Sustainable Landscaping in the UK.

The term 'Sustainable Landscaping' and a sustainable landscape thereafter can often be misinterpreted, principally because the use of the word sustainable has been slightly stretched beyond its dictionary entry for many business sectors, (a good example of this is sustainable tourism - which is simply an oxymoron - surely environmentally aware is much better suited). This is understandable but has led to increasing amounts of clients, particularly new clients asking why is what we do termed sustainable development, hence the writing of this blog post in order to allow people to understand our practice and why we use the term sustainable.Firstly there is a distinction between 'sustainable gardening', and 'sustainable landscaping'. Sustainable gardening is mush easier to quantify when taking the classic definition of sustainable practice -Development which meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needsAs such most gardeners and growers, who act responsibly are actually achieving more than this, by way of enhancing their own plot or their clients year on year as a place to maximise plant growth in a given area. The future world, without oil, will have to resort to plants and trees as the basis for all energy requirements.Sustainable Landscaping is not so easy to quantify, but it is in essence the process of changing the land into land which is capable of achieving the good practice found in sustainable gardening.To do this 'factors' must be introduced into the ongoing operations of practising landscapers and probably more importantly the landscape designers. (We were recently asked to quote for the construction of a 'dry stone wall' in Westminster environs. The wall was made from shaped granite, only available from South America and a huge amount of concrete was required in order to achieve the shapes needed within the wall - yet this was classified as and will be demonstrated as a sustainable project. This is simply abusing the term - but it will be a fine looking wall, we refused to quote). The factors we use to determine ongoing sustainability within our projects is such:1. Transport; Total miles or fuel covered by company vehicles; Volume of materials required to be brought in; Volume of waste.In Cornwall it is relatively easy to significantly reduce on these factors - there are many local small quarries and due to the increasing status put to the 'heritage of a landscape' it is easy to persuade a client on these issues.2. Water; In every project we will always introduce a drainage system which will reduce runoff and take as much water to ground as possible, usually allowing for a significant reduction in the watering requirements during the drier months.3. Wildlife; Biodiversity is a important ally in the ongoing health of any garden. Every opportunity to create habitats for suitable species is taken. The ongoing management regime is discussed and included at handover to ensure the minimal amount of chemicals if any at all are used etc.,.4. Recycling; Reusing waste materials back into a construction is labour intensive, but is still, (and is likely to continue to be so), cheaper than off siting. The creation of bunded banking, terracing, 'ha - ha's' and other features or follies of a sort can sit well into all landscaping designs and can be produced at the same cost, or even cheaper, than paying for the waste removal. As such into the redesigning of a garden it is possible to cheer the client up considerably by introducing this theme. The on site planking of wood and subsequent use of the timber to create benches and other bespoke timber items is starting to match the ever increasing costs of disposal.Done effectively the on site disposal can also allow for features which increase the aesthetics of a garden.One example of this is a project we are about to commence. The landowner had previously built a large pond, rather than off site the waste he created small 'tumuli'like structures. When we visited the garden, these structures fooled us and they also lent a real focal point to an otherwise dull part of the garden. Another story shows that some caution is needed: A digger driver building forest tracks in the highlands, used to up end large rocks he came across, rather than remove, which looked just like standing stones. At one location he found so many he created a stone circle as good as any found elsewhere in the vicinity. When the archaelogical teams came to asses the site they immediately halted planting operations.5. Social and Cultural Issues; As we operate largely on private and non commercial projects, we take the opportunity to allow for students to work with us and have on occasion worked with the other persons to demonstrate the methods in order for them to DIY. Insurance implications and H & S etc.,. are surprisingly little more effort than usual in this regard and it is good pass on such skills to those who can't afford otherwise. Of course the obligatory donation of apple trees to Schools etc.,. always helps and assists in the ongoing publicity of the company hugely.Trees and Woodlands form a massive part of sustainable development, (refer to value of a tree blog) , and as such every opportunity is taken to plant trees. We are becoming more and more active in the design and planting of new areas of coppice, which many are now seeing as an absolute necessity for future sustainable practice, particularly with the new generation of wood burning boilers etc.,.The Climate Agenda is simply taken care of, when implementation of the above proceeds and such operations with careful planning will fall into the Landscape Convention agenda easily.

Phytoremediation at Bissoe Arsenic Factory. (Iker Yurrebaso Azagirre, CSL 2008)www.paysagedurable.com

Thanks for this it is difficult to quantify sustainability and this is the phrase used most by potential clients etc,., particularly on the larger and commercial projects. The core of my work in the last 2 years have been for 'sustainable projects' (projects which highlight the sustainability aspects of the finished project without much regard for how this is done. Certainly the changes in CAP and other governmental decisions means that we have to take on board proceedure as you do in order to gain from any flow of money either UK or EU, (although looks like England may be out of the EU loop possibly in the future - with an independence vote in 2010 in Scotland, maybe Scotland will be the only home nation able to benefit from this money?!?), into the forestry and large scale landscaping sector.

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Comments

Andrew Garner June 6, 2009 at 11:03am

I am noticing that many businesses and organisations are now referring to themselves as 'sustainable' with little more than a brief and frankly weak environmental code of conduct attached their blurb. It is perhaps easy for us in the profession to be sustainable but how do you get these others to take it seriously rather than use it as an additional ad word.
Sustainable Land Management June 8, 2009 at 8:33pm

In reality the term sustainable is becoming looser and looser. I don't think there is anything that can be done, but it is usually easy to see through 'greenwash', (horrid buzzword but true).
I believe all we can do is stick to our own mandates until legislation catches up.
The one thing we have definately found is that we do attract more customers than others due to the sustainable angle, but we do have to work hard to keep clients reassured that the ops will be sustainable. As such it is a reality that clients and potential clients are becoming very canny to the whole green promotion angle.
Hamish June 16, 2009 at 12:18pm

Thanks for this it is difficult to quantify sustainability and this is the phrase used most by potential clients etc,., particularly on the larger and commercial projects. The core of my work in the last 2 years have been for 'sustainable projects' (projects which highlight the sustainability aspects of the finished project without much regard for how this is done. Certainly the changes in CAP and other governmental decisions means that we have to take on board proceedure as you do in order to gain from any flow of money either UK or EU, (although looks like England may be out of the EU loop possibly in the future - with an independence vote in 2010 in Scotland, maybe Scotland will be the only home nation able to benefit from this money?!?), into the forestry and large scale landscaping sector.