MRG Studio’s Post

We are pleased to receive planning consent from Camden Council for a new environmentally ambitious office building led by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, to replace a multi-storey NCP car park on Saffron Hill in Clerkenwell.   At street level, a new café will animate the corner of Saffron Hill. The pavement is extended to invite a moment to pause, with a new pocket garden and re-activated public realm with new seating, planters and street trees that will improve the local environment through SUDS and increased biodiversity.   The building will provide amenity terraces on four floors. The planting strategy takes into account insight from our microclimatic studies for this site. This allows the introduction of distinct habitats and ecology to serve the buildings' inhabitants and local wildlife. The proposed planting will also help shelter terrace users from prevailing winds and screen sightlines from nearby neighbours. DP9 Limited Radcliffes Construction Consultants https://lnkd.in/ddFHYUQM Image: AHMM

Breaking news! We are delighted to announce that our Selby Centre and Bull Lane Park project, for Haringey Council, has been granted planning approval. The new Selby Centre and Sports facilities will form part of the transformation of Bull Lane Playing Fields into a local hub for leisure, sports and community use. The new park is an opportunity to create a new community asset, which both Haringey and Enfield residents will benefit from. A key priority for the park is to balance the provision of sporting activities with wilder and biodiverse areas to ensure all types of people and interests are catered for. The Selby Trust and Haringey Council’s vision for The Selby Centre is to provide a new home for this important civic space which has long played a significant local role. It provides a place for local businesses, organisations and people to come together and to share, learn and participate. The new centre will enable activities to spill out into the landscape and allow local people to reclaim and use this urban green space which has become physically disconnected from nearby homes. Link to project > https://lnkd.in/eDF-drdi Design Team Accessibility - David Bonnett Associates Civils - Lewis Hubbard Engineering Ecology - Tim Moya Associates Fire consultant - BB7 Landscape - Adams & Sutherland Landscape M&E - XCO2 Planning - Tibbalds /Jennifer Ross Consultancy Structures - Elliott Wood Transport - Velocity Haringey Council & THE SELBY TRUST

They converted the totally barren land of 70 acres into a lush green forest! But can something like this really be achieved? Yes, it is. With each step, I was amazed at how this thriving ecosystem had been nurtured from nothing. What was once desolate is now teeming with native plants, vibrant wildlife, and peaceful walking paths. The community efforts resulted in -   - Minimum plant survival rate: 70%. - 20 km of trenches dug. - 8 earth dams were built, storing over 50,000 cubic meters of rainwater. - Underground water level rose by 6 meters from an average depth of 26 feet (2003) to 6 feet (2007) after four years of water conservation efforts at Sadhana Forest. Hard to believe. Right? Even I didn’t believe it Until I saw it myself. In March 2024 I got the opportunity to visit the Sadhana Forest which is on the outskirts of Auroville. Every corner of this forest tells a story of transformation and renewal. It’s a living example of how human effort can heal the land and bring life back to the earth. Want to know more about this unique forest? Read this case study - https://lnkd.in/gpfCs5j9

Argyle, Texas, sees its fair share of sunny days, making tree preservation critical to maintaining the health of the local environment. Tree preservation includes planning for, maintaining, and removing trees with the overall health of the surrounding environment in mind. TreeNewal offers advanced techniques and sustainable development considerations for tree preservation. This guide outlines tree preservation in detail and explains how Argyle residents can play an active role in supporting their green spaces so they can enjoy thriving trees for generations. https://lnkd.in/gGs28Xkx

We can fix the Housing Crisis AND the Canopy Crisis in WA. There are endless examples in Australia and internationally of smart, sustainable, community focussed housing development that incorporates large trees and makes space for more. But successfully preserving and planting trees during development and infrastructure renewal and upgrading projects requires our State Government to demand best practice rather than the moonscaping that it currently facilitates and encourages. This paper presents a South Australian case study of planning, engineering and urban forestry practices utilised on a large greenfield development site that have allowed mature trees to be retained and new trees to be planted. Smart development, not development at any cost. Food for thought as we swelter through another record breaking heatwave in Perth this week 🤔🥵. John Carey MLA, Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, WA Local Government Association (WALGA), TREENET Incorporated #CanopyCrisis #treeretention #treeprotection #urbanforest #urbanheatisland #sustainablecities #liveablecities #healthycities #climateresilience #treeequity #WATCA

