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The Landscape Institute appoints new permanent Chief Executive, Robert Hughes

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Robert first joined the LI as Commercial Director and then served over the past seven months as Acting CEO. He has developed a positive and progressive agenda focused on people, membership and systems, instilling a culture of collaborative working and putting our members, volunteers and staff at the heart of decision-making. His enthusiastic approach, strong financial mindset, and two-way engagement are already making a significant difference. 

With a clear direction to modernise the organisation, his strong and consistent leadership has led to the establishment of frameworks to stabilise and futureproof the LI, such as Project Kestrel (the LI’s new digital home) and a New Ways of Working programme. His inclusive, supportive and approachable management style is welcomed by staff, volunteers and members alike. 

As the LI enters a new chapter and continues to lead the way in connecting people, place and nature, the shared vision of both the newly appointed permanent CEO and President-Elect, Carolin Göhler FLI is to build a more open and inclusive organisation, focused in the coming 12 months on developing its education and public policy agendas and providing a first-class service to its membership. We will also be building strong partnerships across industry, government and the public to raise the importance and value of the profession, and its skills.  

Carolin Göhler FLI, Chair of the Board of Trustees and President-Elect of the Landscape Institute, said

The Landscape Institute’s Board of Trustees is pleased to appoint Robert Hughes as the new permanent CEO of the LI. Working with Robert and seeing the wide and positive impact he has made over the recent months during his time as Commercial Director and Acting CEO, has been a delight. With his passion for landscape and hands-on experience in managing land, combined with his strong business acumen and immense people skills, he is taking the LI to new heights of collaboration and inclusion. I look forward to continuing to work with him, as we embark both on the challenges, and the many opportunities ahead.” 

Robert Hughes, CEO of the Landscape Institute, said: 

I am deeply honoured to accept the role of permanent CEO of the Landscape Institute, at a pivotal time for action on the combined emergencies of climate, biodiversity, and health, as well as the green skills agenda. We’re taking positive steps towards becoming a more open, inclusive, and future-orientated organisation, putting our members at the heart of everything we do, and collaborating with partners across the built and natural environment. Our potential to make a difference will be founded on the partnerships we build, both as an Institute and as a society, and I look forward to leading this important work in close collaboration with our dedicated membership body, volunteers, and staff.   

Letter to Environment Secretary

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The EPF network strives to promote environmental sustainability and resilience for the public benefit.

During the most crucial era for the environment, the government is implementing the mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) legislation with ambitious legally binding environmental targets and national commitment to reach net zero by 2050.

However, more needs to be done to implement effective delivery of these commitments. To ensure the UK can meet its environmental targets, the letter asked the government to focus on the following priorities:

1. Invest in green skills to achieve long-term environmental goals, stimulate economic growth, and foster a more sustainable and resilient global workforce.

2. Adopt a consistent, joined-up approach to counteract recent incoherent and inconsistent policy across government, which has undermined the delivery of environmental commitments.

3. Consult the experts to ensure policy is effectively delivered, reducing the likelihood of unforeseen consequences.

In addition, the letter highlights a concern with Defra consultations and its increasingly limited scrutiny and consultation with experts.

EPF look forward to collaborating in order to ensure the UK’s environmental commitments and stand ready to facilitate consultation with its vast network of competent environmental professionals.

Follow the link below to read the letter in full. It can also be found on the EPF website.

30th Landscape Institute Awards celebrates positive impact of landscape professions

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The LI Awards is an annual celebration of people, place and nature, and the myriad ways that landscape projects can connect them. Held this year on 3rd November, it was the Awards’ 30th anniversary, a tribute to the longevity of their impact and success.   

Taking home the prestigious President’s Award, presented by President-Elect of the Landscape Institute, Carolin Göhler, was ‘Challenging Public Health Inequalities Across Bradford District’, a wide-ranging scheme by Bradford Metropolitan District Council. 

The project, which also won the ‘Excellence in Public Health and Wellbeing’ category, tackles public health disparities by integrating green and blue infrastructure, highlighting the vital role of the environment in health outcomes. Rooted in participatory and co-creation principals and extensive research, its focus is on the social value of better public health and wellbeing within urban areas. With a scope extending from policy and planning to design, implementation and beyond, it is an example of what a landscape-led approach can offer in the public sector.  

‘Mayfield Park, Manchester’, a project by Studio Egret West, won two Awards, for ‘Excellence in Landscape Design’ and ‘Excellence in Place Regeneration’, after also being shortlisted for ‘Excellence in Climate, Environment and Social Outcomes’ and ‘Excellence in Biodiversity Conservation and Enhancement’. 

