Tag Archives: Building with Nature

Putting Nature at the Heart of Development

TEP has assisted one of its housebuilder clients to obtain a Building with Nature Design Award for its residential development of 600 homes in Kidderminster.

The accolade recognises the developer’s efforts to put nature at the heart of the development by designing and delivering a great living environment for both people and wildlife.  The Building with Nature framework is designed to encourage sustainable solutions throughout the design, by assessing in detail the approach to green infrastructure, including the proposals for health and wellbeing, water management and improvements to habitats and biodiversity.

Throughout the design process, sustainability has led the way for the site in Kidderminster, with the retention and enhancement of extensive areas of woodland alongside the creation of new spaces for play and recreation and of new habitats such as acid-rich grassland, wildflower meadows and plant species specifically favoured by dormouse. 

TEP’s Senior Landscape Architect, and qualified Building with Nature assessor, Anna Miroslaw, worked with the design team to ensure that the landscape design reflected the unique and special character of this site, whilst also creating an environment in which the new community can flourish.  The open spaces, play features and active trails have been designed for all to enjoy; sustainable drainage features allow rainwater to replenish the natural water table and carefully selected planting will enrich biodiversity.

The Building with Nature standards, which were developed in partnership with local authorities, private sector developers, people and communities, provide built environment specialists with evidence-based, how-to guidance on delivering high-quality green infrastructure.  The award recognises the development at a National level and has assisted the scheme through planning and in meeting a contractual obligation with Homes England.

More information on the Building with Nature Standards can be found here. Alternatively, you can get in touch with us to discuss the Award process in more detail or to learn more from our design team click here.

Building With Nature

Green infrastructure plays a vital role in our modern society.  Our networks of parks, play areas, street trees, rivers and ponds not only regulate the climate and support wildlife but deliver countless benefits for our wellbeing.  Now more than ever we are thinking about ways to create sustainable places that really deliver for people and wildlife.

Building with Nature is the UK’s first green infrastructure benchmark that aims to support and encourage developers to create high-quality, sustainable places where people and nature can thrive.  TEP is an advocate of the benchmarking process and have an approved assessor who supports our clients in delivering schemes which showcase great sustainable development; where people and wildlife benefit from well-designed, expertly implemented and sustainably managed features.

Schemes are assessed against a framework of standards both at pre and post-construction stages and those which meet the standards are awarded the Building with Nature Accreditation.  It is becoming a widely valued and recognised scheme, with The Landscape Institute recently creating a new category in its 2020 awards, calling for entries which have gained full Building with Nature accreditation.

Should you consider Building with Nature?

  • The Building with Nature accreditation gives developments a competitive advantage and a marketing tool when promoting quality and sustainability.
  • The accreditation process is carried out by a trained assessor from within the industry and is externally validated to assure impartiality and quality of accreditation.
  • External and independent validation reassures the public and stakeholders that a development is working beyond minimum requirements.
  • Being accredited can reduce planning risks and uncertainties, giving confidence to decision makers that national and local policy requirements are being met.
  • Reducing planning uncertainty and helping to coordinate design team efforts, can reduce time and costs for developers.
  • Building with Nature focuses on collaboration between team members and helps to deliver holistic designs that consider every aspect of the building process.
  • The standards complement other approaches such as biodiversity net gain, to help mitigate or compensate for biodiversity losses within a development.

What are the Building with Nature Standards?

There are 23 standards across four themes, which the assessor will consider when evaluating your development:

  • There are five core standards, which relate to providing multifunctional infrastructure that respects local context, delivers on local policies, climate-resilience and future-proofing.
  • The six wellbeing standards focus on accessibility and inclusivity of green infrastructure, providing seasonal enjoyment, being locally relevant, distinctive and supporting social cohesion.
  • The six water standards are concerned with managing water quantity and quality, and maximising opportunities for amenity and biodiversity.
  • The six wildlife standards help create places where nature can flourish, both within the boundary of the scheme, and at a landscape scale.

