Landscape Journal - Winter 2013

landscapeinstitute.org

Winter 2013

The Journal of the Landscape Institute

See all the winners All about play Is BREEAM bad for plants?

Inside the archive

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Contents Winter 2013 Publisher Darkhorse Design Ltd 42 Hamilton Square, Birkenhead Wirral, Merseyside. CH41 5BP T 0151 649 9669 www.darkhorsedesign.co.uk Editor Ruth Slavid landscape@darkhorsedesign.co.uk

Regulars

Managing director, Darkhorse Tim Coleman tim@darkhorsedesign.co.uk Design director Dave Hall

Editorial advisory panel Tim Waterman, honorary editor Edwin Knighton CMLI Jo Watkins PPLI Jenifer White CMLI John Stuart Murray FLI Ian Thompson CMLI Jill White CMLI Eleanor Trenfield Amanda McDermott

Landscape Institute Awards 2013

Editorial 5

When designing is child’s play

Production director Clare Moseley Senior artworker Mike Carney

Features

Bigger picture 6

Fruit and flowers – two images from the collection of the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading

18 Introduction by LI president 20 22 24 50

Sue Illman President’s award Gold medals Awards list Judges and sponsors

Landscape Institute president Sue Illman PLI LI director of policy and communications Paul Lincoln Membership enquiries Charles Darwin House 12 Roger Street London WC1N 2JU T 020 7685 2651 Twitter @talklandscape www.landscapeinstitute.org

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Subscribe to Landscape Keep up to date with the latest thinking and the most interesting schemes in the UK and overseas.

For an annual subscription to the quarterly journal, visit: www.landscapeinstitute.org/publications

Swings and roundabouts 55 The history of play and

Image ©: 1 — MERL, University of Reading; Image ©: 2 — Burns + Nice; Image ©: 3 — Phil Doyle

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Landscape is the official journal of the Landscape Institute, ISSN: 1742–2914 ©November 2013 Landscape Institute. Landscape is published four times a year by Darkhorse Design.

Landscape is printed on FSC paper obtained from a sustainable and well managed source, using environmentally friendly vegetable oil based ink.

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current trends

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News analysis 8

The Landscape Institute’s archive has the best new home imaginable and some fascinating neighbours

Debate 13 Is BREEAM bad for landscape?

Technical 63 Guidance on play

Practice 68 Benefitting from awards

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Hub of activity 58 The new North Hub at the

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Forthcoming events 72 Coming up at the Landscape Institute

A word...

74 Habitat

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Editorial

by Ruth Slavid Editor

When designing is child’s play

1 — Ruth Slavid.

to the North hub at the Olympic park, there were elements that were challenging enough for quite large teenagers to enjoy.

Of course there is the danger that since the best play landscapes rely on serendipity, the children may not even realise that some of them have been designed. Pointing this out could be one of the ways for professionals to explain the great contribution that landscape architecture can make to the world around us.

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Photo ©: 1 — Agnese Sanvito

h en the College of Fellows held its inaugural meeting at the start of September, one of the issues discussed was how fellows could help spread the idea of landscape architecture as a profession among school children, to encourage more entrants at undergraduate level. Landscape at first glance sounds a rather dull subject for typical teenagers. They are just at the age to complain about their parents taking them on country walks, and they are likely to have lost any childish enthusiasm that they had for growing things.

The environmental argument is of course immensely powerful, that landscape can be a way of enhancing ecology locally and at a larger scale, of working with the

environment rather than against it. And it can be sold as a way of reshaping the cities that they live in – architecture, after all, is notoriously oversubscribed as a career choice, and there is no reason why landscape could not be even more appealing.

One argument that could help should be close to the potential landscape architects’ own experience. Many of them may have been lucky enough to play in the spaces that landscape architects have helped to create – the areas that have fostered a sense of adventure and excitement, and that are a million miles from the sterile fencing enclosing a few swings and a slide that have been the lot of too many children in the past. These environments were not just designed for winsome infants. When I went

Play, it just so happens, does not really feature in this year’s crop of awards, showcased in this issue. But there is an exception. Jono Burgess, winner of the student dissertation prize, has chosen as his topic an examination of how play can foster independence. What is particularly interesting is that he has not just looked at good play and bad play surroundings, but has developed a system of measurement and appraisal. He has found that where it takes children longer to become immersed in play they tend to stay immersed for longer, and that risk is very important as it gives children many more affordances.

In addition, self-directed play is, he finds, more valuable than that directed by play leaders.

The great play spaces of the last few years have been designed largely by gut feel.

Jono Burgess’s research just might help the next generation to become even better.

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Bigger picture

by Ruth Slavid

Fruit and flowers

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The Sutton’s catalogue is there in part at least because Sutton’s was originally a Reading company, founded in 1806 by John Sutton, and remaining there until relocation, under new ownership, to Devon in 1976. But by no means all the archives are local. Among the latest new residents is the archive of the Landscape Institute and these two, appealing images, give just a hint of the synergy that exists between the LI archive and MERL’s other holdings. To learn more about this exciting new chapter for the LI archive, read our feature on the following pages.

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Image © 1: — MERL, University of Reading Image ©: 2 — MERL, University of Reading

he images on these two pages seem

to represent contrasting seasons

– the apples showing the

abundance of autumn, drawn

from the Hereford Pomona, published sometime between 1876 and 1885, and the tulips which are so redolent of spring, shown in a Sutton’s Bulbs catalogue from 1952. What they have in common is that both images come from documents that are held at the Museum of English Rural Life, home to the archives of Reading University.

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News analysis

By Ruth Slavid

Reading Rooms

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h e Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), housed in the centre of Reading and owned by the university, is little known but deserves a higher profile. Set up in 1951, it is a fascinating gathering of rural equipment, devoted to the history of the growing and making of food. Behind the Alfred Waterhouse building that houses the museum are newer buildings, containing the archives not only of the museum but also of the entire university.

It is this collection that turns the museum from a place of some interest to landscape professionals into a key destination. Because, among the diverse and impressive archives, there now dwells the archive and library of the Landscape Institute. Like many organisations, the institute has had to face up to the fact that, while it is highly professional in running its own affairs, it is not a professional archiving organisation. And outside the hands of professionals, archives will both fail to realise their true potential and will deteriorate.

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The archives at MERL are not only preserved.

They are loved, and they are made widely available to the public. As Guy Baxter, Reading University’s archivist, explained to the LI’s College of Fellows at the start of September, ‘We want to make the LI’s archive available to as many people as possible – that’s what we do.’ Much of the archive is not even catalogued, so it is not even known exactly what is there.

‘Our aim is to get it onto open shelves.

It will complement what we have already,’ Baxter said.

The university wanted to take the archive because, Baxter explained, ‘We didn’t feel that we were doing landscape justice’.

The range of the archives is vast, with the agriculturally related ranging from the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) to tractor maker Massey Ferguson. There are books, magazines, papers, photographs and, one of Baxter’s especial enthusiasms, pamphlets which give a fascinating snapshot of a time but are all too often ephemeral.

The additional archives, relating to the interests of the university rather than simply to rural life, are even more impressively eclectic – everything from local biscuit maker Huntley & Palmer, to the internationally celebrated playwright Samuel Beckett. This should help reassure landscape professionals concerned that, while much landscape is rural, a great deal

isn’t. Landscape is certainly not being shoehorned into a box that does not fit it.

The university has a strong agricultural background, but its interests are far wider. It currently teaches landscape management and, although it no longer teaches landscape architecture, Baxter believes that it ran the first course in the country, starting in 1934. In order to convince the university to take on the LI archive, Baxter had to canvas the opinions of academics. Enthusiastic responses came not only from agriculture but also from history of art and from the Centre for the Sustainable Built Environment. The landscape archive is not going into a ghetto, but into a wider and exciting world.

Rachel Binnington, the consultant archivist who helped the Landscape Institute choose the new home for the archive, said, ‘Sometimes you get both what you want and what you need’. She believes that there could not be a better home, and once the archive is fully open, LI members are bound to agree.

The archive is now safe for the foreseeable future but, of course, both MERL and the Landscape Institute have greater aspirations, and that is why the institute is in the process of setting up a friends’ group to raise money both for interpretation and study, and for new acquisitions.

Photo ©: 1 — University of Reading (photo: Laura Bennetto)

The Landscape Institute’s archive has the best new home imaginable and some fascinating neighbours.

1 — Guy Baxter.

2 — Drawing of Crystal Palace Park, circa 1852, from the recently acquired Milner-White archive.

Image © 2: — MERL, University of Reading/ Landscape Institute

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Baxter, however, warns that one of the problems for the Landscape Institute archive, as for all archives, will be the need to say no. ‘The big challenge for an archivist today is that we have to be highly selective,’ he said.

The other challenge of course is to deal with the digital age, with the sheer volume of material that is generated and how to select and preserve and access it.

Baxter, however, sees this as exciting rather than threatening. In fact the prevailing impression he gives is of

enthusiasm, both for the Landscape Institute collection and for all the archives that the university has. He loves making cross-references, for instance finding a document in the archive of W H Smith that references landscape design of its HQ by Brenda Colvin. /...

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News analysis

3 — Photograph by Eric Guy of Beedon Farm in Berkshire, taken in 1930.

4 — Archive shelves at MERL. 5 — This Book of Hours, produced in Paris circa 1410-1425, is one of the university’s oldest treasures.

6 — Christmas 1919 edition of The Landswoman a magazine founded for women who undertook agricultural work in World War One.

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Despite his long acquaintance with the collections, Baxter says that they contain so much that it is difficult to remember all the highlights. His favourite object is a wooden fork (agricultural, not table) that, rather than being carved from an enormous piece of timber, was painstakingly grown in a hedgerow over a period of years. It is unflashy with a history that does not give itself up easily at first glance, but which repays further study. It would be hard to find a better analogy for archives in general or for that of the Landscape Institute in particular, at least if sufficient funds are raised.

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What is really exciting about the archive’s move to MERL is that, despite the collective sigh of relief that a solution has been found to a difficult problem, this is actually the beginning of the story and not the end.

With the College of Fellows seeing the archive as one of its principal areas of interest, there is much to look forward to.

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A Friends Group has been set up to support the LI Archive at MERL. The Group will have its inaugural AGM in the new year. If you would like to be kept up to date, contact: heritage@landscapeinstitute.org

Photo © 3: — MERL, University of Reading (photo: Eric Guy) Photo ©: 4— University of Reading Image © 5, 6: — MERL, University of Reading (photo: Eric Guy)

This is actually Baxter’s second time working at MERL, having started his career as an archivist at Reading after the postgraduate qualification that followed his degree in history. Then he spent 10 years at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, working first in the area of art and design, and then in the theatre collection. He returned to Reading as university archivist in 2008.

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Debate

Is BREEAM bad for landscape?

BREEAM has been criticised for its simplistic approach to native plants. We look at both sides of the argument, and at some of the other strengths of BREEAM.

Nigel Dunnett Nigel Dunnett is Professor of planting design and vegetation technology, and director of The Green Roof Centre, University of Sheffield.

B

REEAM (the BRE Environmental Assessment Method) as it relates to ecological enhancement of landscape sites has developed into an inflexible scheme that, ironically, does not necessarily lead to the optimal ecological enhancement of a site.

The insistence that ‘Only native floral/plant species contributing to a local or UK Biodiversity Action Plan (or as specified by the SQE) can be considered for the purpose of increasing the number of species on site, as well as general enhancement’ is based upon a misguided and very narrow view of ecological systems, and the scope of this guidance needs to be widened.

The underlying basis for the guidance is based on several flawed notions when applied

to urban schemes. Firstly it is generally assumed that native plants are best or better adapted to local climates, soils and geologies than non-native species. But urban environments are highly modified, with a different and more extreme microclimate than the surrounding rural areas, and with highly disturbed and unnatural soils and substrates. The notion that a locally native plant, or a plant which might have been found on the site centuries ago pre-development, is better adapted than a non-native does not hold up to scrutiny – in fact many non-native species will be highly adapted to urban conditions.

Secondly, native plants are proposed to support a wider native fauna than non-native plant species. This again is a generalization that does not hold true. In most cases a strategy to provide for generalists and to support foraging of a wide range of invertebrates, birds and mammals, combined with a targeted approach that provides specific plant species and habitat conditions for named and specific organisms, makes the most sense. Most of our native plant species have finished flowering by the middle of August, and therefore augmenting with selected non-native plants for pollen and nectar is highly beneficial.

Thirdly, non-native species are considered to be highly invasive. Again, this does not stand up to detailed scrutiny. A minute proportion of non-native species that are widely grown

in the UK have proved to be problematic.

At the same time, many native species are highly invasive: we call them weeds.

Perhaps the ultimate irony is that the very concept of a native plant community in an urban context doesn’t really hold up.

The spontaneous ‘natural’ flora of urban brownfields and abandoned sites is in fact highly cosmopolitan and contains both native and non native species, fully adapted to urban conditions. In reality, these communities should be a fruitful source of ‘local plant species’.