Meanwhile, both PRP and The Paul Hogarth Company won two awards each. PRP won the ‘Building with Nature National Award’, for its scheme Pydar, and ‘Excellence in Collaboration, Engagement and Influence’ for Dementia Friendly Design. The Paul Hogarth Company won ‘Excellence in Masterplanning and Urban Design’ with Letterkenny 2040 and ‘Excellence in Small Landscape and Garden Design’ for Glenkinchie Distillery.  

Entries across the board point towards a future in which landscape practice plays an essential role in helping the built and natural environment sectors deliver on their goals around climate, biodiversity, and health. Every successful project at the LI Awards demonstrated how the profession provides the skills and knowledge to create resilient, environmentally friendly, socially inclusive and beautiful spaces, that contribute to the well-being of both people and the planet.  

The full list of winners is as follows: 

Excellence in Landscape Planning and Assessment  Cherry Hinton North Design Code – McGregor Coxall  
Excellence in Heritage and Culture St Albans Cathedral Sumpter Yard Revived​ – J&L Gibbons 
Excellence in climate, environment, and social outcomes Climate Ready Edinburgh – Atkins 
Dame Sylvia Crowe International Award Rijnvliet Edible Neighborhood – Felixx Landscape Architects 
Excellence in Biodiversity Conservation and Enhancement Urban Green UP – re-Shaped & Flavia Goldsworthy 
Landscape Legacy Award Renewable Energy, a new aesthetic? – MVGLA 
The Landscape Research and Digital Innovation Award Atlas for a City-Region – Critical Landscapes Design Lab and Gareth Doherty 
Excellence in Masterplanning and Urban Design Letterkenny 2040 – The Paul Hogarth Company 
Excellence in Landscape Design Mayfield Park – Studio Egret West 
Student Portfolio  The power of nature – Jinming Wei (The Bartlett, UCL) 
Student Dissertation Award The Herring Girls – Nyima Murry (The Bartlett, UCL) 
Excellence in Small Landscape and Garden Design Glenkinchie Distillery – The Paul Hogarth Company 
Excellence in Place Regeneration Mayfield Park by Studio Egret West 
Excellence in Public Health and Wellbeing Challenging public health inequalities across Bradford District – City of Bradford Municipal District Council 
Building with Nature National Award Pydar  – PRP 
Excellence in Collaboration, Engagement and Influence Dementia friendly design – PRP 
Landscape & Parks Management Stanmer Park Management Plan – LUC 
President’s Award Challenging public health inequalities across Bradford District – City of Bradford Municipal District Council 

A full list of all the finalists can be found here.  

Carolin Göhler, President-Elect, Landscape Institute, said: “I have been a judge at the LI Awards before, but this was my first time as President-Elect, and I was delighted to award the President’s Award to such an innovative, entrepreneurial, and deserving winner in the public sector. It is a true exemplar of how landscape can benefit people, place and nature with good community health research, policy making, design, and implementation, with close community liaisons and management of green spaces. I want to thank all the entrants that took part, as well as the judging panels and the many volunteers, and congratulate all the winners – the future of landscape is bright.” 

Robert Hughes, Acting CEO, Landscape Institute, said:  “We at the LI are so pleased to see such a continued high standard of entries. The projects highlighted a wide range of our members’ work, as well as the wider industry’s diverse skills and attributes, with many of the projects reflecting the urgent need to combat social inequality, climate change and the biodiversity emergency with progressive and nature and place-based solutions. Our heartfelt thanks to all our sponsors, volunteers, and supporters for making this important celebration happen.”

David Withycombe, Chair of the LI Awards Panel, said: “‘This year we have seen an exemplary standard of entries. As always it was hard for the judges to narrow all the entries down to a select group of finalists, as the standard was so high. This year we saw the continued themes of combating climate and biodiversity crisis with new and innovative solutions. It was interesting to look back on the last 30 years and see how the profession has changed, as well as looking forward to the beginning of an exciting new chapter.’

Justin Rowlatt to host Landscape Institute Awards 2023

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This year we’re very excited to be joined at the LI Awards by Justin Rowlatt, the BBC’s first-ever climate editor. Justin reports from the frontline of our changing world, documenting how global warming is reshaping ecosystems and economies.  You’ll have seen him on the TV news, you’ll have heard him on the radio and you will even have read his articles online.

Justin also presents television and radio documentaries.  His latest programmes for BBC1 explored “What You Really Need to Know” about switching to electric vehicles and heat pumps. On radio, he has been investigating the implications of the giant chemistry experiment humanity is conducting on the Earth’s atmosphere in his “Geochemical History of Life on Earth” for the BBC World Service.

Justin was the first journalist to get to the front of the so-called “doomsday glacier” in the West Antarctic.  Thwaites Glacier is the fastest-changing area of ice in the world.  If it melts it would raise global sea levels by more than a metre.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom, as Justin has been leading the BBC’s coverage of the renewable revolution that is transforming how the world generates electricity. 