What does the process involve?

TEPs approved assessor, Anna Miroslaw, conducts evaluations for the service nationwide.  She is able to start the accreditation process by engaging with a design team, ideally from the early stages of a project, offering guidance and expert advice on the application of the Building with Nature standards.  When assessing projects, she gathers all the evidence and describes how the scheme meets the standards constructing an honest and thorough assessment.  The assessment is then submitted for external audit, where there are three levels of Accreditation: Design Award (planning stage), Full Award – Good, and Full Award – Excellent (delivery stage).

Building with Nature Award Badges

If you would like to learn more about the accreditation or to book a consultation please email Anna.

To read more from our Landscape Designers click here.

TEP’s Building With Nature

Green infrastructure plays a vital role in our modern society. Our networks of parks, play areas, street trees, rivers and ponds not only regulate the climate and support wildlife but deliver countless benefits for our wellbeing. Now more than ever we need to think about ways to create sustainable places that really deliver for people and wildlife.

Building with Nature is the UK’s first green infrastructure benchmark that aims to support and encourage developers to create high-quality, sustainable places where people and nature can thrive.

Building with Nature uses a framework of standards founded by practitioners, policy makers, academic experts and end users. They gathered together all existing guidance and best practice on creating high-quality green infrastructure and established an assessment and accreditation service. The service can be applied UK-wide at all stages of a development and will recognise high-quality green infrastructure by awarding the Building with Nature Accreditation.

Should you consider Building with Nature?

  • It is a voluntary scheme, which complements other approaches such as biodiversity net gain, to help mitigate or compensate for biodiversity losses within a development.
  • Building with Nature focuses on helping to deliver high-quality green infrastructure to create places where people want to live.
  • The standards are directed at planners, developers and communities, and are written in a language that is easy to understand.
  • The Building with Nature accreditation gives developments a competitive advantage and a marketing tool when promoting the quality and sustainability of that development.
  • The accreditation process is carried out by a trained assessor from within the industry and is externally validated to assure impartiality and quality of accreditation.
  • As the assessment is externally and independently validated, it reassures the public and planning authority that the development is working beyond the minimum requirement.
  • Being accredited reduces planning uncertainty, as the standards encourage going above the minimum standards set in planning policies.
  • Building with Nature focuses on collaboration between team members and helps to deliver holistic designs that consider every aspect of the building process.
  • By reducing planning uncertainty and helping to coordinate design team efforts, this can reduce time and costs for developers.

What are the Building with Nature Standards?

There are 23 standards across four themes, which the assessor will consider when evaluating your development:

There are five core standards, which relate to providing multifunctional infrastructure that respects local context, delivers on local policies, climate-resilient and future-proofing.

The six wellbeing standards focus mainly on accessibility and inclusivity of green infrastructure, providing seasonal enjoyment, being locally relevant, distinctive and supporting social cohesion.

The six water standards are concerned with managing water quantity and quality, and maximising opportunities for amenity and biodiversity.

The six wildlife standards help create places where nature can flourish, both within the boundary of the scheme, and at a landscape scale.

TEP’s Senior Landscape Architect, Anna Miroslaw has recently been appointed as an approved assessor for Building with Nature and is already conducting evaluations for the service nationwide.

Anna will be able to help start your application process by engaging with your design team, ideally from the early stages of the project, offering guidance and expert advice on the application of Building with Nature standards. When assessing your projects, she will gather all the evidence and describe how the scheme meets all the standards set out above and build a positive story of the project. The assessment will then be submitted for external audit, where there are three levels of Accreditation: Design Award, Full Award (Good) and Full Award (Excellent).

By considering green infrastructure as an instrumental feature to a development’s design, together we can make a positive impact on where we live.

If you would like to learn more about the accreditation or to book a consultation please email Anna or for more information visit: www.buildingwithnature.org.uk.

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