By denying the ecological value of non-native species, BREEAM is simplifying and removing potential diversity from urban developments. I have been involved in several schemes within the last few months where highly innovative and very ecologically positive elements have had to be removed at the insistence of the BREEAM assessor. It is time that a far more flexible and wider definition of ecological benefit is introduced into BREEAM which recognises the ecological benefit of carefully selected non-native species. It is time to recognise that a diversity of approaches has ecological benefit, ranging from the use of local plant communities, through to incorporation of spontaneous cosmopolitan native/ non-native urban brownfield communities, through to carefully thought-through schemes that provide ecological /...

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Debate cont.

enhancement with non-native species in more intensive contexts. Above all, we must recognize that in certain situations, aesthetic considerations need to be integrated with ecological principles so that ecological enhancement credits can be given to a far wider range of schemes, to the benefit of all.

Martin Townsend Director, Building Research Establishment

M

any landscape professionals, encountering BREEAM, do so because one of the factors used by the scheme to assess and certify the sustainability of building developments is ‘land use and ecology’.

Among the issues that earn BREEAM credits in this area is ‘enhancing site ecology’, a primary measure of which is the increased number of plant species on a development site. However, the methodology used to award credits under this issue has received some criticism for the way ecological value is determined, and for being too prescriptive in terms of the number and types of plant species required.

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We take these comments very seriously because a key factor in the success of BREEAM – the most widely used building sustainability rating scheme in the world – is the continual review and regular revision to which the scheme is subjected. Many of the improvements arising from this process are the result of feedback from BREEAM users.

In recent years BREEAM has moved away from prescriptive guidance to present a more flexible approach focussed on the sustainability improvements achieved rather than the methods of achieving them.

But it may be that earlier, more formulaic BREEAM guidance has led to some lingering perceptions about the prescriptive nature of the scheme.

On the issue of enhancing site ecology, for example, credits are available for increasing species numbers with additional credits being awarded on a sliding scale where the increase is up to or greater than six plant species post development. This allows a degree of flexibility for the ecologist to base recommendations on the local context and does not set mandatory performance levels.

While there is an emphasis on the use of native species, others with a ‘known attraction or benefit to local wildlife’ can also be used in an enhancement scheme where they are recommended by a suitably qualified ecologist.

As part of the process of continual improvement, we have formed a working group, which includes representatives from the landscape sector, to investigate the best ways of making improvements. The group will examine issues such as the use of plant species numbers to determine ecological value. It has been agued, for example, that a habitat with relatively few plant species may nevertheless be very important in supporting key wildlife higher up the food chain.

The working group is initially contributing to the current consultation on BREEAM New Construction 2011, which is being carried out as part of the development of the 2014 revision of the standard. As time for this is limited, so are the opportunities for radical change in the current revision.

However, the group will then continue to review land use and ecology issues with the aim of further reviewing and improving the methodologies used so that this can be built in to future BREEAM revisions.

Your views and experiences as landscape professionals will also be very valuable in improving BREEAM’s ability to drive greater sustainability in the built environment. Please take part in the consultation on the current standard by contacting me or the BREEAM team at BREEAM@bre.co.uk

Photo ©: 1 — LDA Design

1 — The magnificent ‘natural’ planting at the Olympic park was not all native.

2 — MediaCityUK in Salford used BREEAM Communities.

Jim Gibson Partner, Gillespies

Photo ©: 2 — Gillespies

Perhaps like many of you I have been increasingly disillusioned with the ‘tick box one size fits all’ structure of the BREEAM assessment process. Yes, of course, there are aspects in the process to admire and the simple fact that appraisal of the sustainable design credentials of a project is now embedded in aspects of UK planning policy is fundamentally a good thing. But, from a practising landscape architect’s perspective, and I don’t think I’m alone, we are too often hauled into the process too late and to ‘max up’ land use and ecology credits which arguably are at the cheaper end of the spectrum for a developer to achieve.

Inevitably, considering the breadth of project types and scales to which it applies, the BREEAM assessment process is neither a nuanced nor a finessed toolkit and has little flexibility to respond to local conditions or distinctiveness. It is these site and place themes however, that are ingrained in our thinking as landscape architects and therein perhaps lies my fundamental difficulty with BREEAM. I could expand further to bemoan that structurally BREEAM is too focused on

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buildings (rather than landscape and setting), is reliant on clunky techniques of attaining project credits and I could relay, as many of us will have experienced, design team meetings with developers squeezing assessors, assessors squeezing the designers and the QS squirming and bleating about escalating cost – but I won’t!

By contrast, however, the BREEAM Communities assessment introduced by the BRE in 2008 (and updated in 2012) is much better geared for the landscape profession.

With certain reservations, I was introduced to BREEAM Communities when Gillespies was coordinating the landscape and public-realm design of MediaCityUK, Salford. Adopting BREEAM Communities for the project was a client decision driven by a combination of altruism and commercial thinking, with, I suspect, more of the latter!

If appropriately articulated, the BREEAM Communities process can be used as a sustainable design toolkit and as a stick to push sometimes ambivalent clients or, occasionally, design team colleagues, to embrace broader landscape themes such as SUDs, green infrastructure, modal shift, community involvement etc into schemes.

No, the BREEAM toolkit isn’t perfect.

The way that BRE consider the use of native plants is clearly flawed and too simplistic but I guess we don’t live in a perfect world. But BREEAM is here to stay, and we should continue to support it and speak with a single voice to the BRE to effect appropriate changes. Importantly, BREEAM Communities is a positive step forward for the landscape profession and should be embraced.

Although the assessment process has many parallels to traditional BREEAM assessment, put simply, it takes a more holistic view of development (rather than individual buildings), is applicable to masterplans and can be applied earlier in the design process.

These differences bring excellent opportunities to drive sustainable decisions about landscape design. Whilst clunky tick-box weaknesses remain and there are ways to cynically improve assessment scoring, aspects of the assessment such as including place-making design themes involving local communities, are a major step forward.

The Landscape Institute is in discussions with BRE about the BREEAM points that can be scored for landscape and biodiversity. If you want to learn more about this contact the head of knowledge and information services at the Landscape Institute, lesleym@landscapeinstitute.org

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Introduction

By Sue Illman

P

ut a dozen members

of the profession in

a room, and the place

is quickly abuzz, as

‘talking landscapes’ is something we all like to do.

Conversely, participating in public debate, or even worse provoking it, couldn’t be further from most people’s comfort zone.

Photos ©: — Agnese Sanvito

Why is that, when serious public debate is exactly what we need?

The subject of how we plan for the future of people, and the environment to support them, has never been more important.

So why are we so cautious, when we not only have the skills necessary to join the debate, but also to shape it?

While the awards are a celebration of the work of the profession, they are also a strong indicator of the direction in which it is moving; and this year landscape is starting to show how it can take the lead.

Leadership goes to the heart of

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the issue, as it demonstrates how new approaches to our future and the liveability of our towns and cities can derive from a landscape-led approach, and is the fundamental debate in which we must engage.

Big thinking and the big picture, on both a national and international level, are challenging us to address those difficult issues of an increasing population, climate change and sustainability, and to take a lead in delivering exciting but people-centred solutions.

Whilst a number of practices are seeking to do so, it has been exemplified in this year’s awards by the work of AECOM through its Global Cities programme (page 25) in a number of major cities, and by Grant Associates.

Gardens by the Bay (page 32) has been much publicised, and ably demonstrates how innovation, sustainability, beauty and fun can come together, and set new standards for design.

As president of the Landscape Institute, one of Sue Illman’s privileges is to choose the President’s Award winner, which involves looking at all the category winners. Here she draws on lessons from the submissions.

But not all projects can be so sexy; simple practical problems equally require well-formulated solutions although they may not catch the headlines in the same way. Big thinking on a more day to day level underpins LDA’s work for the national rail network (page 40), bringing together issues of local landscape character, ecosystem services and vegetation management in a coherent and deliverable way.

We need such comprehensive approaches, if we are to achieve multiple benefits from the work that we do.

Big thinking also has to deliver locally, as ultimately that is where it is judged by the people who live, work and play there.

Understanding people, place and how that can be reconciled within the environment underpins the work of Harrogate Borough Council’s GI Design Guide (page 36), while at Accordia (page 28) the landscape-led solution does exactly that for the people who live there, with thoughtful, well-designed and planted public and private spaces. At Stewart Park (page 34), that same understanding has reinvigorated an important public space, returning it as a key focal point for the community, in a way that satisfies not only modern needs but also historic sensitivities; its success demonstrated by the hugely increased number of visitors.

Designing for large numbers of users is always a challenge.

Having to deal with half a million visitors almost daily in a small urban space is exceptional, but is a condition that Burns + Nice has addressed with

great elegance and creativity at Leicester Square (page 20), reconciling traditional and modern influences seamlessly, while helping to boost local business and return this space to the top of the tourist map.

Delight is also a word that should spring to mind, to save us from the functional approaches to problem solving, and it does so readily in the delicacy of approach taken by Churchman and ERZ. Historically, landscape has often been a vehicle for both political and social comment, through allegory or symbolism but such thinking is rarely expressed today. Finding echoes of such thoughts reflected at Greenwich (page 29) and the David Livingstone Centre (page 38) is therefore a real pleasure.

While a site with strong historic associations demands a careful and sensitive approach, finding design solutions that evoke the spirit of a place or person is particularly challenging, but ultimately essential in creating the right ambience and setting.

Collectively, this year’s entries show a marked shift from projects that just solve the problems they were originally given. They have all looked well beyond the brief and found exceptional solutions that respond on many levels, challenging the way we think about landscape and what it can offer. In raising the game for us all they demonstrate why and how the profession is ever more important in delivering the landscapes that society and the environment needs.

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President’s Award Winner

Leicester Square City Quarter, London

This year’s President’s Award has gone to the reshaping of London’s Leicester Square by Burns + Nice. LI president Sue Illman, who chose the project from among all the individual category winners, writes:

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‘The urban environment in a dense modern city, with its requirement to fulfil numerous objectives, is one that challenges the profession to perform. When that challenge is increased by a historic and popular location, by previous failed efforts at change, by constraints of mature trees and regulation, and with much of London watching with a critical eye, then the pressure is definitely on.

‘The scheme I have chosen for the President’s Award, by transcending the problems of the past and the site, and

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through a beautifully conceived piece of utterly modern design, is Leicester Square.

‘Burns + Nice has amply demonstrated how thoughtful modern design, which is practical and robust in its concept but elegant in its detailing, can not only provide a new type of urban square, but can also demonstrate how improvements to the quality of the environment can act as a catalyst for change and regeneration. The ribbons of seating and planting, and the reflections of water and fencing, have radically changed the quality of this most difficult space.

‘Leicester Square and the surrounding streets, accommodating more than 500,000 visitors daily, has long been an essential stop on any tourist map, but Burns + Nice has now created a place worthy of such attention.’

Leicester Square won the Design for a Medium-Scale Public category.

See page 30.

Photos © 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9: Burns + Nice

Lead designer / landscape architect: Burns + Nice; Client: Westminster City Council; Engineering and highway design: WestOne Infrastructure Services; Principal contractor: SIAC Construction

Photos Š 4, 8: James Newton

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Gold Medal Winner

Robert Carson, MBE

Born in Ballymoney, County Antrim in 1928, Carson initially studied architecture and then town planning at Sheffield and Edinburgh respectively.

Working in practice made him aware of a lack of communication between disciplines and led him to study landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania under Ian McHarg, some of whose lectures he had attended at Edinburgh College of Art.

Robert Carson Landscape Architects, which additionally enabled him (with a team of more than 15 landscape architectural trainees under his professional tutelage) to provide landscape architectural consultancy services to new audiences, stimulating consideration of landscape architectural concerns of good site planning and design principles.

His legacy of projects and ideas is a striking testament to a fully integrated design approach. For example, Carrickfergus Marine Garden in County Antrim (late 1960s) and Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra in County Down (1976) are integrated architectural, Carson returned to Northern transport and planning schemes Ireland in 1962, working as whose design vision and quality architect and planner (with endure and function well today. the added bonus of landscape Carson’s holistic consideration architecture) in practice and of site planning and detail as lecturer, Planning Appeals set standards that remain a Inspector, and consultant benchmark of excellence and advisor to the Northern Ireland continued throughout his government. With colleagues practice. Examples include the Jim Fehily, Philip Shipman and significant engineering, town Charles Smart, he established centre and public services the Society of Landscape projects of University of Ulster Architects in Ireland: the campus at Jordanstown in foundation of the profession County Antrim (1982), Antrim in Ireland. He consolidated Area Hospital (1984), Lagan his government advice in the pioneering publication Landscape Weir in Belfast (1994), and Hamilton Town Square in Aspects of Road Design (1969).

Scotland (1999).

In 1971, Carson became a Carson has spent more than 50 partner at multidisciplinary years dedicated to the profession. practice, Ferguson McIlveen.

