News

Landscape "Sacrificial lamb" in construction projects, says Landscape Institute

6th December 2007

The Landscape Institute today (Dec 6) called for a greater role for the profession in response to the Government’s ‘Draft Strategy for Sustainable Construction.’

Chair of the Landscape Institute Policy Committee Jon Lovell said landscape was often “the sacrificial lamb” on projects, which undermined both the environmental and commercial value of developments.

Responding to the document produced by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Lovell said: “Landscape is the glue which holds development schemes together and should be a first consideration and not an afterthought when developing a new scheme. The Landscape Institute believes that landscape is often the sacrificial lamb to overspending and programming delays elsewhere on projects, which leads to sub-standard implementation and management, undermining the environmental and commercial performance of completed developments. A thorough understanding and commitment to landscape and public realm as an integral component of construction projects which recognises the influence of landscape on the energy performance of buildings is therefore necessary.”

Lovell called for an explicit reference in the strategy to green infrastructure and sustainable urban drainage systems – an area currently omitted from the draft document.

He added: “We believe that the strategy should prioritise environmental and social targets without undermining the commercial feasibility of delivering them. Some key targets are missing in this strategy, primarily those relating to biodiversity, sustainable urban drainage systems, extensive green roof systems, and green infrastructure and we call for their inclusion within the strategy.”

Lovell said that many local authorities lacked the necessary depth of landscape expertise to judge objectively the appropriateness of landscape proposals. Moreover, the lack of development control resources is exacerbated by the lack of enforcement action taken by local authorities when the implementation of landscape elements within construction projects fails to reflect the design and construction details approved by the authority.

Lovell said: “This frequently leads to sub-standard and failed landscapes as part of new developments which can have significant adverse socio-economic and environmental impact. These issues are set to become more important and acute as the impacts of a changing climate take hold, especially in urban areas.”