His current role, as BBC Climate Editor, is the culmination of a long and varied career.  Along the way, Justin spent a year living as ‘Ethical Man’ for Newsnight, he was part of the team that launched The ONE Show on BBC1, he’s been a reporter on Panorama, and he was North of England correspondent for Channel 4 News.

Be part of our 30th anniversary Landscape Institute Awards by attending the ceremony in-person or streaming online.

Joanna Patton, (1981 – 2023)

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Jo was an inspiration to all who knew or worked with her – a woman of good judgement, a genuine role model, a joyful spirit and a friend to many.

Even as an undergraduate at Edinburgh College of Art Jo knew her own mind and behind her relaxed easy nature there was a steely determination and a strong work ethic. Traits that would serve her well.

In a career that involved working in the US and across the UK, Jo demonstrated an extraordinary mastery of our profession from strategic thinking, professional judgement in assessment through to sensitive design and delivery – she was an unusually gifted professional who could turn her hand to anything.

Jo worked on many noteworthy projects. At LDA Design she was part of the Olympic delivery team and the public inquiry team for Center Parcs, as well as masterplanning for Sizewell C and the New Museums site at Cambridge University. She also contributed to the UK’s early drive into renewable energy.  At WSP Jo continued to focus on energy and renewables, involved in both on and offshore windfarms and transmission networks across the UK, as well as new hydrogen networks and carbon capture, amongst other things. A final high point, of which she was deservedly proud, was co-authoring the Third Edition of the indispensable Landscape Architect’s Pocket Book.

As if this was not enough, Jo was also a committed leader for WSP’s Scottish team, growing and nurturing a close-knit team in Scotland. She had an astonishing capacity for work but never faltered in her commitment to her team.

Jo brought her personal qualities to every area of her professional life and will be greatly missed.

Our thoughts are with Jo’s husband, her two children and her family.

(Joanna Patton (Nee Ratcliffe) born 14th January 1981, died 07th September 2023)

Jo’s wish was for donations to be made to the Beatson Cancer Charity and with the support of her family a memorial grove is being planted in her memory through Trees for Life, a charity working to rewild the Scottish Highlands, befitting of her love of nature.

Donations can be made at:

www.treesforlife.org.uk/groves/467943/  / www.beatsoncancercharity.org/donate/

Landscape Institute responds to the UK State of Nature report

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The United Kingdom had already cemented its status as one of the most nature-depleted nations on the planet, but the recent release of the UK State of Nature report, published last week, reinforces the dire state of our environment. 

  • 16% of species in the UK are threatened with extinction  
  • The abundance of freshwater and terrestrial species has fallen 19% on average since 1970 
  • The distribution of invertebrate species has decreased by 13% since 1970 
  • The distribution of flowering plants has decreased by 54% since 1970
  • The distribution of mosses and liverworts has decreased by 59% since 1970 
  • The abundance of 13 species of seabirds has fallen by an average of 24% since 1986 

We depend on nature for human health and wellbeing, ecosystem services, carbon sequestration and climate resilience, so protecting and restoring our landscapes to enable nature to thrive is of paramount importance.  

Last week, news that the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain legislation will be delayed until 2024 drew criticism from across industries. Meanwhile, the outpouring of sadness resulting from felling of the Sycamore Gap Tree highlights the value that landscape brings to our lives, and the highly emotive response that these events can provoke.  

In just a few days, both the ecology and the politics of the climate and nature emergencies have been drawn into sharp focus. Looking to the future, it is imperative that we develop a social, natural and economic landscape in which these challenges can be addressed through integrated, collaborative means.  

Landscape architects and landscape managers have the skills and experience to facilitate this action. Their work brings people closer to the environments in which they live, fostering civic pride alongside landscape heritage, and the health of people and planet.  

The LI’s aim is to protect, conserve and enhance the natural and built environment for the public benefit, and we look forward to supporting our members as they continue this important work in the months and years ahead.  

The latest figures on the state of nature in the UK make for distressing reading. Coinciding with the delayed rollout of Biodiversity Net Gain, and the public felling of a precious piece of natural heritage, events this week have highlighted the deep connections between society and the environment.  

Good landscape practice brings the two together, providing integrated solutions to address the challenges we face. As we look ahead, we expect the government to provide a policy framework that enables us to do this with certainty and long-term vision.”   

Robert Hughes, CEO, Landscape Institute. 

Carolin Göhler becomes President-Elect of the Landscape Institute, marking a new chapter for landscape professionals at a critical time for nature and climate 

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Chartered Landscape Architect and Horticulturalist, Carolin Göhler. Image: National Trust

After its founding in 1929, and obtaining its Royal Charter in 1997, the LI now looks forward to a new and important chapter in its prestigious history as the chartered body for the landscape professions. The President-Elect’s appointment will make her the Institute’s 45th President, and she joins its members, staff, and volunteers, in a common cause to positively impact the biggest challenges for society and the environment.  