Astutely, he also retained ability He has fostered the careers of many landscape architects, who to practice independently as

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have themselves gone on to establish practices and become distinguished members of the profession. It is no exaggeration to say that his influence has been felt directly or indirectly by all in Northern Ireland who have practiced in the design of the built environment.

Carson has long been recognised locally as the pre-eminent landscape architect and father of the landscape profession in Northern Ireland. The award of the Landscape Institute Gold Medal is a long-overdue acknowledgement of his work and his importance to the profession of landscape architecture not just in Northern Ireland, but in Ireland, the UK and much further afield.

Image Š 1: Robert Carson

The Landscape Institute has awarded a Gold Medal for lifetime achievement to the Northern Ireland-based landscape architect Robert Carson.

Gold Medal Winner

John Hopkins John Hopkins died in January 2013 at the age of 59. At the time of his death he was Visiting Professor at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.

From 1998 to 2007 he was a Partner at LDA Design and from 2007 – 2011 Project Director for the Olympic Delivery Authority, London responsible for parklands and public realm.

Photo © 3, 4, 5 : LDA Design Photo © 6: Barret Doherty

When the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was unveiled, it was greeted with real amazement.

Quality, biodiversity and sustainability were central to the project and its beauty was beyond anything the public had dreamt could be achieved on that site.

But the park was not a surprise to those who knew John Hopkins and his work. As the man appointed to select and lead the team that developed the site, the Queen Elizabeth park realised his vision of what landscape architects could achieve.

Neil Mattinson, senior partner at LDA Design, paid tribute to John in the Spring edition of Landscape: ‘One of his uncompromising objectives was not only to create a park that would look stunningly beautiful but also one that must work hard in terms of delivering biodiversity and sustainability and become an essential piece in the jigsaw of the social infrastructure of East London.

We are fortunate and immensely gratified to know that John was able to see and share with us a

number of “firsts”; for the Olympic Parklands in terms of planning, design, biodiversity and sustainability.

‘As a client, John was a “critical friend”, steering and engaging the team to deliver the best work we had ever done. Nothing short of excellence would be good enough. The following piece, in John’s own words, is a fitting reminder for all landscape architects of our fundamental raison – d’être.

“What we achieve, as landscape architects, is bound only by our personal and collective limitations.

Our personal and collective moral authority and power will come from a fully fashioned environmental ethic supported by creativity, technical expertise, political awareness and eloquence.

We have a critical vested interest in the creation of good places where we can dwell and where we and many future generations may live ... for we are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams ... we are the movers and the shakers of the world forever, it seems.” ’ For his leadership, achievements and for providing the vision from which landscape architects gain constant inspiration, John Hopkins is awarded the Landscape Institute Gold Medal.

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Adding Value through Landscape Highly Commended

Heworth Grange Comprehensive School, Gateshead Landscape architect: Capita Symonds; Client: Carillion; Main stakeholders: South Tyneside Council, Gateshead Council, Inspired Spaces, Heworth Grange Comprehensive School; Turf consultant: Sports Turf Research Institute.

Winner

Beam Parklands, London Landscape architect: Arup with the Environment Agency and Land Trust; Client: Environment Agency; Partners: The Land Trust, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, London Borough of Havering, Greater London Authority – Design for London; Contractor: Birse (civils); Landscape contractor: UPM Tillhill (now part of Ground Control) Funders: Environment Agency, European Regional Development Fund, Homes & Communities Agency, Veolia, Play England.

Beam Parklands is an exciting and innovative new 53ha park for east London, helping to regenerate a deprived area by linking fragmented communities to the unique natural environment of the valuable green space. The partnership brought together to deliver the scheme, comprising

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the Environment Agency, Land Trust, and the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Havering, is continuing to work tirelessly to maximise the legacy value of the site to the local community.

At each stage in the project, different roles were undertaken by landscape architects within the Environment Agency, acting as more than just the client, and within Arup as the lead design consultant.

The project would never have gone beyond the preliminary concept stage without the EA landscape architects pursuing the vision and turning the challenges into practical opportunities to deliver the works.

The value added at this stage of the project is immeasurable – turning a functional flood-risk-

management asset into a crucial community resource, a park combining function, habitat, play and access within easy reach of deprived communities.

The judges commented: ‘The scheme provides a comprehensive example of adding value through landscape by turning a functional area of flood protection into a valuable greenspace.’

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The judges commented: ‘The scheme provides a wealth of new, exciting and stimulating outdoor teaching resources within the existing envelope of an established school.”

Image ©: 1 — Arup Photo ©: 2— Adam Pickering/Capita

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A multi-disciplinary design team at Capita Symonds undertook the redevelopment and modernisation of this school.

Despite the usual cash pressures, the value of a high-quality external environment as a vital learning resource was maintained.

The design deals intelligently with changes of level, and includes an amphitheatre seating terrace for performances. The school has seen improvements in behaviour and learning as a result of the enhanced outdoor environment.

Communication and Presentation Highly Commended

2016 Olympic Park design competition, Rio de Janeiro Team: AECOM with DG Architecture, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Pujol Architects, Expedition, IMG Sport and Squint/Opera.

the team created has helped Rio to set the tone for its Olympic ambitions, and has been used in international media around the world in multiple languages.

This was the winning entry in the anonymous open competition for the Rio Olympics. The competition entry – including the graphics, sketches, renderings and video – wowed the jury. The narrative

The judges commented: ‘The presentation graphics were inspirational.’

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Winner

AECOM Global Cities programme Landscape architect: AECOM

Image ©: 3 & 4 — AECOM

The Global Cities programme is an initiative that AECOM set up itself, to build on its strengths across the fields of landscape, urbanism, infrastructure, engineering, economics and social science.

This put it in a unique position to advocate joined-up thinking to address land-based issues.

In this spirit, it wanted to create a professional space where no single discipline dominated to advocate imaginative, but viable, visioning for cities.

The multidisciplinary initiative is led by landscape professionals.

AECOM uses its Global Cities Institute to partner with a city and help them answer a specific question or challenge they have facing their future. So far, it had done this work pro bono or at cost.

The programme sets new standards in communicating, both graphically and editorially, urban visions and frameworks.

Each city project was taken as an opportunity to position the city’s challenges as opportunities, and do so through creative visuals, and beautiful graphic and informational design. The AECOM Global Cities video, created with the London-based architectural visualization agency Squint / Opera, set the tone for this approach.

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The judges commented: ‘The video is really informative and engaging with clear messages.

The city guide would be a valuable document for the stated end user and other applications.’

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Design for a Small-scale Private Development Winner

Highly Commended

NEO Bankside, London (phase 1, phase 2 and phase 3 block C) Landscape architect: Gillespies supported by Growth Industry Client: Native Land; Architect: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP); Main contractor: Carillion; Landscape contractor: Frosts Landscape Construction; Engineer: Hoare Lea. Designed for a luxury high-rise housing development in the centre of London, the project has an innovative landscape strategy that defines the threshold between semi-private, private

and publicly accessible spaces through the use of heavily planted berms, pebble-lined moats, stone-lined cuttings and narrow walkways that combine to create a strong sense of identity.

It contains a rich microcosm of landscapes within a constrained footprint, offering both residents and members of the public passing through a mix of the landscape typologies we find in nature and garden design – ranging from naturalistic groves of birch and

alder forests, to a formal herb garden, fruit orchard and a central jewel garden.

It introduces a high degree of biodiversity, and uses new technologies to limit water use, with water-retention boards laid over the structural slab.

The judges commented: ‘The ability to distinguish public, private and semi-private spaces is particularly commendable.’

Embassy Gardens Marketing Suite, London Landscape architect: Camlins; Client: Ballymore Group; Architect/engineer/structures: Arup Associates; Interior designer: Woods Bagot; Contractor (landscape): Gavin Jones.

The key requirement of this project was to create an aweinspiring landscape that told the story of the future Linear Park for London and what it will be like to live there. It also needed to address budget, purpose, design life and site context. These issues were resolved by the placing of a ‘jewel’ containing the show apartments within a magical garden, insulated from the road by a wall and accessed via a ‘catwalk’ path.

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Photo ©: 1 — Gillespies/ Jason Gairn Photo ©: 2— Simon Kennedy

The judges commented: ‘The landscape around the marketing suite has created a high-quality precedent for the future of Embassy Gardens.’

Design for a Medium-scale Private Development Winner

Icon, Lime Tree Square, Street, Somerset Landscape architect: Grant Associates; Client: C & J Clarks International; Developer: Crest Nicholson South West; Architect: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; Specialist traffic consultant: Hamilton-Baillie Associates.

Lime Tree Square is the first phase and the affordable housing element of the 400-home ICON development. The desire was to develop a new neighbourhood that offers a fresh model for high-quality housing where the balance between cars and people is properly addressed. It offers homeowners a range of private, semi-private and public open spaces with attractive landscape.

Relatively small but highly usable external spaces are provided at garden and upper levels which increase the sense of space in the house and offer external spaces that take in different aspects.

The upper level decks on the public side of the houses provide a good view of the ‘green streets’, which are designed to be used by residents rather than simply accommodating a road for cars.

Photos ©: 3 & 4 — Tim Crocker / Grant Associates

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The central square is a place for meeting, playing, sitting and picnicking. All the public spaces are overlooked by housing, which means that children can play outside more safely.

The judges commented: ‘Very strong environmental and socially sustainable credentials are helping to further a paradigm shift in housing development design.

This place looks good!’

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Design for a Large-scale Private Development Winner

Accordia, Cambridge Landscape architect: Grant Associates; Masterplanners: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Grant Associates; Client: Countryside Properties; Architects: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Macreanor Lavington Architects, Alison Brooks Architects Engineers: RJP, WS Atkins Quantity surveyor: Philip Pank & Partners.

Accordia hinges around the landscape concept of shared space, shared views and shared experience. It is about the collective enjoyment of the environment by residents and visitors. The houses at Accordia do more than mark out a place which means home, they also mark out landscape spaces that

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carry association with other people and in doing so help foster a sense of community.

The judges commented: ‘This is a landmark project for the profession that demonstrates the value of design development and delivery in genuine partnership with the landscape architect right from the outset through to delivery.’

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Photos ©: 1 & 2 — Grant Associates

Accordia is a unique vision of modern, sustainable city living.

The site of former government offices, it has more than 700 existing mature trees which provided the framework for a masterplan themed around the concept of ‘living in a garden’.

From productive gardens with fruit trees, herbs and berries, to formal lawns, reedbeds and meadows, the existing mature landscape has been enhanced with new and diverse green spaces between the mews courts, greens and squares.

Design for a Small-scale Public Development Highly Commended

Student Forum, Newcastle University

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Winner

Sammy Ofer Wing, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Landscape architect: Churchman Landscape Architects; Client: National Maritime Museum; Concept architect: CF Møller; Executive architect: Purcell Miller Tritton.

Photo ©: 3 — Ben Luxmoore Photo ©: 4 — Sally Ann Norman

Set within the Greenwich World Heritage Site, the Sammy Ofer Wing provides a new entrance, gallery and archival facility for the National Maritime Museum.

Churchman developed an approach with Danish architect CF Møller which opened up an east – west axis, extending the site to include the former enclosed King William Garden. The landscape sweeps down from the park levels to the entrance set 2m lower. Planes of lawn and paving descend to the doorways, while mature clipped hornbeam hedges

Lead consultant, project manager and landscape architect: Southern Green; Client: Newcastle University; Conservation architect; Mosedale Gillatt Architects; Mechanical and electrical engineering: Atkins; Structural and civil engineering: Halcrow; Quantity surveyor: Gardiner&Theobald Ecology: E3; Environmental consulting: Southern Consulting; Contractor: Newcastle City Council.

This new public square sits at the flank elevations of extended heart of the university campus. ramps. When viewed east-west The design includes a large range the scheme has ample hard surfaces, accommodating major pedestrian flows, but when seen from the park it presents a greener aspect, the layered hedges continuing the parkland character up to the museum’s walls.

of seating areas and bespoke seating types to maximise usage of the space throughout the day.

The contemporary layout of the space is formed by low perimeter walls which provide a variety of seating opportunities with large stone tables, whilst also creating the boundary of the large raised planting beds.

The judges commented: ‘The use of a robust palette of well-crafted materials within a coherent design strategy produces a civic extension to the student union.’

The focal points are two water features, a 160m rill which runs the length of the boundary and the water steps, three broad sheets of shallow water that descend to the main entrance doors.

The judges commented: ‘The design solution was elegant, subtly linking the building, the route and the landscape to include a series of opportunities to rest and play, such as the delightful water feature.’

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Design for a Medium-scale Public Development Winner

Leicester Square City Quarter, London Lead designer / landscape architect: Burns + Nice; Client: Westminster City Council; Engineering and highway design: WestOne Infrastructure Services; Principal contractor: SIAC Construction.

Leicester Square and its nine side streets form one of the most intensely used urban spaces in London. The square also acts as a green oasis within London’s busy West End. But, despite being a major entertainment and tourist destination, the area had become disconnected from its surroundings, rundown in appearance and a place where antisocial behaviour and rough sleeping had become serious issues.

