landscapearchitectsdeclare.com
Landscape Architects Declare Launched in January 2020, UK Landscape Architects Declare is part of the global Construction Declares movement. Founded by 14 landscape architecture practices and individuals, 2 3
it sets out 11 statements of intent. It identifies the need to raise awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for practical action amongst clients, co-consultants and supply chains. Key objectives are: – Preserve and protect existing irreplaceable landscapes and habitats, whilst protecting and optimising areas of functional and biodiverse landscape in all developments.2 – Adopt a whole systems approach to landscape design recognising that soils, bacteria and mycorrhizal
fungi are key factors for ecosystem survival and carbon sequestration – Promote low embodied carbon approaches and look to maximise carbon sequestering, responsible and sustainable use of water and biodiversity net gains in all projects – Establish climate and biodiversity mitigation, adaptation and resilience principles as the key measure of the industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes and listings.3 Whilst Landscape Architects Declare is not a tool, the aims should be central to the design of new infrastructure.
‘Landscape Architects Declare – Grant Associates’, in Grant Associates, <https://grant-associates.uk.com/> [accessed 15 January 2020]. ‘Landscape Architects Declare – Grant Associates’.
buildingtransparency.org/auth/register
Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3)
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The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) is a collaboration between contractors, software providers and charitable trusts, including the Carbon Leadership Forum, Skanska USA, Microsoft and Autodesk. This free, cloud-based tool provides data on the materials used in construction4. Users can search by material and country. At the time of writing, the data for UK landscape materials was limited but the tool is still in beta form so this may improve as the tool develops.
‘Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool’, in Carbon Leadership Forum, <http://www.carbonleadershipforum.org/projects/ec3/> [accessed 8 January 2020].
landscapeperformance.org
Landscape Performance Series by the Landscape Architecture Foundation This online set of resources, created in 2010 by the Landscape Architecture Foundation, allows landscape
architects to “evaluate performance, show value and make the case for sustainable solutions.”5 The website includes 150 case studies, online Benefits Toolkit calculators and guidance documents, along with an archive of past webinars that can be accessed for free.6 One of the most useful resources is the 107-page “Evaluating Landscape Performance – Guidebook for Metrics and Methods Selection 2018”, which includes sections on environmental, social and economic benefits, as well as worksheet templates for determining project goals, assessing environmental performance and assessing social performance.
‘Landscape Performance Series Resources’, in Landscape Performance Series, <https://www.landscapeperformance.org/browse> [accessed 8 January 2020]. 6 ‘Landscape Performance Series Resources’. 5
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Working Practice It can be easy to forget that our own actions are part of the environmental impact of a project. On large scale infrastructure projects, the impact of our travel to site, site cabin energy use and the day to day office waste generated by site staff can have a significant impact. Other issues such as the impact of data transfer – powering and cooling the servers that allow us to share documents online and search for information – need to be considered. For long-lasting infrastructure the day to day maintenance can have a significant climate impact, potentially greater than the construction work, so sites should be designed to minimise high carbon maintenance activities. We plan to create a list of tools and resources to support climate, sustainability and resilience-related CPD. We plan to include an update in each edition and welcome ideas for new resources. If you have used any of the resources listed, we would like to know how useful they are and how applicable you feel they are to our profession. Please contact: paul.lincoln@ landscapeinstitute.org
Claire Thirlwall is director of Oxfordshire based landscape practice Thirlwall Associates. Her book “From Idea to Site: a project guide to creating better landscapes” is published by RIBA Books.
