The green agenda which most local authorities have in place is ensuring buildings and landscaping are not only environmentally safe places to live and work but actively encourage wildlife to flourish, for the good of all the community.
But this scenario is hotting up, as the demand for higher levels of green efficiency and sustainability are creeping up the planning agenda.
From the master planning stage of any development, the early involvement of the landscape architects is pro
ving the essential first step, especially where sensitive areas are affected.
The British Research Establishment, BREEAM, has implemented a scoring system to monitor such developments, which allows a project to score within a rating of good/very good/excellent covering all building issues.
Increasingly, there is a demand for a higher points rating for a site which can no longer be ignored. For instance, all projects instigated through English Partnerships now seem to demand an "excellent" rating, so all aspects of a scheme must be designed to achieve maximum points. "There is a section called 'ecology' within the BREEAM scoring system where both the existing condition of the site and the plant species present are equally important.
"Points are lost if habitat is destroyed but gained if habitat is increased or ecological elements are incorporated," says Clive Horsman, Director, Robinson Landscape. "Then this has to include a 'signing off' by a qualified ecologist, for which at Robinson Landscape we team up with Ecology UK, one of the larger independent ecologist practices in the UK."
Bio-Diversity is also a key issue within this new agenda, with an awareness of the range of habitats and possible knock-on effects to wildlife. The more diverse wildlife and habitats are, the greater the benefit to the local community, with much of the political impact being driven from the Kyoto agreement.
Even within the water and drainage aspects of a development, there is much more impetus to keep water on site, from potential toxic site run-off issues, to holding grey water.
A crucial partnership has to be made with the engineers, who cover the water dynamics and civil issues, and the landscape architects in design of attenuation ponds, swales or reed-beds, with porous pavings to hard areas, car parks and roads, and green roofs for water attenuation, insulation, visual and wildlife impact.
The Leeds Waterfront Strategy is an example where the Bio-Diversity concerns have to be protected and enhanced.
A landscape team can essentially help with sensitive sites like this one by coming in at an early stage, often even before layout drawings are prepared, taking on board the current environment and the ecological situation in context with surroundings.
A landscape framework provides the necessary scheme to actively improve the wildlife, both flora and fauna, and to increase its bio-diversity, which gives positive effect to the whole site and its environs.
"We assisted Freudenberg in Greetland, Halifax, with their planning process for a development on the edge of the green belt, by providing a Bio-Diversity Action Plan for their land holding, which includes pasture, streams, woodland and a factory.
"Our team were able to produce the plan which also presented the client as responsible land holder, and to show its work within its own strict environmental plan," says Clive Horsman.
By encouraging the focus on a higher "point" system, a real sense of innovation has been created. The landscape architects sector is convinced that this will be the accepted future, with the BREEAM point system acting as a driver for all developments, even before any accompanying legislation.