The new design is inspired by the historic qualities of the late 19th century form of the central gardens. New railings and gates were introduced, framed by a sinuous white ‘Ribbon’.

Everything radiates from the historic fountain at the centre of the square; the pathways widen towards the gates giving the illusion of greater distance and space; the Gardens and ‘Ribbon’ are framed by a carpet of dark granite, the shape of which creates a legible link to the surrounding square.

The judges commented: ‘This is an outstanding landscape in all aspects. It has changed a previously hostile and unloved environment into one that is enjoyable and celebratory.’

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Highly Commended

Ebrington Square, Derry-Londonderry Landscape architect, GIS modelling: Optimised Environments; Client: Ilex Urban Regeneration Company; Project manager / civil / structural engineer: McAdam Design; Quantity surveyor / M and E consultant: JCP Consulting; Access consultant: People Friendly Design.

As a former military site, Ebrington had been closed to the public for many years.

Opening the site up provided a significant opportunity to transform the site into a neutral gathering place. This was emphasised by the introduction of the ‘Peace Bridge’, a new cycle/ pedestrian connection, linking the historic walled city with Ebrington. The Parade Square has become a destination space readily accessible from the centre of Derry~Londonderry.

Photos ©: 1, 2, 3 — Burns + Nice 4 — OPEN (Optimised Environments)

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The judges commented: ‘The well executed design, with its simple palette of stone, structural glass and soft landscape, deals imaginatively with the complex levels of the site.’

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Design for a Large-scale Public Development Winner

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Masterplanner / landscape architect: Grant Associates; Client: National Parks Board of Singapore (Gardens by the Bay); Architect for cooled conservatories: Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Environmental engineer: Atelier Ten; Structural engineer: Atelier One; Interpretation: Land Design Studio; Branding and signage: Thomas Matthews; Local architect and engineer: CPG; Local engineer: Meinhardt Infrastructure; Cost consultant: Langdon Seah; Lighting designer: LPA; Project manager: PM Link; Design manager: Buro 4.

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ground, providing panoramic views across the gardens and surrounding city. At night, the Supertrees, gardens and conservatories are transformed through lighting to create distinctive beacons in the city and define a major gathering and meeting place.

The judges commented: ‘Both in design and technical delivery, this project is innovative and showcases the value of an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach.’

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Photos ©: 1 & 2 — Craig Sheppard / Grant Associates

The Gardens provide a wide variety of opportunities for recreation ranging from waterside walkways, themed gardens and play areas to a major outdoor performance space and numerous opportunities for restaurants and cafés in a garden setting.

The cooled conservatories offer contrasting unique experiences; Flower Dome, a formal and managed planting character featuring changing displays of flowers, Cloud Forest, an immersive experience of mists and waterfalls. The visual icons of the gardens are 18 ‘Supertrees’ that range from 25–50m high.

They offer spectacular vertical gardens showcasing tropical epiphytes and climbing plants, and perform significant environmental functions for the project. Within the Supertree Grove a 120m long aerial walkway is suspended 20m above the

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Rehabilitation of Shek O Quarry, Hong Kong

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Wenying Lake, Datong City, China

Photo ©: 3 — AECOM Photo ©: 4 — Image Solutions

Landscape architecture and environmental planning: AECOM DP; Client: Datong Planning Bureau; Construction documentation: Taiyuan Architecture Institute; Lighting design: OLIP Lighting; Contractor: Oriental Landscape.

The aim of this project was to restore the ecosystem and landscape of Wenying Lake to its former beauty, which had been depleted of water by drought and the development of heavy

industry. It incorporated an existing embankment into a series of jetties, increasing the apparent scale of the lake and using it as the focus for the development of a new city.

The judges commented: ‘The delivery of the landscape environment, and the unashamedly contemporary and engineering-led hard landscape insertions, was well-balanced and detailed.’

Landscape architect: Urbis; Client: Civil Engineering and Development Department; Quarry operator: Alliance Construction Materials; Landscape architect (1994 landscape masterplan): Michael Kirkbride; Ecologist: Janet Forbes: Engineer: SMEC Asia.

Developed at a time when there were few environmental restrictions, this quarry had become a scar on the landscape in an area where land is scarce

and valuable. This restoration project provided new land for development and pioneered the use of a scree slope formation methodology that allowed the establishment of a soil mantle for planting at a stable angle.

The judges commented: ‘The reintegration of water into the site and the planting were strong; they were delivered as a serene environment and as a framework that can evolve over time.’

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Heritage and Conservation

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Winner

Stewart Park, Middlesbrough

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This project initially required comprehensive research and analysis of Stewart Park, a process involving around 20 specialists working with the council team. This provided an in-depth understanding of the development and significance of the park and the community it serves and informed a phased masterplan of works.

The council’s vision was to restore the park’s great heritage and dynamically increase the whole visitor experience. The improved park would celebrate the achievements of its great forebears, Captain Cook, Henry Bolckow and Councillor Stewart.

The Stewart Park project is special because it has safeguarded a magnificent designed landscape, a rare and precious survival within the urban sprawl of Middlesbrough, which can now be cherished by future generations. Sustainable uses have been found for the fine Victorian stable yard complex, transforming a previously neglected council depot into a vibrant new resource for the park with community needs firmly at its heart.

The judges commented: ‘This was a transformational project. The landscape was a catalyst for skills and outreach through building adaptation.’

Photo ©: 1 — Southern Green

Lead consultant and landscape architect: Southern Green; Client and landscape architect for play area: Middlesbrough Council; Architect: Napper; Quantity Surveyor: Faithful+Gould; Project Manager: Mouchel; Structural, civil and M and E engineers: WSP, Middlesborough Council, URS; Garden Historian; Fiona Green; Landscape Contractor; Hellens; Buildings Contractor; Lumsden & Carroll.

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Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Lichfield Historic Parks project Lead consultant/contract administrator/landscape architect: Chris Blandford Associates; Client: Lichfield District Council & Lichfield City Council; Architect: Brownhill, Hayward and Brown; Conservation management plan: Scott Wilson; Civil and structural engineer (buildings): GHW Consulting Engineers; Civil and structural engineer (external works): GC Partnership; Cost consultant/QS: Altus Andrews; CDM coordinator: GC Partnership; Main contractor: P Casey (Land Reclamation).

This project involved the restoration of three principal historical open spaces for the local community and visitors to Lichfield. The project exemplifies the contribution that informed and sensitively designed public open spaces make to quality of life and economic regeneration by providing a sustainable, culturally rich environment.

The judges commented: ‘This refresh of a park of some existing quality was good for the city centre and cathedral setting.’

Restoration of Priory Park, Reigate Landscape architect: Land Use Consultants; Client: Reigate and Banstead Borough Council; Quantity surveyor and cost consultant: Heritage Cost Consultants; Architect: Dominique Perrault Architects, Paris; Principal contractor: Vinci Construction UK.

on a thorough understanding of the site’s origins. Through rigorous historical analysis, the masterplan was designed to emphasise the historic evolution of the park’s design, allowing the park user to experience the timeline through the restoration of features and interpretation.

This five-year, £6 million restoration project demonstrates the way in which a landscape architect led team can transform a seemingly ‘ordinary’ park into a vibrant and dynamic resource based

The judges commented: ‘There was clear civic pride reflected in this scheme and good evidence of historical information being carried across to the new design.’

Photo ©: 2 — Robin Forster Photo ©: 3 — LUC Photo ©: 4 — Helen Jermyn

Highly Commended

Restoration of Victoria Park, London Landscape architect and lead consultant: LDA Design Consulting; Funders: The Heritage Lottery Fund, BIG lottery fund; Client: London Borough of Tower Hamlets; Architects: Randall Shaw Billingham, Greg Gale Associates; Quantity surveyor: Davis Langdon; Civil and structural engineer; Dossor Group.

London’s first public park had been in decline for decades, with Victorian details lost or at

risk, and failing infrastructure.

This project set out to restore the fabric of the park and its place in the community, to enhance play areas, increase biodiversity and to add new buildings and bridges as well as to restore a monument.

The judges commented: ‘This scheme was a strong example of public benefit, political will and the ambition of London. It demonstrated that landscape architects can lead multi-disciplinary teams.’

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Landscape Policy and Research Winner

Harrogate Green Infrastructure Guide Client and project team: Harrogate Borough Council, Department of Development Services.

The guide was prepared with a strong multi-disciplinary approach with input from a wide range of disciplines across the council, including landscape architects, the rural strategy officer, the senior

drainage engineer, conservation and design officers and planning policy officers. The landscape architect’s role was to inspire and create a common vision for the council so that GI that would command wider support and form a strong foundation for future development.

The judges commented: ‘The guide clearly sets out the case and opportunities for green infrastructure in a way that will be accessible to developers.’

Image ©: 1 — Harrogate Borough Council

The council’s emerging Harrogate District Sites and Policies Development Plan Document (DPD) sets out new planning policy relating to green infrastructure (Policy IN2).

The brief was to provide supplementary planning guidance to make clear how the council expected to see Policy

IN2 working in practice. The overall aim of the guidance is to help applicants and developers ensure that proposals for development make the most of opportunities to improve existing and create new green infrastructure.

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Highly Commended

Highly Commended

National Character Area Project: a new integrated framework for landscape planning

Photo ©: 2 — Lynne Newton Image ©: 3 —Fiona Fyfe

Client and landscape architect: Natural England: NCA project co-ordination team, NCA authors Technical Advice Group specialists and local advisers; Gaphics and Web Publication team, Communications team; External partners and NCA stakeholders; Editing and proof-reading services: Accuracy Matters.

This project champions an evidence-based, integrated approach that pushes the boundaries of strategic landscape planning. It is at the forefront of environmental thinking, making the links between

landscape and the ecosystem approach. It brings together the latest evidence to influence policy and inform further research, and it signposts the opportunities that empower local communities to take action locally.

The judges praised the integrated approach, ‘linking environmental topics within a single spatial framework and the emphasis on linking landscape and ecosystems services thinking.’

What Makes a View?

Landscape architect: Fiona Fyfe Associates; Client: Blackdown Hills AONB Partnership; GIS and programming: Sological Solutions; Fieldwork and public consultation: Robin Lines Landscape.

In addition to conventional techniques, it includes extensive and innovative public consultation, computer-based ground modelling, and the involvement of several local artists.

Views are an integral part of the landscapes of the Blackdown Hills AONB and are highly valued by local people and visitors. However, no comprehensive study had been undertaken which focused on the AONB’s views. The ‘What Makes a View?’ project aims to redress this.

The judges commented: ‘This is a novel approach which focuses on bringing arts and science-based approaches together in examining views on the landscape.’

3 ‘Word cloud’ showing people’s descriptions of views of the Eastern Blackdown Ridge Landscape Character Area, as expressed through public consultation questionnaires.

The larger the word, the greater its frequency of use.

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Neighbourhood Planning Winner

David Livingstone Centre Landscape architect, lead consultant, master-planner, project manager and CSGN funding coordinator: ERZ; Client and landowner: David Livingstone Trust; Forestry and ecology services: UPM Tilhill; QS/CDM services: Armour; Key funding partner: The Forestry Commission; Museum manager: The National Trust for Scotland; Co-funder: South Lanarkshire Council; Training scheme for young adults with additional support needs: The Modern Apprentices Scheme; Timber artist, training support to the Modern Apprentices, natural play artist: Alan Kain.

The masterplan incorporates many elements from the multilayered history of the landscape, including ancient woods, medieval ridge and furrow, old field boundaries, remnants of Victorian industry, the landscape of Livingstone’s childhood, the early 20th Century parkland and newer contemporary additions such as a state-of-the-art natural play area and a new visitor centre.

The judges commented: ‘This is a unique landscape-led approach that, above all, demonstrates the value of consultation and imaginative and thoughtful design based on sound research and analysis.’

In 2010 the David Livingstone Trust commissioned ERZ landscape architects to prepare a landscape masterplan for its museum, the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, to examine ways to reinvigorate and repopulate this landscape.

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Image ©: 1 — ERZ

The key proposals seek to ‘unpack the museum’ into the landscape, offering a curated landscape of art, trails, play, education and events. The strategic importance of the centre as a hub for the Clyde valley was emphasised and the masterplan seeks to improve connections.

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2 Highly Commended

Bridgecroft Housing Development, Bridgecroft, Herefordshire Landscape architect: Churchman Landscape Architects; Client: Archihaus; Architect: Architype; Civil engineer: Price & Myers; Transport: Royal Haskoning; Local authority; Herefordshire Council.

The judges commented: ‘The scheme is responsive to place and the team has created a development that has a strong identity but that is well integrated into its surrounding landscape and the existing community.’

Photo ©: 2 — Architype

The scheme is the UK’s largest Passivhaus housing scheme in a rural setting and constitutes the first stage in realising an ambitious vision to transform both the quality and the sustainability of developer housing in the UK. The proposals provide a model of living streets,

combining parking and servicing with play and growing gardens complemented by secluded private gardens.

