National Housing and Regeneration Conference Tour

How a landscape-led approach is essential for people, place and nature

The Government has set out an ambitious house-building agenda, with a target of 1.5 million new homes in England alone. This is an opportunity to create high quality places which create long-term value for people and the environment. To debate how this quality can be achieved, the Landscape Institute (LI) is hosting regional conferences across the UK in 2025 and 26 (Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast). The first, in Birmingham, will take place on Thursday 2^nd October 2025 (Millennium Point, Curzon St, Birmingham B4 7AP).

These conferences will debate and explore how collectively we can achieve the Government’s housing targets by 2029 while also creating places that are not just environmentally sustainable but socially and economically successful for the future.

A landscape-led approach is essential to create high quality, resilient places for living, which support happier and healthier communities and the environment. A landscape-led approach sees the landscape not just as an aesthetic feature but as a fundamental framework that shapes sustainable, liveable and climate resilient places – delivering commercial, nature and community value in the short and long term.

It is the starting point to planning and designing successful new developments, through thinking in systems rather than silos. Complex in nature, it embraces all scales and combines recognition of cultural heritage and promotes multifunctional solutions to deliver social, environmental and economic benefits.

Effective collaboration across the built and natural environment is key to capitalising on the opportunities and deliver this quality. By embracing this approach, developers, investors, local authorities, contractors and other professionals across the built and natural environment unlock multiple benefits, including:

Economic growth and Placemaking
Long term value
Environmental
Wellbeing and Health
Community cohesion and crime reduction

Early bird offer ends 28 July

Birmingham conference
Thursday 2 October 2025

Further discounts are available for LI members and Registered Practice employees

Reserve your place

We will delve into issues that are vital to delivering quality places – ranging from policy to commercial issues, including the latest planning policy developments; solutions to challenges impacting the profession; health & wellbeing outcomes, BNG, SuDs and active travel. A closing panel at the end will discuss how we can drive this collaboration forward. Each conference will end with a networking drinks reception – a fantastic opportunity to connect with others working on this agenda.

The LI is looking forward to hosting an interesting and informative series of events that will address the ways in which the perceived tensions between development and environmental objectives can be better resolved.

Reasons to attend

Networking and future collaborations: 
– Engage with professionals across the built and natural environment as well as key decision makers
Policy and expertise update:
– Gain an insight into the current policy and best practice through panel discussion and case studies  
– Learn and understand how the new LI briefing can positively impact planning and design within housing regeneration
Getting involved: 
– Contribute to the sessions and panel discussions on housing and regeneration topics and share your views
Continuing Professional Development (CPD):
– Increase your knowledge and skills and contribute to your CPD through presentations and panel discussions at the conference
– Understand how to better convey the value of a Landscape Led approach to development
Gain new ideas:
– Hear from experts and case studies presented in the session exploring how to successfully incorporate landscape led to housing development.

Programme

Each conference will consist of six sessions (the morning sessions will be repeated in the afternoon) as well as:

A Pecha Kucha session for practices to showcase best practice and learnings
A Careers Zone to showcase and learn routes into the industry
A Branch Zone to find out more about your local network and how you can get involved.

Please note that the conferences will not be recorded or live streamed.

View the details for each conference tour location by toggling between the tabs below:

Birmingham

Birmingham conference

Thursday, 2 October 2025 | 08:30 – 17:00 BST

Millennium Point, Curzon Street Birmingham B4 7AP

Registration for the first conference tour stop in Birmingham has opened with an early bird offer until 28 July. The programme details and currently confirmed speaker information are as follows.

Reserve your place today

Discounts for members of the LI and Registered Practice employees

Reserve your place

Supported by

Sessions overview

1) Planning Policy in England

Tom Barrett, MHCLG

The Government is introducing major changes to the planning system in England in an effort to deliver more development and economic growth. The changes will have impacts on the development system for housing and infrastructure and therefore landscapes. This session will look at the changes to planning policy, efforts to ensure high-quality design, and their implications for landscape-led placemaking. We will discuss how we can ensure quality places are created that work for the long-term. You will hear a range of perspectives – from central government to those focused on implementation.