One of the fastest growth industries in the built environment is the warehousing sector and now more than ever, every effort is being made to make these new distribution centres as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. For the new DPD UK Distribution Centre at Kingmoor Park in #Carlisle - this included prioritising the biodiversity of the site and protecting natural habitats.   We were originally appointed by Kingmoor Park in 2021 to carry out a landscape strategy that helped guide the design of the masterplan and configuration of plots across the wider K2 site – which once completed will provide over one million sq ft of new industrial/logistics space on a site with its own solar farm. Our strategy includes the creation of a network of interconnected habitats; foraging routes for birds, bats, mammals, invertebrates, plus opportunities to enhance the site’s biodiversity credentials with a particular focus on native species and protecting the existing Beck.   We then took first phase of the project – the new sustainably-built 62,286 sq ft distribution centre - through to construction.   The site now features an accessible path which reinstates a public right of way along the southern boundary adjacent to Cargo Beck stream – providing routes for walkers and employees to access the countryside fringes and the local path network. A sustainable drainage design that slows down and infiltrates rainwater from the paved surfaces into swales and ponds. The biodiverse planting across the site includes both open-grown and dense woodland tree planting, native hedges, amenity shrub planting, wildflower meadows, and moisture tolerant native marginal planting to swales and ponds.   Project team: Harlex Property | Gardiner & Theobald LLP | HORIZON fletcher|rae : architects and master-planners | Ramboll | WSP | Richard Boothroyd & Associates Ltd | Caddick Construction Limited #landscapearchitecture #landscapearchitect

Great article by Sarah Jones-Morris on BNG. Id also add that there needs to be knowledgeable people to plant the plants, nurture the plants and tough enforced sanctions if BNG is not achieved. Not to mention an understanding of plant life lengths. These will be under 30 years in most cases.

Pre-construction considerations are an integral part of tree preservation. Before breaking ground on new buildings or developments, residents should consider some key elements to promote the health of their green spaces and set up their trees for success.  https://lnkd.in/ggjR2F_8

Promoting Land in a Landscape for Development: In this series I will explore some of the issues and material considerations in promoting land regarding the impacts on the landscape setting. There are what are called landscape factors (relating to the capacity of the landscape to receive development without harming it, its character and qualities); and visual factors: (and one of the key factors and questions I ask is simply this - Can you see it? And if so from where and what sensitivity is the receptor you can see it from). The latter is a key factor in the Green Belt promotions too. One site Inworked on had a land parcel assessed under a Green Belt review and it was deemed that development would do major harm to one of the 5 purposes of the Green Belt, because development would be intervisible between the major settlements. When I was asked to consider this land by a client, my first question was this…. Is there any of this parcel that you cannot see from both major settlements? The answer was yes! Half the site could be developed without intervisibility from the major settlements. In other words, by applying a finer grain to the land parcels - less harm was caused by developing one part than another. This meant by splitting the parcel, part A could be down-graded to moderate harm to the 5 purposes. If it was built on it would not be apparent that the the two settlements were any less separated by countryside. With visual impacts on landscape, there are 4 outcomes in assessing the degree of harm from a development, 1. You can’t see it - least harm, 2. You can see it but mitigation planting will ensure you can’t see it. 3. You can see it but mitigation planting will filter views & reduce impact, and 4. You can see it and no mitigation will be possible. Mitigation planting has to be appropriate, so not to add to landscape harm, I.e. introducing new field boundaries that are incongruous to the landscape character would reduce visual harm but add to land scape harm. Development patterns can be incongruous to established ones. A proof I rebutted alluded to the development being of linear form & yet later talked about the village as a nucluated settlement, like the spokes of a wheel. The fact was the space between the spokes had been filled in by new development for decades and the proposal was simply going to follow the same principles. The form of development was not therefore out of character for the settlement edge, but instead very much analogous to it. The key tool for assessing mitigation planting in ensuring you can’t see the development within 15 years is to use montages on verified views. This assumes a growth rate as landscape architects we know is achievable from native planting belts and hedges, with a good planting specification. The sensitivity of the receptor is also a key factor in assessing harm. Public footpaths are the most sensitive because they are about viewing the landscape at leisure. More about all this soon!

CBC: Toronto looks to expand tree canopy with planting on private land As an Environment and Human Ecologist, I refer livable cities and other settlements as places with optimal living conditions for all living creatures — humans and a plethora of zoological and botanical and other species of other kingdoms. Individual trees as well as urban forests — play crucial role by cooling off cities; reducing storm water runoff; filtering air; and improving our wellbeing, mentally, psychologically, and physically. These benefits are driving factors behind the city to #toronto to embark on a program to plant 120,000 trees a year to cover 40% of the city by 2050. However, housing needs compete with tree planting objectives due to limited spaces across the city. This is when the principle of “city for nature and not nature for city” comes into play. Trees create one of the requirements of the livable and sustainable cities and they must be part and integrated in planning of cities not just in #canada, but worldwide. The question I leave to you if you are a city planner is — what percentage of land you dedicate to trees when allocating lands for buildings construction? #trees #urbanforests #toronto #canada #sustainablehousing #livablecities