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Strategic Landscape Planning Winner

Network Rail National Lineside Vegetation Management Strategy Main consultant team: LDA Design Consulting, Peter Neal Consulting (project coordination and principal author), John Hopkins (strategic overview); Client: Network Rail; Project research: Anne Jaluzot.

Network Rail commissioned the Sustainable Vegetation Management Strategy to establish a set of new principles and techniques to create a more productive, attractive and cost-effective lineside estate.

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The judges commented: ‘This is an excellent example of landscape planning on a strategic scale with a creative yet practical framework for delivery.’

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Image ©: 1 — Peter Neal Photo ©: 2 — LDA Design

The focus on putting the lineside estate back to work is the key to the success of the Strategy.

It identifies the opportunity for a wholesale shift in the way the lineside estate is viewed; from a cost liability to an asset.

Network Rail is now in a position to re-evaluate established approaches to lineside management and trial new approaches that could one day lead to a new sustainable management strategy for the entire rail network, with potential applications to other network operators in the UK and abroad. It is a significant example of how green infrastructure approaches can be applied at the national and local scale simultaneously.

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3 Highly Commended

The City in the Forest: Moscow City-Region Plan

Photo ©: 3 — Gillespies Photo ©: 4 — LUC

Environmental and landscape planning: Gillespies; Client: Government of Moscow; Urban planning and urban design: Urban Design Associates; Strategic leadership and planning: Beasley and Associates, Planning Inc; Cities and precedent: John Thompson & Partners; Transport planning: Nelson/ Nygaard Consulting Associates; Strategic infrastructure design: Buro Happold; Local design firm: Group Ark; Strategic and urban economics: Solving Efeso; Place competitiveness: Professor Stuart Gulliver.

‘The City in the Forest’ is the plan for the Moscow-city region, to accommodate the intended doubling in size which will lead to expansion of the city towards the southwest. The masterplan makes use of Moscow’s unique and close relationship with its boreal forest and is also predicated on a ‘clean in, clean out’ approach to the use of water – that water flowing out of the metropolis should be as clean as when it enters.

The judges commented: ‘We welcome the strong concept of “the forest” which is carried through to the creative and imaginative proposals for the federal city district.’

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Harlow Open Space and Green Infrastructure Plan Landscape architect: Land Use Consultants Client: Harlow Council; As part of its Local Plan, the council is considering options for future growth and regeneration. Much of the district is given over to an extensive greenspace network which is the legacy of the pre New Town landscape and which forms the town’s setting. This

study provides an objective, robust assessment of the quality and value of Harlow’s greenspace network, integrated with consideration of wider green infrastructure functionality.

The judges commented: ‘This is an extremely thorough and rigorous study in relation to the cultural and historic aspects, and analysis of the existing green infrastructure network.’

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Urban Design and Masterplanning

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Northumberland Street, Newcastle — public realm vision Landscape architect: J & L Gibbons. Client: Newcastle City Council;

Winner

Connected Croydon programme Client: Croydon Council; Project teams: Croydon Council, with outside teams on individual projects.

The production of a comprehensive development framework of planning documents has led to a co-ordinated programme of significant public realm and transport infrastructure projects that are being successfully delivered across Croydon through the Connected Croydon Programme over the next two years.

The current phase of Connected Croydon will see £50 million worth of public-realm and landscape projects delivered by 2015, making it one of the most

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Northumberland Street was once widely recognised as one of three most valuable retail streets in the UK, but has recently suffered a severe fall in rental Quality landscape has been values. J & L Gibbons undertook placed at the heart of plans for a study to address the problem, the future. An urban centre dominated by over-scaled 1960s coming up with a 10-point plan highways infrastructure presents that included the inherent cultural capital particularly a significant challenge, but is of the aging population and being reset to place people at its curating the street; and the heart. By 2015, when phase 1 is complete, Croydon’s metropolitan opportunity for a green centre will be significantly greener, connectivity, in particular water sensitive urban design. easier to walk and cycle around and much more attractive. ambitious and transformational projects in the UK.

The judges commented: ‘The project is viewed as a foundation for Croydon’s sustainable regeneration; a positive and appropriate response to the challenges of the times.’

The judges commented: ‘The physical outcomes for the project are complemented by significant stakeholder participation in, and therefore ownership of, the process and proposals.’

Image ©: 1 — Croydon Council Photo ©: 2 — J&L Gibbons

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Highly Commended

Highly Commended

New Islington, Manchester Landscape architect: Grant Associates; Client: English Partnerships and Urban Splash; Architects: Alsop Architects, Ian Simpson Architects; FAT, Stephenson Bell; Engineers: Martin Stockley Associates, Fulcrum Consulting; Quantity surveyor: Davis Langdon; Contractor: Volker Stevin.

Photo ©: 3 — Lee Grant Photo ©: 4 — LDA Design

New Islington was the third of only seven Millennium Communities set up by English Partnerships.

The development of a sustainable community in one of Manchester’s worst estates involved a process of considerable and truly meaningful community consultation and engagement which still continues today. One of the successes of the masterplan is its flexibility to adapt to changing economic and phasing opportunities.

The judges commented: ‘This project demonstrates how sustained and long-term, strategic investment in highquality urban realm design proposals can challenge and change pre-conceived market views in regeneration areas and provide creative and attractive spaces for community life.’

Gorky Park, Moscow Lead consultant, masterplanning and design: LDA Design; Client: Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design; Public space management: ETM Associates; Cultural heritage consultancy: Barker Langham; Historic landscape advisor: Debois Landscape Survey Group.

The rejuvenation of Gorky Park stands as an early symbol of the Moscow Government’s growing commitment to enhancing the quality of Moscow’s urban environment. The proposed regeneration establishes an ambitious manifesto for change, elevating Gorky Park to the level of Central Park, New York and Hyde Park, London, reinforcing Moscow’s position as a leading global city.

The judges commented: ‘This project demonstrated how a strong analytical approach to the site, considering in particular its historical development, cultural importance, and ecological ‘health’ can shape proposals for what will be a large area of new parkland and related development. The overall design approach was clearly and beautifully presented and it is to be hoped that the ambitions for this project are delivered at the same level of high quality in detailed proposals, as when complete this will be a very important new park for Moscow and at an international level.’

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Science, Management and Stewardship Highly Commended

Bayston Hill Quarry, southeastern extension, Shrewsbury, Shropshire Landscape architecture, geology, ecology, archaeology, hydrology: SLR Consulting; Client/ landowner: Lafarge Tarmac; Ecological monitoring and management: Shropshire County Council; Detailed landform design, geological input, management landform implementation: Key GeoSolutions; Bulk earthmoving contractor: Walters Group; Soft landscape and fencing contractor: Midlands Landscaping; Drainage contractor: Stokey Plant.

Lafarge Tarmac needed to extend its flagship quarry but was aware of the potential for

landscape and visual impacts.

This solution includes the creation of a new perimeter screening landform which will also provide an opportunity for a ‘landscape scale’ habitat creation project. The strategy had to take into account the current operational needs of the quarry, plus constraints connected to ecology and archeological features.

The judges commented: ‘There is a promising future for this project with its emphasis on review, monitoring and continuing stakeholder engagement.’

Management plan for Black Brook corridor, Stanley Bank, St Helens Landscape architect: The Environment Partnership (TEP); Client: St Helens Council; Project partner/ client/ funding: Environment Agency; Project partner: Natural England; project partner/ landscape architect for access improvement works: Groundwork Merseyside Black Brook was canalised to provide a water supply for the Sankey Canal around 1757, constraining its powerful flow.

The canal infrastructure has declined since its closure in 1963, resulting in the breaking down of walling and partial reclamation by nature, particularly through fluvial processes. This has

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resulted in an extremely valuable mix of habitats, heritage and landscape character along a popular recreational area. There is a need for a long-term strategy to ensure that this balance is maintained and enhanced.

The Environment Partnership produced a masterplan to address this.

The judges commented: ‘The plan expertly identifies and articulates a wide range of interlinked aims. It brings together all relevant information and combines this with a sound approach to public consultation and engagement.’

Photo ©: 1 — TEP – Laura Schofield Photo ©: 2 — Dan Wrench, Shropshire County Council

Highly Commended

College of Fellows Award: Climate Change Adaptation Winner

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Photos ©: 3 & 4 — Craig Sheppard / Grant Associates

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The integrated approach to the planning and design of water, biodiversity and energy systems is Masterplanner / landscape of particular significance. There architect: Grant Associates; is a system of filter beds, lakes, Client: National Parks Board of channels and wetland gardens Singapore (Gardens by the Bay); that encapsulate the gardens and Architect for cooled conservatories: provide a significant exemplar for Wilkinson Eyre Architects; WSUD (water-sensitive urban Environmental engineer: Atelier design) in the city.

Ten; Structural engineer: Atelier One; Interpretation: Land Design Another important strategy is Studio; Branding and signage: exemplified in the systems Thomas Matthews; Local employed to deliver an energy architect and engineer: CPG; efficient solution for cooling the Local engineer: Meinhardt conservatories. These include Infrastructure; Cost consultant: the integrated use of a biomass Langdon Seah; Lighting designer: boiler and liquid desiccant LPA; Project manager: PM Link; cooling linked with the use of Design manager: Buro 4. energy efficient glazing, cooling pipes in pathways and use of This is the inaugural award deployable shade structures. presented by the recently formed College of Fellows. Each year the The Supertree structures provide fellows will take a different topic energy production through PV for their award, and this year arrays, along with venting and they have chosen climate change cleaning of exhausts from the adaptation. All entrants to the conservatories and energy centre. awards were asked if they wanted to be considered for this award, The whole scheme includes and the judges selected Gardens an educational interpretation by the Bay as the winner. throughout to create a living textbook of nature, culture The whole of Gardens by the Bay and applied technologies. is structured around a strong environmental sustainability The judges commented: agenda and seeks to showcase ‘Gardens by the Bay has a innovative technologies, unique and impressive approach management strategies, and to sustainability. Even more ecosystem planning to determine impressive is the fact that it has the optimum relationships actually been built. It has between the project and the city succeeded in bringing sustainability and the buildings and landscape. to the “masses” who have visited the project, and is a true credit to multi-disciplinary working.’

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Student Dissertation Winner

Highly Commended

Enabling Creative Independence in Child’s Play. Jono Burgess, Edinburgh College of Art The study explores current and 20th century thinking on how children engage with place, Using a literature review, precedent, existing case studies and his own primary research.

Jono Burgess observed that the criteria that prompted ‘creative independence’ were varied. They were influenced by children’s imagination, the type of activity, the role / style of the play leader, risk, and time.

He developed a tool for testing given activities and used it to assess past initiatives and the installations and projects that he set up over a period of two years.

This primary work included initiating and creating activities to generate and observe children’s behaviour, actions and play in a variety of settings.

The findings provide a strong insight into how ‘creative independence’ in children’s play can be achieved, what factors

need to be in place, and how to provide a setting to enable it to happen more readily. For example, the study found that the ability of a child to take risks is a key aspect of their engagement with spaces.

The judges commented: ‘This was an excellent document, well written and communicated.

The subject matter was relevant and interesting, and the original approach of the evaluation tool was well thought out.’

Re-evolution of the corporate landscape: converting Luserna San Giovanni townscape with the Caffarel Chocolate factory in Italy Martina Sechi, Writtle College Usually when landscape architecture is dealing with industrial sites, post-industrial areas are the focus of attention: derelict, abandoned and neglected landscapes. Instead this study is concerned with a relatively new, alternative, typology of industrial landscape: the corporate landscape.

The main aim is to propose a new perspective on corporate landscape, revealing its cultural value and emphasizing a reconnection to the local context.

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Image ©: 1 — Jono Burgess Image ©: 2 — Martina Sechi

The judges commented: ‘This was a very well-researched study with an interesting hypothesis and a strong methodology. It identified an innovative solution.’

Highly Commended

Temporary Landscape and the Post-Industrial City Lisa Jeffrey, Edinburgh University – Edinburgh College of Art

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Urban Wilderness – The value of postindustrial landscapes in providing a new form of urban wilderness Sophie Tombleson, Edinburgh College of Art This dissertation aims to investigate the wilderness potential of post-industrial sites, and to investigate how they can be designed to become valuable public spaces, while maintaining their integral restorative qualities.

It considers two case studies: Jardin du Tiers paysage by Gilles Clément, and Parco Dora by Latz + Partner.

The judges commented: ‘This was a visually well-presented document with a clear narrative and strong descriptive text. It was a highly relevant topic of study.’

The paper focuses on Glasgow, a post-industrial city that experienced the decline of industry, specifically the shipbuilding trade. It uses the city as a setting to examine how temporary spaces can be of benefit and how they may contribute to urban change within the city. By using in-depth interviews and questionnaires as research strategies, the paper contains original material to test the hypothesis.

The judges commented: ‘This was an interesting and relevant study which made good use of primary research and had a well-considered concluding statement.’

Photo ©: 3 — SoloFoto Photo ©: 4 — LUC

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Student Portfolio

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Winner

Zhongyi Zhang MA student, University of Sheffield

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His work is driven, he says, by an interest in green infrastructure and in water-sensitive design.

