citing discipline from landscape and ur an design, through to landscape planning and management, integrating the arts, science and social science.

How has the department achieved such a high employment rate “ uite simply, we produce good people,” ames says. A lot of that is down to the wide range of academics and teachers. tudents also get a huge amount of studio time and personal attention from oth our academic and teaching staff, as well as visiting practitioners. eal world opportunities also help. “We have a professional practice module, which gives more formal teaching a out the andscape Institute s athway to Chartership, ethics, contract management, law and so on,” el says. ames agrees: “We like to get the students out into the real world, completing real life pro ects. or e ample, it could e with a community group that is dealing with an issue in the city we use their pro lem as a pro ect to produce a design portfolio, which we assess against the criteria in the rief. That s essentially a hugely rich and value added form of learning.”

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FEATURE

Work completed in partnership by Nigel Dunnett, Pictorial Meadows and Enterprise-Rent a car

LI accreditation The department's courses are accredited by the Landscape Institute, which means that they meet criteria set by the institute; the institute says that all of its accredited courses are required to provide students with a foundation for future work in the profession and a range of transferable skills.

The accreditation does not mean that the institute controls what the university teaches, though. “They don't come here and say, ‘you must teach this or that’,” says Mel. “Essentially, they bring a review team; we get to talk to them about possible changes and hear any advice they may have.”

Research focus Something that makes the department stand out is its focus on research, as well as the practical side of landscape architecture. James claims that it is the only landscape architecture department in the UK that is essentially a research department.

As Director of Research, Anna Jorgensen is responsible for setting departmental goals for grant capture, research activity and publications and ensuring that those goals are met.

Why is there such a research focus? “It’s about understanding the world better so we can innovate for the future,” says Anna. “It s always possi le to find out more, gain new insights, work more collaboratively and explore new ideas. That can feed into our teaching, so we deliver graduates who are aware of the issues that we’re facing, and equipped to deal with them.”

"We want professionals going into practice who can think, who can find stuff out and e periment and develop ideas – not just do the same old," says Mel. "We hope that, because of our research focus here,

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our students will e confident to do that, as well as all the practical stuff. It s a road profession.”

Nigel Dunnett is Director of Impact; he explains why completing the research is not the end of the journey.

“The crucial thing that makes us stand out is applying the research in practice. There is a danger that people can end up speaking to a very small audience – the number of people that actually sees academic papers is very limited. It’s important to speak to people who can make a difference, ecause there s no point eing in landscape architecture or a landscape school if you don’t want to change things.”

With that in mind, we ask Anna about the impact of the university’s research. “There’s a huge range of things we’re doing,” she says. “One example is Dr Clare Rishbeth's project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, looking at the role of parks for refugees.

“It follows on from research done by Clare, looking at the role of the bench. It's a very undervalued piece of street furniture, and she found that they have a vital social function."

The Research Excellence Framework, which rates universities on their ability to undertake research and change practices, expects the top institutes to be able to demonstrate how their research has had an impact.

“It really adds to our credibility as a professional department, because if our research was purely theoretical, that would be less useful for students.”

With the 50th anniversary on the horizon, James tells us how the department will be celebrating. “We have a series of events planned for next year, including T style talks with some of the iggest in uences in landscape architecture. It’s great for the students to take part and ask questions – it's an exciting time.”

“THERE'S NO POINT BEING IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE OR A LANDSCAPE SCHOOL IF YOU DON'T WANT TO CHANGE THINGS”

S H E F F I E L D L A N D S C A P E ARCHITECTURE

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FEATURE

GREEN city Recently named the fourth greenest city in the UK, Birmingham is making a new name for itself as a provider of hundreds of liveable green spaces for its inhabitants

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enowned for its impact in the Industrial Revolution, it’s hard to believe that Birmingham has been named the fourth greenest city in the UK. The city boasts over 500 green spaces for its million inhabitants, and Birmingham City Council is continually looking to increase this, creating more liveable places through the introduction of open space.

Leading this is The Landscape Practice Group (LPG), one of the only in-house local authority landscape architecture practices to be registered with the Landscape Institute. “It was important to us to be registered with the Landscape Institute," explains Robert Churn, head of landscape and development at LPG. "We wanted to gain a broader recognition within

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the profession, and to have certain standards in place when employing staff We are demonstrating to our clients that we are on a par with others in the industry."

When it was founded 29 years ago, a large part of the LPG’s work was large housing regeneration schemes. Now, it has turned its attention predominantly to parks and open spaces.

Birmingham’s parks were introduced in the 19th century to prevent crime and tackle the spread of disease. Now, the council is looking to provide a network of green spaces to improve the population's health and wellbeing – a focus that is becoming increasingly important as pressure is placed on cities to improve air quality.

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LPG is based within the council’s parks department, which manages the green space for highways and housing as well as the city’s parks. It works closely with the planning department, looking at open space in terms of how it impacts planning applications and development, and the policies that are in place to protect open space.

“We’re increasingly involved in the Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust (BMHT) programme,” says Robert. “The council is building new houses, and we are reconfiguring open space to create new places to live that are actually liveable.”

This four-year programme was launched earlier in the year, and will see both small and medium

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“THE DIFFICULTY IS COMPETING DEMANDS FOR BUSINESS, AND LACK OF SPACE IN THE CITY CENTRE FOR GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE”

house builders working for the local authority. To aid developers and consultants with the hard and soft landscaping, LPG produced an External Works Design uide, to help add financial and aesthetic alue to these schemes for prospective residents.

Unlike many local authority teams, LPG is expected to raise its own funding. “Each year, we start from scratch without a budget, and cannot carry any return over to the following year. We have to bring in our own income to cover our costs, as well as make a return for the council. Though there is an element of pressure, it does mean that we have a fee-charging mechanism giving us a return for the work that we do, demonstrating that we are value for money.”

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FEATURE

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1 Green space flowing through the heart of the Park Central development 2 The green roof park link over the top of a multi-storey car park 3 Planting designed for seasonal interest and drought tolerance 4 Planting for both drought tolerance and seasonal interest 5 High quality green space helping to sell development at Park Central

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This business model is what principal landscape architect Jonathan Webster feels has allowed LPG to endure; it has also made the practice more attractive to in-house clients. “Any additional return at the end of the year is contributed towards the park department’s budget, and this is one of the reasons for in-house clients to give work to us – the money is recycled back rather than going out through an external practice.”

LPG does not only undertake projects on councilowned land; it also undertakes work for external clients, including Park Central, one of the largest, multi-award-winning estate renewals. The Lee Bank estate was notorious for its crime levels, and Crest Nicholson Regeneration partnered with Birmingham City Council and Optima Community Association to develop it into a large residential-led mixed-use scheme, with the LPG designing the parks including the planting scheme and hard landscaping.

“The council tenants, with the local authority, applied for a European grant to redevelop the whole estate,” explains Jonathan. “They obtained developer Crest Nicholson, who had to accept guarantees that external works would be put in place to make it liveable, which included two new parks and road infrastructure. We were employed by Crest Nicholson as landscape architects to remodel the two parks – Moonlit Park and Sunset Park – in the centre of the new estate, and have since been asked to design the landscaping within the housing phases as well.”

The 14-strong team is now working on a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) scheme in the city's Jewellery Quarter. HLF has granted £1.38m towards the restoration of two Victorian cemeteries – Key Hill Cemetery and Warstone Lane Cemetery – which will see original railings reinstalled, along with new paths, gates and seating.

“These cemeteries are an interesting example of how the city has expanded,” says Robert. “They were built on the edge of the city when new sites were needed for burials, and are now near the city centre.

We’ve been working with planning colleagues on the Stage 2 bid work, and are now working through the delivery stages.”