2) A holistic approach in creating healthy places to improve the quality of life:

The importance of planning decisions to maximise public health and wellbeing outcomes

Chair: Luke Engleback
James Scott, Urban&Civic plc
Kathryn Moore

Landscape is critical infrastructure to deliver the Government’s housing targets. This session will discuss the strong evidence showing how people’s health and wellbeing (both physical and mental) are improved and maintained by having access to biodiverse natural green space and outdoor space of residential areas. It will outline a systems-based approach to connect multiple factors, including heritage, biophysical factors from macro to microbal scales, natural assets, people’s health and wellbeing, and community needs, to deliver maximum benefits for long-term.

3) Biodiversity Net Gain:

Planning & Development; Challenges and opportunities in the housing sector to increase BNG throughout a development scheme

Chair: Lucy Jenkins
Helen Nyul, Barratt Homes
Faye Durkin, GreenGage Environmental Ltd
Jason Reeves, CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management)

It’s been over a year since the Government made Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) a mandatory requirement for housing developers and landowners in England to deliver 10% improvement in biodiversity to be maintained over 30 years. It has made considering nature at the initial design stage of development essential. One year on, this session will cover how as an industry we can tackle the challenges and capitalise on the solutions together to increase BNG throughout the scheme via a holistic approach to development. We will discuss the benefits of landscape professionals’ involvement in site selection, planning and feasibility, with BNG in mind, provide economic, social and nature value to developers.

Collaboration will be key; this session will discuss the interface between landscape professionals and ecologists.

4) Creating resilient outdoor spaces:

Opportunities and challenges of better managing our surface water

Chair: Sue Illman PPLI FLI, Illman Young
Paul Shaffer, CIWEM
Bridget Woods Ballard, H.R Wallingford

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) deliver multiple benefits. With climate change, and growing concern about river health it is vital for SuDS to be implemented to create resilient cities and communities.

This session will delve into the latest developments on SuDS, with national experts explaining SuDS policy, guidance, and practice. The session will provide an overview of work to make the SuDS delivery process more accessible for developers and built environment professionals to understand, design, and implement. The session will explain how potential changes in policy and design approaches being developed with input from HR Wallingford and CIWEM can support SuDS delivery.

5) Transport and active travel in new housing developments:

Capitalising on the economic and social opportunities while maintaining value

Stephen O’Malley FLI, Civic Engineers
Dan Crane, Active Travel England
David Knight, CIHT

The right transport infrastructure and its connection to existing networks is an essential element of planning new housing developments. This session will discuss how the integration of active travel and transport in placemaking delivers economic and social benefits from housing growth. Through strategic planning and decision-making, landscape professionals are uniquely positioned to advise where a development should take place within the wider landscape – connecting people and places and offering long-term value to developers and investors.

The panellists will discuss how effective collaboration can be achieved throughout the project lifecycle, from design to management, between landscape professionals, other disciplines, developers, investors and local authorities. It will cover evidence on how changing journeys to active travel (walking and cycling) improves health and the environment. It will conclude with an update on new towns and settlements and their impact.

6) Management and Maintenance:

The challenges and opportunities of managing and maintaining landscapes in the housing sector

Chair: Jane Findlay PPLI FLI
Robin Waddell, Greenbelt
Lauren Gibbons, Land Trust

This session will discuss how to create long-term stewardship to benefit people, place and nature while maintaining value. It will discuss the effectiveness of community engagement programmes and collaboration with local authorities’ post-construction. With a focus on long-term management of green infrastructure – the role of LEMP in monitoring and maintenance for habitats and landscape, biodiversity delivery and the responsibilities of the landowner, local authority or management company.