20
feature
hot topic
blue and green should always be seen
Ananya Banerjee, Director and Head of Design at Boyer (part of LRG), explains how to create high quality blue and green infrastructure on constrained sites...
The success of a new community – for residents, wildlife and the wider environment – rests on the quality of its blue and green infrastructure: the network of planting, biodiversity and sustainable drainage. With more than 300 local authorities
having declared a climate emergency, planning policy at both national and local levels now requires new development to respond more directly to climate change, green infrastructure needs, water scarcity and flood risk. Biodiversity net gain has added further demands, making habitat value a measurable part of the planning process. On constrained sites, this can be harder
to achieve. Yet it is often on these sites that thoughtful blue and green infrastructure has the greatest value, making the limited space more supportive of people and nature.
The first move is spatial In some situations landscape can easily be treated as what remains after homes, roads, parking and utilities have been accommodated. But retrofitting meaningful natural infrastructure invariably leads to compromise. To ensure quality and the spirit of a site, it is necessary to let the landscape structure of the site lead the process, for masterplanners, engineers, ecologists and landscape architects to work together from the earliest possible stage to design a vision including and around these assets. This process will enable existing ditches, watercourses, mature trees, hedgerows, habitat corridors and overland flow routes to be understood before the layout is confirmed. Most importantly the developer/client needs to engage and buy into this process to create a resilient scheme.
Density can release land Higher density does not automatically mean poorer amenity, just as lower density does not create better places: the issue is how land is used. On suburban sites, a move away from detached and semi-detached homes towards well- designed three-storey townhouses can allow housing to be delivered on a smaller footprint. By using space vertically, more land can be released for natural infrastructure. Our Ascot Gardens scheme for Cala Homes (pictured) currently under construction is testament to how higher density in a town centre site can deliver exemplar landscape and biodiversity network amplified by Cala’s own Urban Wildlife Strategy. Boyer also shaped the masterplan of Spring Hill Village in Maidenhead for Berkeley Homes. Here this principle is visible in the way landscape has been
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