LPG is also involved in the Birmingham Cycle Revolution Green Routes, a scheme that aims to increase the number of people cycling within the city.

Part of this scheme is to develop new cycling green routes through parks and open spaces, and LPG has been planning this network for the past three years. he difficulty is competing demands for business, and lack of space in the city centre for green infrastructure, because the land is worth more money for de elopers We’re loo ing at different spaces in the city centre to try to keep it as green as possible.”

Looking to futureproof green space within Birmingham, LPG is currently helping to review ways in which parks can obtain their own funding and be less vulnerable to budget cuts. This could be through events or business models for individual parks throughout the city. LPG is also working with the council’s planning department to set out parameters for developers in terms of the open space they are required to provide within a private development.

Developers are increasingly being asked to ensure that the space is maintained after completion, and that it is deemed suitable for the public to enter by the council.

Birmingham City Council holds its green spaces in high regard, and, with plans to further futureproof these spaces, we could see it move up the ranks of the greenest cities in the UK.

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FEATURE

CASE STUDY

Archway gyratory GreenBlue Urban worked with Transport for London to reimagine and regenerate a space to accommodate vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians

PROJECT DETAILS Client Islington Council and Transport for London Contractor Ringway Jacobs Subcontractor Gavigan Paving

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FEATURE

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he London Borough of Islington had invested a lot of time and treasure in its quest for a solution to the sclerotic Archway gyratory, located at a critical point on the A1 out of the City of London towards the north.

The gyratory was probably already a bottleneck in the days of horse drawn traffic, and while the sounds, smells and pollution have changed in the years since, they haven’t changed for the better.

Safety had become precarious, especially for pedestrians and cyclists seeking to traverse dense modern traffic patterns The objectives In 2014, consultation and project development was taken in-house by Transport for London (TfL) with clearly defined objecti es he goals were to reduce traffic dominance around the town centre, impro e the accessibility of the junction for cyclists, improve both safety and the perception of safety, provide a high quality urban realm, and protect the capacity of the A1.

That fourth objective, creating a high quality urban realm, meant that the improvements would not just alleviate historic disadvantages but also create an environmentally attractive public open space amenity.

For the past 25 years GreenBlue Urban (GBU) has also invested much time and treasure researching what was causing the high mortality in urban tree planting, as well as ways it could recreate forest floor uality root space n high traffic cityscapes, this requires accurate control of irrigation, aeration, compaction avoidance and pollution control, while ensuring service duct integrity and the protection of pedestrian and cycle access.

TfL concluded after evaluation that GBU tree pit package deals, while not the lowest in price, provided the most reliable package system for healthy tree growth and reduced maintenance costs. These tree pit package deals incorporated RootSpace, RootDirectors, RootRain, Geonet, soil, Castle Tree Grilles and Thames Guards.

“TfL is continuing to improve the environment for the health and wellbeing of its customers,” says TfL arboriculturist Grayham Tindal. “Planting trees in the streets of London has many challenges; in this instance they were solved by using a cellular system.

We have found GBU very supportive and its products delivered all the requirements and expectations for this project. I am sure TfL will be working with GBU again in the future.”

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The benefits he alue added’ benefits of the project as defined by TfL include: • Openness in the centre of the square, with sunny areas for outdoor seating A fle ible s uare with space suitable for a range of events, activities and a market • Protection from wind and screening from surrounding roads, using trees planted along the fringes • A clearly demarcated cycle track • Consistency of paving materials throughout the square, including any privately owned areas treet furniture that reflects the area’s history and heritage.

“Radical changes at the A1 Archway gyratory will reduce the impact of traffic and ma e the area feel cleaner and greener,” says Connor Gavigan of Gavigan Paving. “We have removed the roundabout to create a peninsular, improving safety for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. The widened footpaths and new crossing points will help to impro e the flow of foot traffic while maintaining the flow of ehicle traffic Proud of the company’s core values, GBU’s technical and sales support teams are always interested to hear about project challenges from architects and landscape professionals. Urban regeneration is a fast-moving discipline and GBU relies on ‘market soundings’ to help it in its ongoing R&D progression.

“PROVIDING A HIGH QUALITY URBAN REALM WAS A CENTRAL GOAL OF THIS PROJECT”

GreenBlue Urban GreenBlue Urban was set up to provide solutions for trees struggling to establish in urban spaces, with the goals of improving urban planting success and increasing leaf canopy in urban areas.

W: www.greenblue.com

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FEATURE

SOIL TALK: Amenity grass Tim O’Hare breaks down the ins and outs of grass, how to select the correct soil for your needs, and how to get the best out of it

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here is an expectation that grass will grow on any soil, and that very little thought or care needs to be given to ‘grass areas’ on a landscape scheme.

This may well be the case if the grass is to be left to its own devices and not walked, played or driven on. However, when we engage with the grass and raise our expectations of how it should look and perform, problems can arise – so the selection of the correct soil is vital.

Usage levels are an important factor in soil selection – how is the grass area to be used? In a

back garden? For formal sports?

Informal play? Public events? Or is it just a road verge? The higher the level of usage, the greater the requirements will be for the soil that supports the grass. At the ‘low’ end of the scale i.e. a road verge , virtually any topsoil should be suitable, whereas at the ‘high’ end i.e. a pu lic park with five million visitors a year , the soil will need to have a number of properties to enable the grass roots to function properly – compaction resistance, water attenuation, optimum fertility, healthy soil microbes, and a high level of maintenance.

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Soil texture The greater the amount of use a grass lawn receives, the higher the sand content needs to be. An ideal soil texture for most applications is ‘sandy loam’, which has a degree of compaction resistance but can also retain water and nutrients.

Go any sandier and the level of maintenance will increase. The heavier the topsoil high silt and clay content , the more prone it will be to compaction, smearing and waterlogging. Artificial drainage, top dressing and other treatments have to be used to extend the use on heavy soils.

Stones and foreign matter Stones and other foreign objects in topsoil are more of a concern for amenity grass than, say, tree or shrub planting. From an agronomic perspective, a high stone content reduces the proportion of soil fines less than mm particles from which water and plant nutrients are obtained, leading to infertility and drought stress.

Larger stones present a risk of injury where the land is used for play. To reduce this risk, a maximum stone content of y dry weight and ma imum stone si e of mm are often specified.

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Soil depths for amenity grass Grass roots will happily grow down to 250-300mm if soil conditions allow (certain rhizomatous cultivars even reach 1m). For most applications, a total soil depth of 300mm should be aimed for.

This can be made up of 150mm topsoil and 150mm subsoil.

Where the subsoil conditions are poor or where there is a surplus of topsoil to use, the entire depth can be made up of topsoil. The preparation should ensure that at least this upper 300mm is properly Soil pH The seed houses have generated grass cultivars that will cover a broad pH range. For general amenity grass lawns, a pH of between 5.5 and 8.5 is now acceptable. If the ambition is an especially fine turf, consisting of fescue and bent cultivars, an acidic pH range of 4.0 to 6.0 is preferred.

These days, many of the dwarf perennial ryegrass varieties perform almost as well as the fine leaf grasses; these will tolerate pH levels up into the 8s without too much trouble.

Soil fertility Most amenity grass seed and turf mixes contain a moderate to high proportion of perennial ryegrass, because of its fast growth and tolerance to high wear and tear. It is also a hungry grass, so needs a fertile soil and regular additions of fertiliser if it is to look good and stay healthy and strong.

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This is one of the disadvantages of sandy soils and rootzones, which have a lower nutrient retention capacity – they need feeding more regularly. Although a range of nutrients and trace elements are required, it is nitrogen and potassium that are usually in the highest demand.

