Conference

Registration and refreshments

Opening address from the Chair

Inspirational keynote: responding to technical challenges to create a strong aesthetic focus in the public realm

Just as each project needs to be approached from an ecological perspective; it is the aesthetics which create a sense of identity, value and establish the sustainability of the landscape. Martha Schwartz examines how urban design, environmental practice and sustainability interplay when we create meaningful public spaces.

Question and answer with

MASTERPLANNING

Maximising the benefits of the public realm during masterplanning

• Approaching landscape from the start - how can landscape be considered alongside the built environment during masterplanning?
• Incorporating green infrastructure into the masterplan at an early stage
• Capitalising on landscaping to support movement routes
• Making masterplanning useful for public realm planning
• A holistic design approach: how landscape architects can contribute to initial site concepts
  

Case Study: Successfully integrating landscape into social and private residential schemes

• Making housing more sustainable through the public realm
• Practical considerations for raised planting around residential areas
• Ensuring the public realm improves the space around housing developments
• Overcoming drainage issues associated with the loss of green space when new developments are built

Question and answer session

Morning refreshments

TREES AND GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

Trees in Towns II: A call to action for our urban trees

• Understanding the role trees play as the most important single element of green infrastructure
• Findings from the government’s Trees in Towns II report:
• The condition of our urban trees
• Variations in standards of urban tree management by local authorities
• Recommendations from Trees in Towns II: 10 targets of performance in urban tree management for local authorities to achieve over the next five years
• Promoting sustainable cities and green infrastructure by focussing on our urban trees and achieving the 10 targets
  

The essential role of trees in Green Infrastructure

• Protecting trees and existing ecology in the landscape when new developments take place
• Ensuring that the option of all new planting isn’t the only one considered
• Using greenery successfully to attract biodiversity
• Encouraging the specification of native species
• Good examples of how existing vegetation has been retained in new schemes
  

Question and answer session

Lunch

MAINTENANCE

Management and maintenance

• Securing design through better management
• Identify better models of public space management
• The need for skills, funding and long term planning
• Monitoring investments and reviewing outcomes

Case Study: Designing with maintenance in mind in Lewisham

• Introduction to Lewisham Council, its Green Space Contract and approach to Public Realm improvements
• Identifying maintenance limitations before they have a negative impact on the public realm
• Examples of spaces which can be difficult to maintain and understanding why this is the case
• Improving design through consultation with the maintenance team
• Establishing what type of maintenance machinery is used during the design stage to ensure improvements can be maintained to a high standard
  

Question and answer session

Afternoon refreshments

SUSTAINABILITY

Case Study: BRE Innovation Park’s Sustainable Landscape Scheme

• Is it possible to manage black water through SUDS?
• How green are living green walls?
• How calm and friendly is the Homezone for pedestrians?

Case Study: Insight into the progress of Peninsula Square and its green wall – 3 years on

• How the Square has matured, grown and evolved
• Design detail for the green wall – what was planned for and what has actually happened since it has been installed?
• How the Square was designed with maintenance in mind, and how this has worked in reality
• Unexpected consequences – the good, the not-so-good, and the impact it has had on the scheme

Question and answer session

Closing remarks from the Chair and end of conference