The judges commented: ‘A clear understanding of the design process, working at a range of scales, and of sustainable approaches, impressed the panel.

As well as the ability to illustrate ideas graphically, the portfolio demonstrated a technical ability that stood out in this submission.

There was a great understanding of scale, and a brilliant demonstration of a range of skills that will be relevant to life in practice.’

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Image ©: 1 & 2 — Zhongyi Zhang

Zhongyi Zhang submitted four projects: — The design of a new community space in Canning Town, London; — A landscape masterplan for Manor Lodge, Sheffield; — A landscape plan for regenerating the Upper Don Valley in Sheffield, entitled ‘Living with Water’; — An assessment of landscape characters to inform sensitivity and capacity judgements concerning the potential location for wind energy development in the landscape on the western Sheffield Peak District fringe.

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5 Highly Commended

Sophie Tombleson MSc student, Edinburgh College of Art

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Highly Commended

Image ©: 3 & 4— Bethany Gale Image ©: 5 & 6— Sophie Tombleson

Bethany Gale MA student, University of Greenwich Bethany Gale submitted work done both as an undergraduate in Sheffield, and on her masters course at Greenwich, with the main emphasis on her final project at Greenwich for the regeneration of the canalside at Regent’s Market in Hackney, east London.

Sophie Tombleson entered projects from throughout her academic career, with the most extensive being a proposal for the creation of a Hartlepool Magnesite memorial landscape, looking at ways to reconnect the town with its coastline, following the closure of a major industrial facility.

The judges commented: ‘This was a beautiful and thought-provoking portfolio, reinforced with strong concepts and design solutions.’

The judges commented: ‘This was a well-constructed and expressed portfolio that demonstrated the ability to translate concept ideas into designs in different contexts.’

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Thank you The Landscape Institute would like to thank all the judges of the awards who gave up their time to scrutinise the entries.

The judges were: Adding Value through Landscape – Ross Ingham (chair) Ingham Pinnock – David Beaumont Victoria BID – Nicole Collomb CMLI independent consultant

Heritage and Conservation – Deborah Evans CMLI (chair) English Heritage – Wesley Kerr, Heritage Lottery Fund – Seán O’Reilly Institute of Historic Building Conservation

Urban Design and Masterplanning –K aren Anderson (chair) Architecture and Design Scotland – Robert Rummey CMLI, Rummey Design – John Slaughter Home Builders Federation

Communications and Presentation – Andrew Cameron (chair) independent consultant – Petra Funk, Gustafson Porter – Shelley Mosco, Green Graphite

Science, Management and Stewardship – Gary Grant (chair) independent consultant – Gary Charlton, Natural England – Phil Davidson, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Student Dissertation – Edwin Knighton CMLI (chair) Leeds Metropolitan University – Carly Tinkler CMLI Carly Tinkler Environmental, Landscape and Colour Consultancy – Rosemary Walker South Hams District Council

Small-scale Design – Kevin McGeough (chair) Homes and Communities Agency – Carola Enrich CMLI Townshend Landscape Architects – Will Sandy Will Sandy Landscape Architecture and Design – Alan Thompson, Hayes Davidson – Dianne Western CMLI The Landscape Partnership Medium-scale Design – Diane Haigh (chair) Allies and Morrison – Sue Evans FLI Central Scotland Green Network – Matthew Frith London Wildlife Trust – Aileen Shackell CMLI Aileen Shackell Associates – Lindsey Whitelaw CMLI independent consultant Large-scale Design – Clare Devine (chair) Design Council – Huw Morgan CMLI, Camlins – Menaka Sahai Homes and Communities Agency

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Landscape Policy and Research – Kate Bailey CMLI (chair) independent consultant – Ian Barrett, Defra, Sustrans – Jonathan Porter, Countryscape – Carys Swanwick independent consultant Neighbourhood Planning – Ian Houlston CMLI (chair) LDA Design – Mike Hayes National Planning Forum – Henry Smith Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Greater London Authority Strategic Landscape Planning – Karin Taylor CMLI (chair) National Trust – Noel Farrer FLI Farrer Huxley Associates – Mary O’Connor CMLI, WYG

Student Portfolio – Gethin Owens CMLI (chair) Groundwork Lancashire West & Wigan – Rob Baffour-Awah Student, Landscape Institute Council – Romy Rawlings CMLI, Woodhouse Fellows’ Award – Paj Valley FLI (chair), Atkins – Nick Harrison FLI independent consultant –N eil Williamson PPLI FLI New Forest District Council Landscape Institute Awards Committee – David Withycombe CMLI (chair) Land Management Services –R ob Beswick CMLI b:d landscape architects – Nicola Cox CMLI, TEP – Anne Evans CMLI, Mouchel – Paj Valley FLI, Atkins – J o Watkins PPLI CMLI independent consultant

The Landscape Institute is grateful to the sponsors of the awards.

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BUSINESS

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Photos ©: 1 & 2 — Sue Gutteridge Photo ©: 3 — Davies White Ltd

Feature: History of play

1 & 2 — Children playing at David Marshall Lodge in Stirlingshire, designed by Judi Legg and Sioned Williams PLAYLINK Associates.

3 — These pod swings at Godstone Playscape at Godstone Green, Surrey, designed by Davies White, are very popular and easily accessed by disabled children.

Swings and Roundabouts Children’s roaming range has shrunk by 90% in the last 30 years, making designing for play more important than ever. We look at history and current trends.

by Fiona McWilliam

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oram’s Fields, the setting for this year’s Landscape Institute Awards, has a significant role in the history of play.

Named after the 18th century merchant and philanthropist Thomas Coram, Coram’s Fields was London’s first public playground. It opened in 1936, following a lengthy campaign and much fundraising by the local community, on the site previously occupied by Coram’s Foundling Hospital.

The public provision of designated play space has evolved since the 1930s, thanks in no small part to the emergence of a play equipment industry now worth (according to play surfaces and equipment suppliers’ trade organisation, the Association of Play Industries) in excess of £125m a year. Yet many involved in the provision of play areas, including a number of leading landscape architects, dislike the prescriptive approach to play that such equipment frequently represents.

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Theresa Casey, president of the International Play Association, acknowledges the negative approach to play adopted by some local authorities which is based not just on how they think children want to play, but also on ‘the demonisation of children in public spaces’.

Mick Conway, play programme manager at Play England, blames the dominance of the car in both the design and use of the public realm, as having ‘led to a focus on designated play space, segregated from other areas of the built and natural environment’.

Yet with the help of social media, says Casey, providers are now recognising mistakes made in the past there has been a lot of positive sharing of ideas between the UK and, in particular the US and Scandinavia, she says, citing the work of pioneering play experts such as the late Danish landscape architect Carl Theodor Sorensen, inventor in the 1940s of the ‘junk playground’ (the first adventure playground, filled as its name suggests, with /...

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Feature: History of play

junk rather than manufactured equipment); his compatriot Helle Nebelong, who is passionate about designing natural-looking places for children and how to adapt the city for everyday life; and Sue Gutteridge, an associate at play consultancy Playlink, who, together with colleague Judi Legg, ‘is at the forefront of natural playscapes in the UK’.

These include the much praised Waverley Park, in Stirling, and the recently opened David Marshall Lodge play space at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, Aberfoyle, Stirlingshire.

Building on current Forestry Commission thinking, Gutteridge explains, the client for the latter, Forestry Commission Scotland, removed an existing fixedequipment play area to make the entire site more ‘playable’. It incorporates six specific ‘nature play’ spaces along an existing one-kilometre waterfall trail.

These include a brushwood maze, ‘Hobbit’ houses, water channels and a rope swing tree.

Even on a site such as this, says Gutteridge, such an approach always takes much longer and is not necessarily cheaper: ‘Log bridges and fallen climbing trees all have to be individually identified, transported, adapted and made safe – a much more arduous and demanding process than ordering equipment online, but so much more satisfying and with so much better results.’

It’s interesting to note at this point, that children’s roaming range in this country – the distance from their homes children are permitted to travel unsupervised – has shrunk by a staggering 90% in the past 30 years.

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Our children have never been more disconnected from the natural world, argues David Bond, who recently launched the Project Wild Thing campaign and a film of the same name, which takes an entertaining look at the increasingly disparate connection between children and nature. Time spent playing outside is down 50% in just one generation, he says, despite study after study indicating that time spent playing outdoors increases happiness, health and well being.

LI president elect Noel Farrer, of Farrer Huxley Associates (FHA), believes there’s a fundamental problem in the UK with society’s approach to play: namely that children don’t want to play in traditional, dedicated playgrounds.

‘Children like everything but playgrounds,’ echoes play designer Jerry Cooper, of London-based playground and playscape designers Theories Landscapes, ‘yet as a society we duplicate them again and again, often in the wrong places’. While swings and roundabouts can, he admits, be ‘useful’, he’s more interested in creating ‘a place that’s comfortable, exciting and safe in which the child can develop his or her own way of playing’.

Children want and need to play near to where they live, says Farrer, but many local authorities still prefer to locate playgrounds in open green places, usually in local parks. This, he says, is entirely for the authorities’ convenience – to ease maintenance, to avoid complaints from intolerant residents and so they can be closed to the public at night.

Along with a fast-growing band of designers and play experts, Farrer believes that all landscapes, including

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4 —Planting plays an integral part in the Godstone Playscape at Godstone Green, Surrey,

by Davies White. 5 —Broadley Street Gardens, designed by Farrer Huxley Associates, was a victim of its own success.

6 — Farrer Huxley Associates’ refurbishment of Marylebone Green playground.

7 — Farrer Huxley Associates’ integrated play with leisure at Abbey Orchard estate.

8 — A sense of adventure at Broadley Street Gardens.

our towns and city centres, should be made ‘playable’ and inviting to the children who inhabit them: ‘They’re as much children’s as they are anybody else’s,’ he says.

Such an approach would, he argues, help to prevent ‘the honeypot issue’, where a popular, dynamic play area becomes the victim of its own success. He cites his practice’s creation of an ‘entirely playable’ park at Broadley Street Gardens, in a densely populated, poor residential area of Westminster, London, a park that had been boarded up for years.

The gardens were soon inundated with local children, Farrer says, which attracted complaints from some residents, and FHA eventually had to remove the play equipment, in what he dubs, ‘an example of our complaints-driven society – and a familiar cycle’.

He urges councils and developers to consider establishing multi-purpose outdoor areas; dispensing with fences and incorporating parking and service areas, within the areas deemed playable and adopting a risk-benefit assessment approach to play space design. (‘Children will, after all, play just about anywhere.’).

Farrer praises the forward-thinking approach taken by his client the Peabody Trust at its Abbey Orchard estate, also in Westminster. It was an approach that required a great deal of working through with managements and residents, he admits, but one that was ultimately worth it when one sees the well-used, multi-purpose, unfenced public realm at the centre of this development.

While the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child article 31 (which states that all children shall have

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full opportunity for play and recreation) marked a sea change in attitudes to children and play, says Casey, ‘the UN has since recognised that the right of play is still being widely overlooked and/or misunderstood’.

In April this year, it issued a general comment noting that, where investment is made in play, it is usually in the provision of structured and organised activities: ‘But equally important,’ this document states, ‘is the need to create time and space for children to engage in spontaneous play, recreation and creativity, and to promote societal attitudes that support and encourage such activity.’

The document also notes the difficulties particular categories of children, including those with disabilities, face when it comes to enjoying the rights defined in article 31.

‘We know that children with disabilities don’t want to play away from other children in separate places,’ says Casey, which is why, she adds, she welcomes the current trend for incorporating natural features in playgrounds and parks.

Features such as long grasses, play equipment with an ambiguous (non-defined) use; and sensory elements (‘such as planting, topography, natural objects to climb on, moveable materials and especially water’) are all, Casey insists, extremely helpful in addressing inclusiveness.

‘We need to move away from the idea of segregation,’ she says.’ It’s all about populating public spaces together, co-existing without the need for fences.’

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Hub of Activity The North Hub at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is an object lesson in how to create a delightful play space by having a strong story that is kept almost entirely hidden.

by Ruth Slavid

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isitors to the re-opened section of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park who arrive at Stratford Underground Station have first to navigate through the Westfield shopping centre, a disorientating space where the only chance of not getting lost is to pay rigorous attention to the signage. What a refreshing contrast it is then, to arrive at the North Hub play area, designed by LUC and erect architecture. With the exception of an art installation of periscopes for cloud watching, there is not a word to be seen – no keep-off signs, no navigation, no instructions for use, and no explanation of the narrative that underlies the design.

Instead there is simply a joyous space, filled with children and teenagers having fun. On hot days, the sand and water area is full of grubby, damp infants shouting with pleasure as they pump water, make sand castles, dam streams or simply sit in murky ponds, becoming far wetter, one suspects, than some of their parents have bargained for. There is also a giant ‘tree house’ which offers opportunities for climbing, a vertiginous rope bridge, a fireman’s pole, and an array of swings. One of these is suitable for use by children

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in wheelchairs, whose needs are catered for in a well-considered yet inconspicuous manner. Other excitements include a suspended hook swing on an eminence, stepping stones over a swale, another suspended bridge, and a number of dens made from living willow.