Unfortunately, not all guidance documents or specifications within our industry follow this approach. Certain national housebuilding organisations, for example, only require garden lawn areas to receive 100mm of topsoil. There is also no requirement for the subsoil to be decompacted, which is essential after construction activities. This often leads to very poor quality gardens, with chronic problems of waterlogging, ooding, failed grass and unusable lawns.

Maintenance The soils for all grass lawns will require a certain level of maintenance if they are to maintain the grass. The soil and turf are dependent on each other, so need to be managed as a unit. Apart from regular mowing in the growing season, aeration, scarification and fertiliser application should be attempted at least once a year.

These treatments can be supported by others, such as irrigation, top dressing, verticutting, decompaction and herbicide application.

1 Specialist rootzones are required for high use lawns 2 Public open space lawns take considerable ‘wear and tear’ 3 A good depth of topsoil for roots to grow into 4 Large, angular stones from a garden lawn topsoil

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Tim O’Hare Tim O’Hare, principal soil consultant of Tim O’Hare Associates LLP, has advised on soil specification and tree pit design for numerous projects throughout the UK. W: www.toha.co.uk

Table 1 below lists grass species that are often used for amenity grass mixes, with their ratings against a number of soil and environmental characteristics.

Table 1: Grass type characteristics Grass type

Wear tolerance

Shade tolerance

Establishment rate

Maintenance level

Fertiliser needs

Water needs

Browntop bent

Average

Good

Poor

Average

High

Average

Strong creeping bent

Poor

Good

Average

Low

Low

Low

Chewings fescue

Average

Good

Average

Low

Low

Low

Slender creeping red fescue

Average

Good

Average

Low

Low

Low

Tall fescue

Good

Good

Average

Average

High

Very low

Perennial ryegrass

Good

Average

Good

Average

High

Average

Smooth-stalked meadow grass

Good

Poor

Poor

Average

High

Average

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11/07/2017 09:32

R

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FEATURE

SOILSCON 2017 this year's soilscon will see a packed presentation programme and a brand new 'soil surgery'

Date: Wednesday 18 October 2017 Time: 9am-4.30pm Location: Phyllis Court, Marlow Road, Henley on Thames, Oxon RG9 2HT Cost: £90 + VAT (LI/BALI/SGD members) or £110 + VAT (non-members)

Presentation programme The successful management and re-use of ‘greenfield’ site soils – a case study Tim White, senior associate, Tim O’Hare Associates LLP New generation soil conditioning technology Davy Ottevaere, technical manager at TerraCottem BVBA The client’s perspective – what you can’t see does matter!

Phil Askew, director of landscape design and management at Peabody, leading on Thamesmead

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his year’s annual soils conference, organised by soil scientist and landscape consultant Tim O’Hare, takes place on Wednesday 18 October, and will provide delegates – landscape architects, garden designers, landscape contractors, housebuilders, developers, soil suppliers and local authorities – with knowledge, practical ideas and solutions that they can take away and apply to their own projects.

Now in its third year, SoilsCon 2017 promises a full day of professional development, discussion and networking, with an impressive line-up of seven respected industry spea ers or the first time, im O’Hare Associates will be holding a 'Soil Surgery' throughout the event, in which delegates can speak to a consultant about their specific soil ueries

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Topics this year include a talk

by Tim White on the successful management of greenfield’ site soils oils on greenfield sites are a aluable natural resource they are, howe er, a major financial and environmental liability if not managed properly during construction. The case study examines a large greenfield de elopment site where a comple range of landscape environments were proposed (street trees, ornamental shrubs, native woodland, swales, wetlands, grasslands and sports pitches). Tim will summarise the findings of the initial oil esource ur ey, which identified arious soil types with differing properties, and go through the se uence of e ents that unfolded during the earthworks phases. He will loo at the conse uences of when things don’t go to plan, and how to rectify potential problems.

Podium landscapes – considerations for soil types, depths, specifications, membranes and much more Tim O’Hare, principal consultant, Tim O’Hare Associates LLP Designing valuable landscapes from the soil up Carolyn Willitts, founder and landscape architect, CW Studio Thinking outside the tree pit – what sustainable urban tree planting really looks like Martin Gammie, principal, Consulting with Trees Ltd An introduction to mycorrhizal fungi Louisa Robinson Boyer, head of research and development, Plantworks Ltd To book your place at the conference online, visit www.toha.co.uk

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11/07/2017 11:41

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10/07/2017 14:55

UV s A pe No l An 1

FEATURE

SOCIAL housing FutureArch delves into the realm of social housing, asking architects and developers how landscaping is coming to play a more central role in the creation of these spaces

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here was a time when social housing and landscaping were rarely spoken of in the same sentence – but greater demands from planning authorities, the drive to develop mixed-tenure homes and a growing awareness that open spaces and greenery promote wellbeing, are changing attitudes within housing associations and councils.

Landscape design has come to the fore in new development and estate regeneration.

Jim Martin, executive chairman of Martin Arnold Associates, multidisciplinary cost consultants and surveyors working extensively in the housing sector, explains: “Because social housing was traditionally based on government grants, every cost had to e ustified on the asis of cost per m² per person housed. Landscaping was seen as a luxury.As social landlords move towards building mixed-tenure schemes, which depend on sales income to crosssu sidise their afforda le housing, landscaping has become more important. The problem now is service charge and how much people will be prepared to contribute to maintain landscaping.”

Balancing service charges with the provision of attractive and green amenities is highlighted as the major challenge by everyone working in the sector – but more of that later.

Changing perspectives Landscape architects in practices with housing specialisms are certainly noticing a change of emphasis by social landlords.

“In the last few years we’ve gone from landscape being cut back at the last minute to it becoming integral to the whole development, and being part of the cost plan," says Angeli Ganoo-Fletcher, a director at ondon ased architecture firm .

“There was a time when landscaping was an afterthought – now people realise it adds value. That doesn’t mean there isn’t value engineering, but it’s done as a planned exercise together.”

The sentiment is echoed by Kate Digney, associate director and head of landscape at Levitt Bernstein. “ rogressive private developers are ecoming aware of the power and financial value of good landscape design. This helps their initial sales values,” she says.

“The larger social housing providers we work with are also roadly aware of the enefit of investing in pu lic realm and the financial, health and community enefits of well considered landscape design. ut, understandably, they have to prioritise their spend effectively. It s a matter of good, ro ust design and

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“WE'VE GONE FROM LANDSCAPE BEING CUT BACK AT THE LAST MINUTE TO IT BECOMING INTEGRAL TO THE WHOLE DEVELOPMENT”

1 Hanham Hall, HTA Design LLP © Tim Crocker 2 Hanham Hall, HTA Design LLP © Tim Crocker 3 Cane Hill, HTA Design LLP 4 Brunel Street Works, Fabrik 5 Cane Hill, HTA Design LLP

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reduced maintenance, fewer bespoke elements and palettes that are proven and enduring.

“The key question is viability and the scale of the project. Larger masterplan-led developments typically deliver a mi ed community of social, afforda le and private homes. A combination of planning policy, housing providers' design briefs and our own objectives for sustainable communities means that landscape design is an inherent principle of envisioning each new community.

“This comes in the form of new parks and public spaces, re ecting local planning policy on amenity standards, and also through considered street design, residential courtyard design and the way that people move around acommunity. It’s about more than just providing a play area or greening areas with planting.”

6 Oval Quarter, PRP 7 Myatts Allotments, Oval Quarter, PRP 8 Sherwood Estate, PRP 9 Sherwood Estate, PRP

The cost of maintenance The scale, type and nature of landscaping is often driven by the planning process. Many local authorities have open space strategies that set out requirements for amenities on new developments. It’s a condition of planning approval that landscaping plans are approved. The Greater London Authority (GLA) provides guidance for calculating how many children can be expected on a new development, and the corresponding amenities required to accommodate play areas for them. Landscape architects will take on board the principles of Secured by Design, and the importance of landscape is also set out in the Department for Communities and Local Government’s good practice guide for estate regeneration.

