Nearly ten months have passed since LI member Jo Yeates was killed, and the trial of Vincent Tabak has started at Bristol Crown Court. The Landscape Institute South East Branch is running an appeal to raise funds for a memorial garden for her. You can see the designs for the memorial at www.landscapeinstitute.org/about/JoYeatesMemorial.php
It would be great if her fellow landscape architects could build her a lasting memorial, and I hope you will support the branch in its efforts to achieve this.
On a less sombre note, some good news.
In January this year, we started running the ‘Why Invest in Landscape?’ campaign. This is aimed at clients of landscape architects and promotes the work of our registered practices, with case studies showing how the involvement of the landscape architect boosted income or created savings for the client. Since the campaign started in January, nearly 10,000 leaflets have been circulated through mailings and events, and nearly 900 have been requested by individual LI members for use with their clients. They are free and you can order as many as you want to give out to current or potential clients – contact (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for copies.
This month, Ian Phillips CMLI is taking the campaign to Les Assises du Paysage in Strasbourg, where landscape architects will be gathering from all over Europe to discuss the value of landscape architecture. Copies of the publication have also been requested from the United States and Australia, as well as the UK, so it has certainly attracted a lot of interest.
The LI will continue to build the case for investing in landscape architecture with our ongoing work on reforming the procurement process, as well our forthcoming work on landscape architecture and major infrastructure. In the New Year we will be publishing Client Guide, which will showcase the range and scale of work that landscape architects have to offer – and advise on how best to procure it.
While all of this is going on, another strand of work we have been involved in over the summer will be coming to fruition. On Tuesday 18 October, the Design Council will be publishing the Bishop Review of Design Support for the Built Environment. The Report was commissioned by the Department of Communities and Local Government and it will set out proposals for how we can ensure good and consistent advice on design matters for developers and planning authorities. The LI is a member of the steering group that has been working with Peter Bishop as he drafted his review. We will be publishing the results as soon as they are available. The launch event will be a live blog rather than a traditional event, and you are welcome to take part here.