Who will interpret all this for the children who visit?

Who will give them advice on how to use it? The answer is nobody. And if on their first visit they don’t discover the full potential of the place, well, that is exactly what the designers intended. ‘You shouldn’t get everything in one hit,’ said Claire Greener, project landscape architect with LUC. ‘On each visit there should be more to discover.’

So no signage, and no interpretation. It is tempting to define this space in terms of the other things that it also does not have. There is no boundary fence (except on one side where it will abut a road) There are few fences within the scheme either, just some low woven willow surrounds to the most delicate areas of planting, most of which will be removed once the plants have established themselves.

1 — View towards the café and community building. The low fences are temporary.

2 — Existing trees form an edge to the site, and the lawn covers services.

3 — The water area incorporates carefully selected rocks.

Feature: North Hub play

There are no conventional benches, just blocks of stone that seem almost to have fallen by accident, or slatted timber structures. There is very little ‘play equipment’ and what there is, is mostly integrated into other structures. There are no bright colours except those provided by flowering plants. ‘We wanted it to feel as natural as possible,’ said Greener. It does, and is utterly child friendly without being ‘child friendly’ in that ghastly, clichéd, restrictive manner which is so unfriendly to anybody with a modicum of taste.

The area feels like a natural extension of the rest of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which itself is looking marvellous and has recovered from the onslaught of the games crowds. The hub site was a blank canvas, a flat area mostly covered in tarmac plus the home of the temporary basketball arena. The only features were a row of lime trees near the edge, a swale and, less visible but more restricting, the main utility service line through the site. This had to be left clear for access, so the team has simply placed lawn on top of it. The site is on the edge of the park, near to the housing of the former athletes’ village, with more house-building planned, and so will have a local constituency.

Photo ©: 1 — David Grandorge Photos ©: 2 & 3 — LUC

LUC and erect entered an LLDC competition to design the Hub, which comprises the play space and a café that doubles as a community centre, in 2011. They could not start work until autumn 2012, after the clearing of the Olympic overlay, and had to be open for the anniversary of the Olympics. It was erect, which has experience of designing & creating play structures, that approached LUC to collaborate, particularly impressed by the practice’s Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Playground in London’s Kensington Gardens. ‘We were interested in a very collaborative approach with the landscape architect,’ said Barbara Kaucky, one of the founders of erect. ‘The relationship was immediately very positive.’

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The team’s approach was to reflect the history and approach of the rest of the Olympic site, with a succession that moved from low-level planting through the pioneer species of hazel and birch, up to a mix of willows and oaks and a variety of pines, including Scots pines and black pines, in what it regards as an analogy for a climax forest. The sand and water area reflects the industrial history of the Olympic site, with children able to act as their own water engineers, damming channels and diverting water flows.

The shrubs and perennial planting have been chosen both to ensure interest throughout the year, with strongly coloured flowers and interesting seed heads, and for robustness. The design has tried to eliminate strong desire lines and the intention is that the plants will be able to stand up to a little rough and tumble.

In some cases, where gorse for instance has been used for its strong yellow flowers, it will form its own defences.

Greener was particularly impressed by the mix of planting she saw on a recent Scottish holiday, with gorse, birch, grasses and heathers, and has tried to reflect that. As a result, it was necessary to bring in some acidic soil. Where landform has been created, this was done with spoil that was already available on the Olympic site. /...

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Feature: North Hub play

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One reason that the project works so well is because of the amount of thought and care that has gone into every aspect. All the stone, which has been used not only for seating but also to create the landscape leading up to the tree house, comes from a particular quarry in Clitheroe, Lancashire. LUC worked collaboratively with artist Mel Chantrey selecting the stones that it wanted, laid them out and numbered each one, giving the contractor a detailed plan to follow on site. Chantrey also developed the concrete finishes, some with timber patterning, some polished, and some inscribed with ‘doodles’ and coloured patches, and directed their execution on site as a large-scale sculptural piece.

There are very few rubberised surfaces. Instead LUC specified play bark chips almost everywhere. ‘It makes the surface richer,’ said Greener, ‘and children can manipulate it’. The exception is the wheelchair-accessible ‘undercroft’ of the tree house, where the team chose a stranded rubber finish in a mix of natural colours.

Now that it has a few pine needles on top of it, it looks just like a forest floor. This undercroft houses some of the more surprising elements – the strings of an old piano, positioned upright and half hidden behind some logs, and a number of hanging ‘bells’ made from old gas bottles.

The idea of the high-activity ‘pine forest’ climbing zone was developed by the team and erect developed it, making a number of 1:50 models, and finding the precise pieces of wood to both create the main timber structure and build up the detailed form. ‘We were keen to have a structure that was like playing on trees,’ said Kaucky. Adventure Playground Engineers, a specialist company with which erect had worked before, built the structure from oak trunks and branches, following the model and adapting it to the shapes of 60

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timber that were actually available. erect also designed the café-cum-community centre, which is delightfully informal and low key, with a particularly lovely floor of polished concrete with exposed warm-coloured aggregate, looking rather like a stony beach and well able to cope with wet and sandy feet. The building is built from cross-laminated timber, clad in thermally treated oak, used mostly vertically, to echo the hazel coppice that will grow alongside it. ‘We were particularly interested in how the building sits within the landscape,’ said Kaucky. Not all that landscape is there yet, since a series of temporary projects delayed release of the site on one side of the building.

4 — The sand play area uses specially sourced sand.

5 — Suspended rope bridge.

6 — erect arcitecture took the lead on the treehouse adventure play area.

7 — Early sketch by LUC showing the progression through the site.

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Photos ©: 4, 5 & 7— LUC Photo ©: 6 — David Grandorge

Project team: Landscape architect: LUC Architect: erect architecture Structural engineer: Tall Mechanical and electrical engineer: Max Fordham Fountain specialist: The Fountain Workshop

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Nevertheless, enough of the project is present to make it an obvious success. The team has thought about every detail. For example, the sand in the sand and water area is not the normal play sand. That, said Greener, is too fine to make proper sandcastles, and would have clogged the drainage system. LUC therefore specified a coarser sand, but it had to test it for impact absorption and then to wash it three times. The result is a sand with which children can have fun, with no notion of the thinking about safety that has gone on. The same is true for the hub in general. While the children are not contained, the stepping stones across the swale, which seem like fun, also act to slow them down.

There is no balustrade adjacent to the entrance to the hanging bridge, as RoSPA advised that children could have used this to climb on top. Many of the more challenging elements are relatively high off the ground, placing an automatic height restriction on them unless children are helped by a parent, in which case they will be supervising. It is the North Hub’s equivalent of the height restriction that one gets on rides at funfairs – but in this case done invisibly, with the subtlety and lack of obvious control that typifies this project.

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Technical: Guidance on play

By Fiona McWilliam

Not child’s play

1 — Inwood Park, west London, designed

by PLAYLINK Associates, Aileen Shackall, Sioned Williams, Phil Doyle.

Sorting out which aspects of play are covered by regulation and which are not is tricky – but essential if designers are to work to their full capability.

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espite public misconceptions, there are no mandatory regulations in the UK specific to play and the provision of play space. ‘While playgrounds and parks come under the Health & Safety at Work Act,’ says Bernard Spiegal, world-renowned play expert and principal of PLAYLINK, the UK-based independent play and ‘informal leisure’ consultancy, ‘there is no legislation specific to play’.

Photo ©: 1 — Phil Doyle

There are, however, non-mandatory industry standards for play equipment which have, according to Spiegal, ‘been allowed to expand into areas beyond their scope of competence’, that is, into the wider territory of play space/landscapes.

A vociferous campaigner at the forefront of promoting what he calls ‘the urgent need to counter risk aversion and a ‘play safe culture’, Spiegal is calling for a better distinction between ‘those aspects of playground equipment standards that legitimately fall within the scope of technical-cum-engineering expertise, and those that do not’.

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Currently, he says, standards and the process of standard-making mark no such distinction: ‘Instead two distinct territories, the one concerned with objective, technical information and assessment, the other, with subjective, value-based judgments, are treated as one unified field of knowledge and decision-making.’ And this, he asserts, has had ‘a deadening effect’ on the decisionmaking capacity of play providers, undermining their confidence and ability to make informed value-based judgments.

All too often, Spiegal says, a client will have ‘an unacknowledged, almost subconscious script treating standards as mandatory’. While this may be in some way understandable, he

adds, given the way they are promoted by the play equipment industry, ‘it creates an obvious tension with designers and play providers who see that in their current form, such standards are unhelpfully restrictive’.

Linked to standards are play equipment inspectors, Spiegal says, and most of these are only formally qualified to make judgements against standards. Natural and non-standard features such as tree trunks and tree swings should instead be assessed via a risk-benefit assessment process, he argues. ‘This offers the opportunity to find these and similar features to be of an “acceptable level of risk” notwithstanding that they fit no standard.’ /...

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Technical: Guidance on play cont.

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2 — Play space at Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmund’s, before transformation.

3 — Abbey Gardens transformed by PLAYLINK Associates Judi Legg, Sioned Williams, Flora Gathorne-Hardy.

4 — Small children at Abbey Gardens, where the integration of play in shared space has led to increased usage.

In the structure of conventional risk assessment and play, Speigal explains, there is no mention of benefits which he describes as ‘madness’, given the obvious and well-documented benefits of playing freely out of doors to both children and teenagers.

‘Risk-benefit assessment has the potential to open up possibilities for designers and play providers generally, and most of all for children and teenagers to play.’

The charity Play England, (‘which aims for all children and young people in England to have regular access and opportunity for free, inclusive, local play provision and play space’) acknowledges that ‘public play space currently relies primarily on the design and installation of manufactured play equipment’.

While much of this is high quality in terms of play value, it states, ‘a lot of it is not and seems to be based on a narrow view of how children play’, with too much play equipment designed with a primary focus on safety, and ‘offering little opportunity for play that offers risk and challenge’. Equally, it adds, avoiding wear and tear often appears to be a bigger priority than user enjoyment.

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Danish children’s advocate and designer of award-winning natural play spaces, Helle Nebelong, has made the much-quoted point that standardised play areas ‘brimful of brashly coloured prefabricated equipment’ cannot only be boring for children, they can actually also be dangerous: ‘When the distance between ladder rungs is the same,’ she says, ‘the child has no need to concentrate’.

Like Spiegal, a growing band of play space designers, welcome the risk-benefit assessment approach to play provision, and the fact that it ‘considers the benefits first, rather than the risks and hazards’. (The fact that children might fall over and hurt themselves, is itself a benefit, says Spiegal, as it is something from which they will learn).

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It’s an approach that the HSE and the independent Play Safety Forum endorsed in their 2012 high-level statement Children’s play and leisure: promoting a balanced approach. /...

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Technical: Guidance on play cont.

5, 6 & 7 — Inwood Park Gardens was designed to be used for sand and water play all year round in a natural setting.

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The HSE / Play Safety Forum statement starts with ‘a thumbs-up for adventurous, challenging play,’ notes Gill. ‘It acknowledges that play allows children and young people to explore and understand their abilities; helps them to learn and develop; and exposes them to the realities of the world in which they will live, which is a world not free from risk but rather one where risk is ever present.’

It recognises too that children will often be exposed to play environments which, while well-managed, carry a degree of risk and sometimes potential danger, and encourages schools, councils and others to ‘deal with risk responsibly, sensibly and proportionately’.

Welcomed too by those involved in play provision, Play England’s 2008 Design for Play: a guide to creating successful play spaces, was published jointly with the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, with the support of CABE Space and the National Lottery, ‘to help those charged with investing in play provision to aim high, by taking a step back from the sometimes limiting stereotype of a public playground’.

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The guide sets out to be aspirational, ‘aiming to inspire, not to prescribe’. Its premise is that ‘like any other part of the public realm intended to be well used, well loved and well maintained, play space needs a coherent concept and a clear design’.

The principles it recommends to inform this design ‘are based on well-researched findings about what constitutes a good play environment, because this research tells us that children like to play throughout whatever domain is accessible to them... that play space should be integrated sensitively into the wider design of the public realm’.

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New editions of this publication, and another Play England key guidance document: Managing Risk in Play Provision: Implementation guide, which promotes the risk-benefit approach to play provision, will be published shortly, the latter incorporating the joint HSE/Play Safety Forum high level statement.

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Photos ©: 5, 6 & 7 — Phil Doyle

The statement caused something of a stir in a popular press obsessed with health-andsafety-madness articles, and was widely welcomed by many of those involved in play provision. It prompted leading play expert and author Tim Gill to post a blog entry entitled ‘It’s health and safety gone sane’.

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Practice

By Lucy Mori

Making the most of awards Entering awards requires a lot of effort, but with proper targeting and marketing afterwards it can make all the difference to the success of a practice.