“When we are leading the planning process and design on our schemes, we give a specification for designers to follow,” says Tom Casey, land and new business manager, commercial development, at housing association Optivo.

“We look for an attractive, sustainable and low maintenance landscaping design. We need to be aware of the long term maintenance regime required, as the cost of this is passed onto our residents via service charges and we need to be mindful not to make the charges unafforda le. We specify low maintenance timber, natural play equipment within open spaces and drought-tolerant planting.

“Where we work with housebuilders on the afforda le element of private sites, we do see a variation on the budget for landscaping. This is driven by planning requirements, but also by their marketing strategy for the sales homes.

“If the sales homes are at a higher price point, the landscaping tends to be established early in the build

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“THERE IS CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT IN TERMS OF UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD QUALITY PUBLIC REALM. HIGH QUALITY GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE ADDS VALUE FOR EVERYONE” 9

programme, around the site entrance near the show homes to give a sense of arrival. Mature trees will be planted rather than edgings, giving an immediate ‘soft’ appearance,” he says.

James Lord, head of landscape design at HTA Design LLP, says that the budget constraints of social housing providers have to be seen as a positive. “Quite often, the budget constraints of social housing provides force you to think harder – that’s the nature of the design challenge," says James Lord, head of landscape design at HTA Design LLP. "Mixed-use schemes bring their own challenges, where the cost of maintenance cannot be charged to social housing tenants. Landscape is only beautiful if maintained.

“That said, there is continued and sustained improvement in terms of understanding the importance of greening and good quality public realm. High quality green infrastructure adds value for everyone.”

Steve Skuse, new business director for residential construction in London and Northern Home Counties at Willmott Partnership Homes, works with a number of housing providers, including some of the developments for Thurrock Council. He also notes that landscaping enjoys a much higher priority than it has done historically. “Generally there are more conditions to comply with from planning authorities, but maintenance is an issue. It’s common for those developing afforda le housing to ask for ground cover to minimise weeding, and for hard surfaces made from resin bonded gravel and block paving.”

Often there is a desire for housing associations to have amenities and play areas adopted by the local council, with part of the section 106 agreement outlining that the council will contribute towards the maintenance of open spaces. However, pressure on local authority udgets makes this di cult.

Detecting landscape spending patterns is not always a straightforward exercise, as every client is different, ut there are some overarching trends.

“You’re more likely to see a considered landscaping approach on an extra-care scheme for over 55s than on a general needs scheme," says Michael Cleaver, a director of the Housing Forum who until recently worked for a major housing association.

However, as a rule of thumb, a developer might expect 10% of the project’s budget to be external works, which includes elements such as pavements and areas for storing bins.

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The forgotten element Though the overarching view is that open spaces and high quality landscaping has become increasingly important, this thinking is still not universal. "Generally we go for the minimum landscaping asked for by the planners," says the development director of one mid-sized housing association, who asks not to be named. "We want it to look attractive and we’ll go for some soft landscaping, like turfing areas and low maintenance plants that won’t cause any injury. But in development terms, landscaping is at the bottom of the list. It’s a rather forgotten element.”

The development director says that while they look at life cycle costing for many elements of schemes, they have not started looking at whole life costs for landscaping in any serious way.

However, for those that are putting more emphasis on greenery, there are clear trends emerging on the wishlist. "There tends to be a focus on 'instant landscape , says ames ord. Clients see the enefit of large trees, which are more reliably established and good value. Also, since the Code for Sustainable Homes was dropped in March 2015, we’re seeing a wider variety of tree species. The code restricted planting to native species. This development is a good thing, creating a strong diverse mix that is resilient to climate change, pests and diseases.”

A further development is the trend for biophilic design, which involves incorporating natural features into open spaces. This can be in the form of sustainable urban drainage, meadows, water and shade – a good example being Hanham Hall, the ecovillage HTA designed for Barratt Homes near Bristol.

Angeli Ganoo-Fletcher agrees that some clients are keen on the natural look , wishing to offer children s play areas with climbing trees, ropes and stepping stones. This style is seen in PRP’s work on the redevelopment of the Sherwood Estate in Tunbridge Wells for Town and Country Housing Group.

“Generally the aspiration is for more residents to be actively involved with the landscape,” says Paul Barrett, who leads the London design studio at Fabrik. Fabrik is the landscape consultant for Brunel Street Works, a new mixed-use quarter for a GLAowned site in Canning Town. It is working with JTP as masterplanners and architects of the project (together with GRID and Cartwright Pickard Architects) on the development, which will deliver 975 homes and a range of mixed-uses in a joint venture partnership between Thames Valley Housing, Galliford Try and

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Fizzy Living. The landscaping plays an important role in defining the individual characters of the different parcels of land on the development, and stitches the site into its historical context, drawing on its industrial heritage. The landscaping is also being designed to create an active public thoroughfare.

“One of the new things being talked about is planters for self-gardening and edible growing,” says arrett. di le growing was agged up as something residents would like to see more of in a survey carried out y housing association A nity utton. The organisation presented its findings at a seminar held by the Homes and Communities Agency at the end of 2015, with the aim of encouraging social landlords to incorporate more open spaces in their developments.

Dr Elanor Warwick, then-head of strategic research at A nity utton, said at the conference that private outdoor space is at the top of residents’ wishlists – twice as important to them as parking space. They also wanted space around homes that was clean and offered safe places to play. he said that allotments were also immensely popular – and intergenerational.

A nity utton is now working on how to calculate the value of improved wellbeing through various factors, such as living on an estate with cared-for outdoor spaces. It’s something the Landscape Institute is naturally keen to encourage, pointing to the health enefits of green pu lic spaces in its document u lic health and landscape, creating healthy spaces'.

Paul Barrett says that the increase in developers and social landlords constructing schemes for the private rented sector (PRS) is driving change in landscaping requirements. "These developers have defined target groups and might want to include outdoor dining space for parties and barbecues.

Because they are developing to rent for the long term, they factor in capital versus maintenance costs over a longer period.”

Kate Digney at Levitt Bernstein concurs.

“PRS developments rely on high quality public realm to activate and ‘sell’ their developments to a massively churning rental market – they invest significant amounts, especially into management and maintenance as it is partly their showroom. This is particularly evident at new PRS-led developments next to new Crossrail stations.”

With the industry in u , constantly adapting to accommodate an ever-changing housing market, housing and landscaping of all different types can only get more exciting.

www.futurearch.co.uk

11/07/2017 09:56

FEATURE

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Landscaping helps cement new housing brand at Tilbury Thurrock Council is one of a new wave of developers building mixedtenure schemes and putting an emphasis on green landscaping.

Gloriana is a local housing company set up by Thurrock Council in 2015.

It has just completed St Chad's,an award-winning development of 128 four and five bedroom homes in Tilbury, the borough’s biggest town.

Gloriana aims to build 150 units a year in a mix of tenures. The homes on the first development at St Chad’s are for market rent, with the council as the landlord and affordable rent. Future schemes will include homes for sale; the receipts will be reinvested by the council.

“Placemaking is the most important thing," says Helen McCabe, Gloriana's development director. "We want to sell the area as an attractive place to live, and we’re trying to create a brand that offers good value for money.”

St Chad’s has an 'A frame' plan, featuring a playground and village green. There is semi-formal planting at the top of the ‘A’, and swale on one side because it is built on a flood plain. The swale has bridges crossing it, and wildflowers to add colour.