The President-Elect’s vision for her presidency (running June 2024-26) is to be an ambassador for the landscape professions (which span landscape architecture, planning, urban design, landscape management,  landscape science and more), to promote their skills and knowledge, and champion their role across sectors to create inclusive, healthy, sustainable places – whether in built or natural environments. Leading the LI in connecting people, place, and nature, she will seek to amplify the importance of the landscape profession in contributing to the health and wellbeing of people and nature, protecting and enhancing both landscapes and heritage places, and ensuring that the design and management of everyday places fosters diversity and inclusivity. 

The President-Elect has over 35 years’ experience as a Chartered Landscape Architect and Horticulturalist, and over ten years’ experience as a CEO in the charity sector. A specialist in horticultural innovation in heritage gardens and parklands, with time spent at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and as Parks Consultant for the National Trust, she has also worked at senior policy level, aiding the development of Cambridgeshire’s greenspace strategy. Previous roles at the LI include East of England Branch Chair (2008-14), Treasurer (2014-19), and Vice-President (2019-2021). 

She will channel her wide-reaching experience to lead the Institute in building relationships across industry, government, and the public. From policy engagement to education, careers, and technical standards, the LI has an important role to play in representing the interests of landscape practitioners, and the wider public, at a critical time for nature and climate. Within the LI, she will focus on the charity’s strategic priorities of people, membership, and systems – enhancing value for an expanding and diverse membership community.  

Carolin Göhler, President-Elect, Landscape Institute, said: “The President’s role requires representation of our profession and promotion of our work, benefitting the public, individuals and nature alike. We have a big role to play to mitigate, reduce and positively combat the climate and biodiversity emergencies, for perhaps never before has the value that landscape professionals can bring to all aspects of life been so important – in urban, rural and wild environments. It is a privilege to represent and celebrate our collective achievements, and while we still have work to do, with collaboration and determination, we can achieve so much more. I look forward to a new chapter to build a progressive and inclusive Institute.” 

The Landscape Institute Board of Trustees said: “The Landscape Institute has a long history of positively impacting the health, wellbeing, and sustainability of everyday life in everyday places. The President-Elect is an ambassador for our profession, bringing a wealth of diverse experiences which will help us support our members, staff and volunteers, as well the wider industry, in delivering the important work that our planet demands, and ensuring that the Institute’s impact can continue to be a reliable force in this effort.”  

 

For enquiries, please contact the Landscape Institute press office: pressoffice@landscapeinstitute.org, +44 (0) 0330 808 2230 

Last Call for your response to the Consultation for the Notes and Clarifications on GLVIA3

©Landscape Institute

Following the GLVIA3 Member Survey in 2021, the GLVIA Advisory Panel has been working on a ‘Notes and Clarifications on GLVIA3’. To read more click here.

The aim is to replace the various Statements and Technical Notes, plus addressing questions raised in Member surveys and emails to the LI and to put them into one document. We are now publishing the document in draft form for consultation.

Please send feedback to glvia3@landscapeinstitute.org by 15 September 2023
The final document will be published later in the year.

Membership Satisfaction Survey 2023 – results

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    In response, we have committed to   eight pledges aligned to our strategic priorities for the year around People, Membership and Systems  to reflect on the feedback and stay focused on the outcomes (see image above). 

    Naomi Taylor, Acting Commercial Director (until recently Head of Membership) and John Clay, Branch Representative of the Midlands, discuss the survey results and identify the direction and focus for the LI going forward.

    Branch Update – Northern Ireland

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      For several years now, there has not been an active Branch in Northern Ireland, despite the best efforts of some members. Therefore, the Board has taken the decision to suspend the Branch until the next AGM when members will elect a new branch committee.  

      The LI Board has expressed their commitment to rebuild a robust and fully functional Branch in place for members to enjoy the benefits of a local supportive network. To organise local events, build strong networks with communities and organisations within the area as well as increasing member engagement. Providing our members with the tools and resources, and on-going support from staff to ensure our members are equipped for their professional development journey.   

      Carolin Göhler, President-Elect at the Landscape Institute said, “Our members are the core of everything we do. We are looking forward to working with members in Northern Ireland over the next year to provide them with the support they need to rebuild the nation’s community of landscape professionals and elect a new NI Committee at the branch AGM in spring 2024.” 

      Next steps

      Our NI members will play a crucial role in shaping the Branch and we are seeking your views and ideas to create a group they wish to be part of. A number of staff members will be visiting the region in the autumn to meet our NI members in-person by organising a series of meetings and workshops. 
      Staff members will also provide details of our new operational infrastructure, which will improve our digital communications and processes.  
      An update of our plans for this year around a volunteer strategy, addressing the skills shortages and climate and biodiversity.  

      More details about the visit and programme will be shared with you all very soon. We look forward to seeing you all in the autumn.