D

a vies White landscape architects describes itself on its website as offering ‘award-winning landscape architectural services’ and rightly so, since to a great extent the practice was founded on awards. Adam White explains that he and his business partner set up their practice, which specialises in environments for play, largely on the basis of winning an RHS Gold Medal. They designed a play garden called Playscape and exhibited at the Hampton Court Flower Show, at Saltex, at the Tatton Flower Show and at the NEC. This got them in front of a lot of people, but the most important aspect was the gold medal. ‘Everybody knows the RHS gold medal,’ White said. ‘Awards are the best advertisement that you can have’.

He made the most of the award, using it on his website and at the start of every presentation. Since then the practice has entered many awards, including the Landscape Institute awards, and had an impressive hit rate, winning, for example, the communications category last year with its Garden of the Beasts at Hampton Court.

And the benefits, White has found, come

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before as well as afterwards. ‘Because we know we will be entering the awards, it makes us up our game,’ he said.

Davies White is an excellent example of a practice that has not only been successful in winning awards, but that has also made the most of them, both in marketing and as a way of testing and advancing within the practice.

It is an approach that any ambitious practice would be wise to emulate.

It cannot be denied that award submissions take time and money – precious resources that could be spent on other things such as design, website or salaries. There are therefore three questions that all landscape professionals (indeed any professionals) should ask themselves before entering an award. They are: — Why bother with awards?

— Which awards have most impact?

— How

can winning an award win me more work?

This may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many people ignore the obvious, and take actions out of habit or inertia.

Probably the most common reason to enter awards is that they bring peer recognition.

But remember that awards also impress clients – both existing and potential.

Commissioners of projects (especially large, high-profile or public projects) are

influenced by awards when selecting their design team. Therefore awards should be part of your marketing plan. But not all awards are equal, and the submission process is not a lottery.

As a business consultant, I advocate an analytical approach to awards submissions: starting with developing a strategy and marketing plan based on your strengths and opportunities. Your strategy might for example be to grow, or to move into different sectors, to design larger projects or to work internationally. Your marketing plan might include updating your website, networking at industry events, or entering awards. The objectives might for example be winning one project in a new sector or winning one award. You should consider electing which projects to submit for which awards within this context.

Much depends on the size of your practice and the scale of your projects, but in general an annual marketing plan (however brief) will help you decide how many awards to go in for and which awards to prioritise. At the same time, you can review which projects are award-worthy (have good images) and reflect a positive image of the practice.

When thinking about entering awards, the best place to start is with your recent projects.

Ask yourself if there is one which is excellent, beautiful, newsworthy, innovative, exciting or interesting? Obviously you should pick a

awards

opportunities

strategy strengths

marketing objectives marketing plan

project of which you are proud. But there are other questions worth asking as well.

Does it fit with your strategy? Is the design emblematic of your practice or philosophy?

Is the client happy? Do you have great images?

There are enormous numbers of awards for which your projects will be eligible so, with a project in mind, check the criteria of the different awards and decide which ones to go for. If your budget is tight, focus on the more prestigious professional awards, such as those run by the Landscape Institute.

Remember that you may be able to share the expenses with the client or project team – everyone can benefit from winning an award.

Check the costs

Don’t forget in the run up to an award that collecting, printing, mounting material, writing text and getting authorisation from clients, other consultants and photographers takes time. You may be tempted to delegate the task to younger members of the team, but if you do, make sure that someone senior double-checks the content to avoid any embarrassing mistakes. Always inform your clients, since many private individuals do not want publicity and entering an award without their permission could harm your reputation.

Make the material that you prepare work for you. Feature the new content on your website and announce that you have submitted for the award on your ‘news’

other marketing activities

Categories and criteria of award: Professional: Professional body

Landscape Institute, BALI, Civic Trust, RHS, RIBA, RTPI

Professional media

Topos, The Architects Journal, Horticulture Week

Consumer: Magazine or newspaper

Grand Designs Awards, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times etc.

Exhibition

Chelsea

Industry: Sector

Materials

Better Health Care Awards, Britain in Bloom

Criteria: Size / scale

Size / contract value

Location

Sector

Industry sector

Materials

Student

Date for completion

Has it been published before?

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Practice: cont.

1 — Davies White won the 2012 communications category with its Garden of the Beasts at Hampton Court.

page or ‘blog’. Re-use carefully written text, images and models in brochures, online and in letters of expression of interest and PQQs. And if you get the presentation material back in good condition, you can display it in your office, use it in an exhibition, and show it to new clients.

If you are shortlisted, remember that being on the shortlist is almost as good as winning.

Take advantage of this window of opportunity to promote the news with a press release sent to all your contacts: existing clients will love the fact that your work is admired by your peers, and previous clients and collaborators will bask in the halo of your success. At the same time, you may need to allocate time to arrange site visits for the jury and providing additional information.

Use the short-list to check out your competition: — Who is on the short-list?

— What kind of work are they doing?

— Could you get similar work in the future?

Don’t forget that the awards ceremony is a great place to network in the profession, and raise your profile with journalists and the industry. You can also invite clients, your colleagues and have fun. And you can still go to the awards ceremony even if you don’t get shortlisted or win – this is called targeted marketing.

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1

If you win, then this is the moment to blow your own trumpet. Talk to editors about placing the completed project in the media, inform clients and contacts, mention it on your homepage, include it in the footer of your email, and tweet about it with a picture.

Tweeting a photo of your design with a link to your website can ‘go viral’, boost your profile and create a ‘buzz’. Getting an image on a well-respected and much-visited site, with a link to your website, can also drive traffic straight to your door. Social media can lead to significant international exposure, resulting in publication and potential international commissions.

Cross-reference any award win online by inserting links on your website to any other websites which feature the project (magazines, other consultants’ websites, clients’ websites). Search engines like Google pick up on these links and they drive additional traffic to your website.

Issues for landscape professionals

When designing a project have the awards criteria in mind, because using a certain material in an innovative way might lead to a win.

If landscape is only part of the project, talk to the other members of the design team and see which awards they are thinking of entering – you can share costs and effort.

Don’t make the mistake of waiting until the landscape matures before photographing or entering an award. This is a criterion for landscape awards but in other categories you may find that you have passed the allowed dates. The landscape may not be mature – but the design may still look great.

Congratulations if you have won or been shortlisted for a Landscape Institute award this year. If not, and if you did not enter, think of the advantages for you of entering next year.

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Forthcoming events

Coming up at the Landscape Institute

CPD in Birmingham 11 February McDonald Burlington Hotel The first of four CPD days in 2014 will be in the centre of Birmingham on 11th February, at the McDonald Burlington Hotel. As always, speakers will cover a wide range of topics, including a series of seminars from the LI’s Biosecurity Working Group which will build on the work they have done to track and review the Ash Dieback phenomenon. Other speakers will be announced nearer the time.

Royal Docks competition The Landscape Institute is running an ideas competition in association with Ecobuild and the Mayor of London to come up with new approaches to London’s Royal Docks. Entries should focus particularly on green infrastructure and WSUD (water sensitive urban design) approaches. The 20 best entries will be exhibited at Ecobuild, which runs from 4 to 6 March at the Excel centre in London.

Winners will be announced at Ecobuild.

The competition is open to entrants from anywhere in the world, and to members of any profession. Closing date is 6 January.

1 — Pam Warhurst 2 — Jonathan Porritt

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Landscape Winter 2013

Details of all publications and events can be found at www.landscapeinstitute.org

Photo © 1: Estelle Brown Photo © 2: GLA

Landscape Futures

lectures

28 January, Sheffield

University

Free – please book

tickets online.

The Landscape

Institute’s new

Landscape Futures lecture series will kick off on Tuesday 28 January at 6pm at the University of Sheffield, followed by drinks. Speakers at this first event will be Pam Warhurst and Jonathan Porritt. Warhurst is the founder of Incredible Edible in Todmorden, Yorkshire, a former chair of the Forestry Commission and an honorary fellow of the Landscape Institute. Jonathan Porritt is one of the country’s best-known environmentalists, co-founder of Forum for the Future and author of a number of books, including the recent The World We Made.

3 — The living wall at Edgware Road station in central London has been designed not only to provide visual pleasure but also to filter pollutants from the air.

4 — Outdoors and active — Friends of Everton Park at work in the Mersey Forest.

5 — Walking in nature in the Central Scotland Green Network.

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Photo © 3: Transport for London Photo © 4: Friends of Everton Park, The Mersey Forest Photo © 5: Central Scotland Green Network

Recent publications Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment: 3rd edition A new edition of this industry standard guidance for anyone involved in landscape and visual impact assessment is available in print and e-book formats.

The Landscape Consultant’s Appointment 2013 A suite of documents for appointing a landscape architect on a project, including scopes of services and work stages.

4 Public Health

Landscape and health and Landscape

The latest position

statement from the

Landscape Institute is

entitled Public health and

landscape: Creating

healthy places. It argues that how we plan, design and manage our landscapes should be guided as much by their importance for health as for all of their other functions. This position statement aims to give public health professionals, planners and landscape architects a better understanding of the contemporary role landscape plays in the creation of healthy places.

Creating healthy places

Landscape Institute Position Statement

Green Infrastructure: An integrated approach to land use This position statement showcases a range of successful strategic green infrastructure work and completed projects.

Landscape Institute Inspiring great places

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Details of all publications and events can be found at www.landscapeinstitute.org

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A word

By Tim Waterman

The golden age becomes more brassy with each generation

Habitat

I

Such a sweeping view of human history and geography allows us to consider all landscape occupied by humans as our habitat; and we are a very widely distributed species. From the igloo to the little grass shack, vernacular building is everywhere uniquely adapted to local conditions, and the designed landscape and city have long been shaped by them too.

So indeed are our ways of life and our daily rounds called, aptly, by the sociologist and anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu, our habitus.

The term also includes notions of class and lifestyle; the circles we move in both

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in urban settings, but also as encompassing all life and all things. It can be surmised, in this case, that progress and improvement are inevitable.

physically and socially. It is remarkable how well the human habitat has, throughout history, served the human animal in all these regards.

In 1974 Yi-Fu Tuan defined a powerful sense of cultural identity and the love of place as topophilia which has helped to inform our contemporary understanding of landscape as a dialogue between people and their environment. A decade later, E.O. Wilson termed our affinity for other living things biophilia, and argued that this innate sense of interconnection is an aid to both our own evolution and to that of many other species with whom we share the planet. These ideas, and others on parallel tracks, have allowed us to open out our understanding of civilisation as a construction not just of the interdependence of humans in civil society

A key problem that plagues us, however, is that of the ‘shifting baseline syndrome’, which militates against progress. This posits that each generation seeks to return to a golden age that is within memory. Thus the ‘golden’ age becomes ever more brassy with each generation. My generation, for example, now romanticises post-industrial landscapes.

Humans now have incredible power to shape the face of the planet, our habitat, but it is possible that our vision of its ideal state is progressively eroded. Perhaps this is just a new way of seeing the perennial balance between progress and entropy.

The place of the landscape professions now and in the future must be one in which we reinforce a positive and progressively more flourishing vision for our human habitat: one which strengthens our bonds to place, which brings city and country together in balance, and which benefits all species to the benefit of our own. The need for us to be an activist profession will only grow with each generation.

Tim Waterman is a landscape architectural writer, speaker and critic, who lectures at the Writtle School of Design and is a studio tutor at UCL Bartlett School of Architecture. His books on landscape architecture have been translated into seven languages. He is the honorary editor of Landscape.

Photo ©: Agnese Sanvito

n the current period, which began some ten to twelve thousand years ago, a significant leap in the cultural evolution of humankind occurred.

The Neolithic revolution brought us both agriculture and cities. Jane Jacobs, famously, argued that the rise of cities may well have been what necessitated agriculture, which was directly counter to the orthodoxy of the time. The received view was that agriculture made settlement necessary, which then enabled cities and their energised crowding of people to come into being. Scholars now, however, are largely of the opinion that seeking to establish primacy is, as is so often the case, a futile goal. Agriculture and urbanism simply enabled each other, and ever since then humans, cities and the countryside have evolved together. This view also dispatches the old rural/urban dichotomy rather handily. Country mice and city mice are still all just mice, it seems.

Regeneration, regeneration, regeneration.

Photo courtesy of Cassidy + Ashton.

Pupils at Bolton School returned to a new £7m sixth form centre in September 2013 designed by architects Cassidy + Ashton and built by Seddon Construction. The Riley Sixth Form Centre features a new common room, IT suite, café, multi-use study spaces and outdoor areas. The design of the sixth form centre intended to complement the school's existing grade 2-listed buildings. The sixth form centre will cater for 400 pupils and bring together girls and boys for the first time, although they will still be taught separately. The central quadrangle, now completely car-free and pedestrianised with Hardscape's granite mix of material, completes Lord Leverhulme's original vision for the school based on the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

For further information on Hardscape’s granite range and other paving products visit: Landscape Winter 2013 www.hardscape.co.uk or call 0845 260 1748.

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