There are 200 trees planted across the site and in back gardens.

“Driving down maintenance costs has not been much of a consideration on this scheme; it’s a flagship development and we want to establish the brand," says Helen.

Other schemes in development include the redevelopment of amenity space in St Mary’s Chadwell.

Part of the green will be built on, and the remaining green space upgraded. “At the moment it’s just a patch of land," says Helen. "People are far more accepting if there is nice landscaping.”

10 Willmott Partnership Homes 11 Aberfeldy Estate, Levitt Bernstein 12 St Chad's, Gloriana

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PORTFOLIO

BURRIDGE GARDENS, CLAPHAM

by Farrer Huxley Associates

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PORTFOLIO

Client: Peabody/London Borough of Wandsworth Landscape architect: Farrer Huxley Associates Architect: Hawkins\Brown Site area: 2.28ha Existing number of homes: 527 Proposed number of homes: 747

L

ocated adjacent to Clapham Junction station, Burridge Gardens is a social housing project that is almost doubling its residential density while increasing home sizes, as well as creating high quality retail, commercial, community and public space.

Farrer Huxley has been involved in the masterplanning and landscape design since the project’s inception in 2010. This project was an opportunity to stitch a closed and seemingly detached community back into its surrounding neighbourhood.

The basic principle of removing physical barriers and conceiving legible and safe routes through the estate allows this isolated place to make a positive contribution to the lives of the residents, and all those in the wider neighbourhood. The proposed promenade provides a direct link between Wandsworth Common to the south and Clapham Junction station to the north.

Continuing the theme of encouraging exercise and healthy living, a large bike shelter has been created in the project’s communal area. The shelter, which also protects bikes from the weather, is useful to residents who don t have the space for ike storage in their at.

The public realm landscape is central to the success of the scheme. Farrer Huxley delivered the complete technical design and delivery of Phase 1

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PORTFOLIO

(153 new homes). The work included supporting the art strategy, and ensuring the distinctiveness of the place through the establishment of the blocks’ names and coloured wayfinding, all tying into varieties of lavender that were historically grown in the area.

The use of large trees and specimen shrubs has ensured that the space was a place of distinction from day one. With a pedestrian avenue crossing the site, linking the station to Wandsworth Park, the large mature trees help the new landscape to ow nicely with the surrounding area, as well as providing some vital green space.

As a team, Farrer Huxley has a diverse range of skills from planting design through to environmental expertise and placemaking. While everyone on the team has their individual strengths, what united them was a commitment to people-centred design, creating holistic, lasting landscapes to be loved by the people who use them.

Community space is an essential part of social housing – it is vital to provide a comfortable place for residents to interact and socialise. The communal area at the ottom of the ats includes places for people to sit outside when the weather is suitable.

The landscape has a new integrated approach, re ecting the real use of ur an spaces where people live. Farrer Huxley used high quality combined surfaces to allow places for play, recreation and enjoyment, as well as access and servicing. A small play area in the communal area blends in nicely with the surrounding planting, with wooden swings and play equipment.

Blue circular shapes in the play area surface and medium-sized stones laid around the area ensure a natural look.

Sculptor Rodney Harris created four brick reliefs in the fabric of the building; these provide a nod to the history of the site by representing residents’ objects and memories, such as items of clothing, tools and their re ections on domestic life.

Central to Farrer Huxley’s success is collaboration: by placing local communities at the centre of the design process, it has built a strong reputation for engaging and enabling. Their places successfully integrate individual and community needs with environmental and social constraints. This creates usable, attractive landscapes that will serve communities for years to come.

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PORTFOLIO

Farrer Huxley Associates Farrer Huxley Associates (FHA) is a practice of landscape architects and community engagement experts established in 1995. Its work is founded upon the belief that landscape makes an essential contribution to sociable and sustainable communities.

W: www.fha.co.uk

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FEATURE

SURFACES: Blyko Nick Pryke, general manager at Blyko, breaks down the surface types available on the market and what kind of areas they work best for

Novostones Novostones is a composite product, cast in a single process. The surface offers the appearance of natural stone, with the technical qualities of precast concrete. Manufactured in an array of sizes and colours, Novostones enhance both contemporary and traditional landscapes.

Novostones are available in a rich and expansive range of colours. The topping is a mixture of specially selected and naturally coloured aggregates, and they come in two different finishes: the smoother round or the rougher Shotblast.

The range of sizes Novostones come in is vast, and they are incredibly versatile – they can be used to create street furniture such as benches and planters. This is great for projects where clients want the street furniture to coordinate with the landscape.

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FEATURE

Brigora Brigora is a concrete product designed to imitate Dutch clay paving. It comes in small si es, and offers a similar, cheaper alternative to Dutch clay paving – as well as having the durability of concrete.

Where can it be used?

Brigora is about to be used for a development in Hornsey the pro ect involves a listed waterworks building, so it is important that the surface fits in with the character of the area and the building.

Kograstones Kograstones use natural aggregates and high quality pigments in the concrete, making for long lasting surface colour. Unlike Novostones, where the aggregates can e seen on top, the concrete itself is made up of different aggregates. ograstones are availa le in a range of different colours adding the occasional differently coloured block when laying a surface adds a level of variation that looks great.

With a selection of both linear and block sizes, Kograstones combine well to make interesting and durable designs.

Where can it be used?

Kograstones are very versatile and can be used in both residential and commercial projects, from high streets to driveways.

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Rumblestones Rumblestones are multicoloured paving blocks. The variety in the colour formation is created y mi ing a num er of different colours during the manufacturing process, giving them an authentic look and feel. They are subjected to a weathering process, producing an aged appearance that is similar to traditional cobblestones. The darker ‘Authentic’ range can also e amed with two colours through the whole thickness of the paver.

One particular range of Rumblestones is ‘Donatello’, which has a unique colour mix: a white concrete is added into the mixture, toning down the colours so that they are not quite as bright and sharp and meaning they offer more design opportunities. They create a more realistic look if you want a natural-looking stone product.

Where can it be used?

Quadrastones

Rumblestones are extremely diverse and have een used in all kinds of different scenarios. They are most popularly used on driveways, but the ‘Donatello’ range has most recently been used in Colchester as part of a large housebuilding project. Colchester has a history as a Roman town, and on one of the development sites there is an area that used to be a track where the Romans would have raced chariots. The designers wanted to give a nod towards these Roman ruins, so they used Rumblestones Donatello in ‘Tuscany’, which have the same colours seen in Tuscan rooftops.

Quadrastones are a very similar surface type to Rumblestone: the look of the stone is almost the same, but they have a sharp edge.

This makes them a lot more contemporarylooking, and they lack the weathered effect of Rumblestones.

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Where can it be used?

Quadrastones can be used for the same purposes as Rumblestones, but are more suitable for clients who would prefer a more modern look over a rustic style.

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11/07/2017 09:40

FEATURE

Permeable paving (SUDS) The permea le paving offered at lyko comes in three different varieties: erfora, ercola and iove. erfora and ercola are made in the same way, ut have different designs. The voids in these two surfaces are formed at the intersections of the locks, and can e filled with natural stone or a permea le product to allow water to pass through. What is particularly useful a out these surfaces is that they can e topped with Novostones Novostones are made up of various different aggregates, so can e used on top of permea le paving without affecting permea ility. This works for clients who want something that is oth colourful and permea le a myriad of different colour options is availa le, from right lue and green to darker colours.

The other permea le paving product we offer is iove. With iove, the lock itself is made of precast porous concrete, so the water drains directly through it rather than through aggregates round the outside. The concrete has a dura le surface that results from the high compression and range of materials used in manufacture,

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and the locks have een rigorously tested to ensure that the ow rate does not reduce over time even with minimal maintenance. The iove system does not re uire ointing aggregate to e periodically replaced in order to retain the paved area s structural integrity.

Where can it be used?

These products are suita le for a range of different areas. ercola can e found on pathways going through Victoria ark in Hackney, while iove has een used recently for the driveway of a prestigious residential redevelopment in Hadley Wood.

Blyko Blyko Paving Products has supplied concrete paving, aggregates and cementbased products in the UK for over 20 years.

W: www.blyko.co.uk

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FEATURE

SURFACES: SureSet

with such an array of options available, it can be difficult to know which surface is best for your project. SureSet takes us through the different choices and provides a list of the most crucial things to consider when making your selection

G

one are the days when your surface options were limited to concrete slabs, asphalt or grass. With developments in technology, and environmental, accessible and safety considerations, the choice really is never ending.

Whatever the reason for surfacing public or communal areas, driveways, footpaths, patios, terraces and swimming pool surrounds – when looking for the right external surface for your project you can start by asking the following questions: • • • • • • •

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Is there adequate drainage for the dispersal of surface water?

Will the surface remain cool in the heat?

Is it accessible for wheelchairs, bicycles, and so on?

Are there any drains to consider?

Does the surface require demarcation or an element of design?

Is it easy to maintain?

How long will it last?

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www.futurearch.co.uk

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FEATURE

Environmental considerations ne effect of climate change is an increase in rainfall, which most drains cannot cope with. ut ooding isn t the only pro lem conventional concrete and asphalt collect pollution from oil, petrol, rake dust and more, which is uickly carried y rainwater ack to streams or rivers via overloaded drains, where it adversely affects our wildlife. sing conventional paving surfaces also adds to the heat island effect. Caused y an increase in land eing uilt on or paved over, conventional paving retains heat and causes temperatures to rise. To address this, planning laws have een amended to encourage the use of permea le paving.

Accessibility Another important consideration is accessi ility. aking a surface accessi le opens up the use of an area, and addresses a num er of practical issues from moving furniture to putting out the ins.

Drains and manhole covers rains and maintenance covers are not very attractive, ut utility companies need them to e accessi le at all times.

There are ways to make them less of an eyesore y replacing industrial looking covers with a remova le recessed tray, you can lend them into the surface or make a feature out of them. A recessed tray can e filled with your choice of surface, or with grass, plants or owers.

Demarcation and design There is an increasing demand for suraces to e cost effective, attractive and safe, as well as functional and practical. If the surface re uires demarcation or includes a design element, you need to ensure that the surface has the e i ility and or colour range to achieve this.

Maintenance and guarantee ook for a supplier that offers a su stantial guarantee, and find out if technical support is provided post installation.

It s also useful to know if the supplier elongs to any trade organisations, such as A I, the uild of aster Craftsmen or the ederation of aster uilders. ook for companies that are achieving and maintaining national standards, such as I .

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FEATURE

With such a multitude of difference surfaces now availa le, we ve put together a short guide on the different options.

Artificial grass gives a realistic lawn appearance without the mud or mowing. A soft cushioned ase can e applied to provide protection from falls, and it is even availa le in a selection of colours.

Concrete and asphalt are oth low cost, dura le and low maintenance options although not very pretty to look at. Although many asphalts should have enough slip resistance for most uses, if there is any dou t at all, apply an anti slip treatment. Concrete can e te tured for e tra grip, and a non slip finish can e applied if necessary.

Concrete and asphalt are also availa le in permea le versions, which, although more e pensive, provide etter drainage and help prevent the uild up of moss or algae. In oth conventional and permea le formats, concrete and asphalt make ideal ases for more attractive top layers, such as resin ound paving.

Block paving is usually made from moulded concrete, clay ricks or natural stone, which can also e permea le. While the choice of colours is not huge, you can create patterns y using complementary or contrasting colours. The oints etween the locks will need regular maintenance to keep them free from weeds. oor uality ricks can e slippery and if not laid properly will leave an uneven, potentially ha ardous surface.

Resin bonded also known as scatter coat is a non permea le, single stone layer surface, created y scattering clean, dry aggregate onto a film of resin that has een applied to a surface. ecause the aggregate is only on top of the surface, it can e uite rough, and there will e loose stones.

Resin bound paving consists of stone and resin thoroughly mi ed together and laid onto a sta le surface. The completed surface is permea le, dura le, accessi le and low maintenance. Its e i ility also makes it ideal for incorporating logos and letters into a surface.

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www.futurearch.co.uk

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FEATURE

Rubber mulch is used a lot in muddy playgrounds, providing a natural look that complements timber activity trails and play equipment. Because it is loose laid it does become scattered about and will need regular sweeping, but it does prevent excess mud being walked indoors.

Rubber crumb (also known as wet pour) is made from recycled lorry and car tyres. It eliminates the need for excavation work because it can be laid straight over the old surfaces, saving time and money. It comes in a range of colours.

Paving slabs are available in a variety of materials, from cost effective concrete to lu urious natural mar le and granite. The downside to paving slabs is that they are not very attractive, can be slippery when wet, are potentially hazardous if not laid properly and will require ongoing maintenance to keep the joints free from weeds.

Loose gravel is one of the cheapest options around and ideal for a uick fi , although time saved in cost and installation will be spent on maintenance.

Loose gravel quickly migrates, sometimes leaving ‘bald’ patches on your surface, and needs to be constantly swept back into place. In dry weather it also creates dust.

Wood and decking falls in the mid-range price bracket and has an attractive, natural appearance.

Unfortunately, in the UK’s damp and wet climate, timber requires regular maintenance to give any sort of longevity. A coating of hot bitumen, sharp sand or netting will improve the grip.

SureSet SureSet provides technical expertise, high quality products, and an excellent installation service in the resin bound paving industry.

W: www.sureset.co.uk

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FEATURE

SPOTLIGHT:

2

CED Stone Group CED stone group explores the best in natural stone surfaces for public realm 1

National Botanical Gardens, Wales Designer Anthony Jellard Associates Contractor Afan Landscapes Materials Porphyry setts, pink grey granite paving, silver grey granite paving

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his well-known garden is full of interesting uses of stone. The broadwalk has large and beautiful rocks selected to represent the principal geological periods and regions of Wales. The gravels pebbles and chippings are all Welsh.

A long rill runs down the broadwalk to a pebble mosaic. The entrance pavilion and several other areas make excellent use of porphyry cubes; there is now pink-grey granite for the steps and riser by the lake.

The most recent walled garden exhibits plants in a botanical order; the paths and paving form the hierarchical structure to support the order.

The resulting design in granite consists of tapered porphyry sett pieces placed in swirling lines. Green slate with red sandstone is an original and exciting use of our materials.

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FEATURE

Hereford Cathedral Designer Robert Myers Associates Contractor CJ Bayliss Ltd Materials CEDEC Red and SuperCEDEC Red footpath gravels, porphyry setts and edging

Cathedral Close and Yard, Exeter Designer Devon Council Contractor Devon Council Materials Porphyry, Yorkstone and river cobbles

The open space around Hereford Cathedral is a beautiful place in which to relax. Much has recently been done to bring the external space up to the standard befitting such an elegant building CEDEC Red has been used as a porous gravel‚ acting functionally to drain away excess rainfall, but also complementing the colour of the cathedral and allowing for better care and easier maintenance by keeping grass cutting away from the building fabric. ignificantly enhanced uper ed has been used as the surfacing for two extensive tree pits with quite heavy usage by pedestrians. It’s more stable than CEDEC itself, without losing the free-draining attributes or changing the colour.

In the courtyard‚ cars are parked on Italian porphyry – its low water absorption and naturally variable colours mean it will not show the stains from oil drips as much as other materials.

A delightful scheme using small elements of Italian porphyry paving‚ sawn Yorkstone paving and some local river cobbles to match the original material.

Coming between the cathedral and attractive buildings‚ the restrained way in which these materials have been used is superb. Both main paving materials are traditional in their laying‚ using random lengths to minimise the wastage in production he difficult part was matching the original river cobbles, as some had come loose and been lost.

Interestingly, these cobbles were quite thin and had been laid on edge, which had enabled them to survive almost intact – even with vehicular overrun.

Initially‚ we had expected to have to conduct a major search of the surrounding area in the hope of finding a match; quite remarkably, however, a member of the council team discovered some residue from a river dredging exercise, in which he found the exact small cobbles required.

1 National Botanical Gardens, Wales 2 National Botanical Gardens, Wales 3 Hereford Cathedral 4 Hereford Cathedral 5 Cathedral Close and Yard, Exeter

CED stone group CED Stone Group is a leading provider of natural stone products and can arrange the manufacture of almost anything relating to stone.

W: www.ced.ltd.uk

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“GREEN SLATE WITH RED SANDSTONE IS AN ORIGINAL AND EXCITING USE OF OUR MATERIALS” www.futurearch.co.uk

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CORE COMMERCIAL The UK’s Leading Commercial Porous Paver

Quick & Easy to Install

...our QuickLockTM joining mechanism greatly reduces the installation time for large areas such as car parks.

CORE Commercial gravel stabiliser grids have been specifically developed to withstand heavy commercial traffic. This is the ideal gravel stabilisation system for car parks, access roads and caravan parks.

The perforated HDPE base means you can achieve maximum strength and stability without affecting the porosity of the surface.

Plug-in Markers

...to create parking bays. This system will comply with current UK building regulations for commercial car parks.

DIN 14090 Approved

Extremely Hard Wearing

...the reinforced HDPE cell walls are capable of taking all kinds of traffic and can support a 40 tonne vehicle.

Whether you are looking to create a fully SuDS compliant build up or simply a low cost, free draining area capable of withstanding heavy traffic movement. The CORE Commercial grid is the perfect low cost wearing course.

For more information please visit: www.corelp.co.uk or call 0800 118 2278

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11/07/2017 08:34

PORTFOLIO

BRIGHTON STATION PUBLIC REALM

by Urban Movement

Project value: £2m

Completion date: July 2015 Client/owner: Brighton and Hove City Council Landscape architect: Urban Movement Contractors: ance

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ituated on the south coast, the City of Brighton and Hove is well connected, with trains taking commuters directly to London. The city itself has a growing number of jobs and is popular with visitors, highlighted by recent developments such as the £46m i360 tower.

With an increase in the number of visitors who come to the city by train, Brighton’s railway station is a usy location. According to ce of ail and oad statistics, over 17m passengers used the station between April 2015 and March 2016.

At the front entrance to the station, the forecourt has been relaid using a locally sourced hard sandstone surface. The bus station has also been resurfaced, creating a more spacious area that has additional seating for those waiting for public transport.

Adding more footways and space to create a more comfortable experience for commuters was a key part of the project and development.

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PORTFOLIO

ene t ng the co nt The new public realm to the south of Brighton station was completed in the summer of 2015, and is now fully operational. This complex project included the redesign of a small bus station on Terminus Place and the reorganisation of tra c movements and servicing on Upper Gloucester Road, Junction Road, Surrey treet and ueens oad, to dramatically improve the quality of the streetscape. r an ovement was commissioned y righton and Hove City Council HCC to develop designs from the conceptual level, through e tensive pu lic consultation, to detailed design. It was then retained through the technical design and construction stages, working closely with HCC Highways and its term contractor ance. verall, HCC spent over m on this first phase of improvements.

Conceptually, the design creates a new positive and legi le arrival departure e perience for train passengers, along with an improved townscape to the enefit of the local community. A new, clutter free forecourt was laid out using a locally quarried hard

sandstone similar to orkstone in a plank format. any people who use the train to visit righton do so to take a trip to the beach, so the sandstone surface was laid out facing north to south, reinforcing the route from the station to the sea.

The bus stop area was remodelled to create a smaller footprint and provide safe step free access to the uses, while retaining the previous operational capacity. us shelters have een upgraded throughout, and a widened footway and shelter outside the Railway Bell pub has been introduced. The taxi rank has remained in its original position under the forecourt canopy ut has a simplified access egress arrangement. A large num er of hardwood and

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PORTFOLIO

cast aluminium seats with backs and armrests were installed on the forecourt, providing space for people to wait for transport, sit and eat outside, or just to rest, so that the area can function as genuine public space for the first time.

Changes to traffic A small one way tra c gyratory system was introduced to allow footways to be widened on ueens oad, the primary route to the seafront. The footways were also able to accommodate new trees, seats, cycle stands and us shelters. ootway level loading bays were inset between the trees to allow convenient and safe servicing, and a contra ow

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cycle lane was installed on Queens Road to provide access to the new cycle hu in the station. imilarly, as part of the one way system, the num er of tra c lanes on urrey treet was reduced from two to one, in order to accommodate tree planting, cycle parking and loading. The surface material that had een used before did not go to waste: the historic granite kerbs were salvaged from the street and used as setts to detail the loading ay.

The redesigned unction on pper loucester oad allowed the north-south pedestrian crossing distance to be reduced considerably and for footpaths to be widened, making the route down to the sea easier and safer for pedestrians. The widened footways, which have permeable gravel verges, now host tables and chairs from adjacent cafĂŠs, as well as trees and cycle stands. A large semi mature elm tree with a hardwood circular seat around its trunk was planted as a centrepiece to the space.

Decorative lighting columns that had been in place throughout the area were replaced with smaller, simpler and more e cient units. The footways were surfaced in precast concrete slabs, with concrete Tegula locks for the inset loading ays and granite ker s throughout. The us stops on the forecourt were paved in a high-rigidity block paver with a granite aggregate finish, engineered to withstand heavy vehicle turning movements.

Urban Movement Urban Movement is a design practice characterised by a desire to improve streets, public spaces and transport infrastructure, with an interdisciplinary team working innovatively and creatively in all urban environments.

W: www.urbanmovement.co.uk

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11/07/2017 09:38

PORTFOLIO

INTERIOR SCHEME:

SKY CENTRAL by indoor garden design

I

ncorporating plants into the workplace has never been so popular. One reason behind this is fashion, with indoor plants currently a huge trend – but the tendency has been building for years now.

People are starting to understand that bringing nature into the wor place benefits employees, with studies showing that plants boost the physical and emotional wellbeing, and e en the concentration and productivity of workers. The bonus is that plants can transform the feel of any interior or e terior space en a small installation has the power to transform an en ironment, so e ery detail matters plant and planter si e, shape and form, colour and material Interior landscaping is one of the fastest growing sectors within the construction and property de elopment industries, and ndoor arden esign was instrumental in raising awareness of the importance of plants in interiors or more than 0 years it has been bringing plants into work spaces, and is the ’s number one indoor planting company, with an array of prestigious clients such as Sky, UBS, BBC Media Village, The Connaught and the St Pancras Renaissance hotel. It has won an array of uropean ederation of nterior Landscape roups e ig gold awards, and its installations at the helsea lower how ha e also attracted praise and

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PORTFOLIO

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prizes. This year’s show saw IGD win a Silver medal for its ‘At Home with Plants’ co-creation with IKEA. IGD works in workplaces, leisure or education spaces, luxury hotel lounges, stores and restaurants, creating planting schemes that are tailored to the company it is working with. It delivers a full and expert service, comprising design, supply, installation and maintenance on a contract or one off basis he planting schemes can be designed on any scale from single-stem orchids to monolithic atrium displays, and even elegant and extravagant Christmas planting.

It is not unusual now for landscape designers to work alongside planners and architects early on in a project, and for , this is something to be celebrated Whene er possible, we li e to be in ol ed in larger projects at an early planning stage because then we can create planting schemes that feel like an integral part of the building, says an rummond, who is one of IGD's three directors, along with David Grace and ippa obinson t’s ery e citing to see interior landscaping becoming a fundamental consideration in the planning process A recent award-winning planting installation at Sky entral e emplifies this approach iophilia the innate affinity between humans and nature was fundamental in the design of the interior, and because was in ol ed at an early stage, it was able to create a ast and stunning installation with an enormous number of plants including a large gro e of mature oli e trees, made from real aged trun s with artificial foliage The project won a Gold Leaf Award and Judge's ommendation at this year s e ig Awards he foresight of the client and its architect Hassell Studios was inspirational, and gave us the freedom to create an ama ing scheme, says a id As e citing as it is, it’s not always possible to be involved at such an early stage in a project, particularly as part of ’s client portfolio includes established and revered institutions such as The Connaught; with these projects, much time is spent sourcing and often commissioning containers and planters, working with a wide variety of mediums such as natural materials, ceramics, metals and fibreglass Last year we celebrated 0 years in the interior landscaping business, and we ha e been at the forefront of changing the way that plants are viewed in the interior environment," says Pippa. "Over the years, we have designed and managed thousands of projects, but our passion, e pertise, enthusiasm and professionalism remains unchanged

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urrently we are e periencing a surge in the domestic mar et after years of outdoor gardening enthusiasm, plants are finally coming into the home, says an We are now designing installations for high end interiors such as lofts, apartments and houses.’ espite the growth of the business, eeps its teams small and its culture intimate each team has its own social fund so that they can choose what they want to do as a group each month hese things are important not only for our staff, but ultimately for the clients, e plains an A happy, moti ated, e cited team produces the best, most e citing and beautifully e ecuted wor And that’s what it’s all about

Indoor Garden Design Indoor Garden Design supplies tailored planting schemes for interior and exterior spaces, and delivers a full service including design, supply, installation and maintenance.

W: www.indoorgardendesign.com

www.futurearch.co.uk

11/07/2017 11:29

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SCOTHORT 28 SEPTEMBER 2017 SCOTHORT

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29/06/2017 24/05/2017 14:12 09:36

JOBS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX Location:

Xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxx xx For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk.

For full details on all jobs, please go to For full details on all jobs, please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk. www.horticulturecareers.co.uk Call 01903 777 587 or email ellie.downes@eljays44.com with your vacancy.

Call 01903 777 580 or email laura.harris@eljays44.com with your vacancy

LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT (TEMPORARY)

During 2014/2015, the London Borough of Bromley asked idverde to develop a proposal for a holistic managed service. This would integrate professional park management services with the grounds maintenance services. The main responsibilities of those role will include providing professional landscape design services to projects brought forward within idverde’s Bromley contract and by cross-business project groups, delivering landscape projects through contractors or directly-employed staff, advising on all landscape matters arising in connection with projects and more.

Due to the ongoing success and growth of our landscape architecture department, JPS is looking for a temporary landscape architect to join our award-winning practice in Poole, Dorset. Working for our head of studio, you will carry out LVIAs, including site surveys, assessments, mitigation plans, constraints plans, maps, graphics, photomontage, visualisations and report writing. Additional duties will include masterplanning, design statements, feasibility studies, specifications, planning applications, landscape design, landscape plans and planting plans.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

DESIGNER/LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

LANDSCAPE ESTIMATOR/SURVEYOR (JUNIOR CONSIDERED)

IDVERDE Location: Bromley

TAYLOR2RECRUITMENT LTD Location: Bedfordshire

Our client is a well-established and renowned high-end domestic residential landscape business. They now have two exciting opportunities for designers/landscape architects to join their expanding business. You should have relevant experience and/or qualifications along with experience in Autcad plus hand drawing abilities.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

HEAD OF DESIGN AND BUILD BOWLES & WYER Location: Pitstone

At Bowles & Wyer, we are passionate about the design and construction of beautiful outdoor spaces.There is a fantastic opportunity at the heart of our team as head of design and build.

You will have responsibility for effectively managing the department’s construction function to ensure best practices are followed, costs are controlled and client satisfaction is maximised.The post-holder will ensure that the department increases revenue generation and contribution to the company’s operating profit as well as growing the value added to the company. The post entails broader responsibilities which extend across all business areas.

JANINE PATTISON STUDIOS Location: Poole, Dorset

SKIDMORES OF HERTFORD Location: Hertfordshire

Skidmores architectural landscaping contractors is a medium-sized hard and soft landscape company based in Hertfordshire, and we are currently seeking a candidate with landscape estimator/surveying experience. A junior position will also be considered for the right candidate. The successful candidate will be somebody who can visit sites and converse with site teams and our clients, confidently estimate hard and soft landscape packages with values up to £1m, has good people skills and more.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATIONAL CENTRE MANAGER TAYLOR2RECRUITMENT LTD Location: North Kent

Working for a facilities management business, this is an exciting opportunity to manage the centre and work closely with educational establishments to educate children and young people in the environment. The ideal candidate should have an environmental qualification and have some teaching/educational experience; you will also be able to roll up your sleeves and deal with any maintenance issues that arise.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT (FULL TIME)

GARDENER (LEVEL 3)

With a minimum of two years’ industry experience, the successful candidate will be a hard-working, committed and ambitious individual, excited about contributing to our highly creative and collaborative team. The successful candidate will enjoy a friendly and supportive working environment, a competitive salary and excellent opportunities for career progression within JPS. Working for our head of studio, you will carry out LVIAs, including site surveys, assessments, mitigation plans, constraints plans, maps, graphics, photomontage, visualisations and report writing.

Stefano Marinaz Landscape Architecture offers its customers a comprehensive design, build and garden maintenance service. We currently have several high end properties in West London and have an opening for a gardener with a Diploma in horticulture (or equivalent RHS Level 3) in the garden maintenance team. The main responsibilities will be all aspects of garden maintenance, such as weeding, pruning, planting, lawn moving, jet-washing, maintenance of irrigation and planting, and more.

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

For more details please go to www.horticulturecareers.co.uk

JANINE PATTISON STUDIOS Location: Poole, Dorset

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STEFANO MARINAZ LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Location: West London

www.futurearch.co.uk

11/07/2017 10:32

The spirit of nature.

The signature of quality.

INDUSTRY-LEADING ARTIFICIAL GREEN WALLS Hyper-realistic customised greenery. Hassle-free installation. Exceptional quality and durability. With built-in inspiration and practicality, our artificial green walls provide the ultimate, industry-leading solution. It's why they're the number one choice for everything from airports and offices to homes and hotels.

Designed by award-winning horticulturist Paul Alder, Vistagreen Signature Panels are precision engineered and rigorously tested. With a Patent pending design, stable UV exterior panels to resist all weathers and interior panels that have been fire tested, they are also versatile, fitting naturally into your design scheme.

DON'T COMPROMISE. CHOOSE VISTAGREEN.

+44 (0)20 7385 1020 Ads.indd 9

info@vistagreen.com

w w w. v i s t a g r e e n . c o m 10/07/2017 14:58

25 YEARS

1992 - 2017

WE HAVE HELPED ESTABLISH OVER

405’000 TREES TO FLOURISH GLOBALLY

A special message to you all THANK YOU greenblue.com

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for your continued support.

10/07/2017 15:00