Land Studio launches new service offering and expands team

North Wales and Chester based landscape architecture practice Land Studio has launched a new service which offers clients a green infrastructure benchmark.

Building with Nature (BwN) is a standards framework which defines ‘what good looks like’ by offering a set of quality standards for placemaking and place-keeping from the point of view of both planners and developers.

Rachael Fenton, one of Land Studio’s Associate Landscape Architects, has recently qualified as an Approved Building with Nature Assessor, one of just a few covering Wales and the North West.

Simon Richards, founder and director of Land Studio, which has offices in Chester and Cilcain, Flintshire, said: “We’re delighted to introduce a new service for our customers – a Building with Nature accreditation.

“A growing number of local authorities are turning to Building with Nature accreditation to help frame their green infrastructure strategy and to define what good looks like.

“Increasingly, developers are also using the Standards to create better places for people and wildlife.

“BwN is the UK’s first green infrastructure benchmark and it is based around 12 standards relating to Core, Wellbeing, Water and Wildlife. The aim is to help residential and commercial developers to design and deliver high-quality green infrastructure.”

Land Studio has also appointed two new members of the team. Matthew Northall, an Assistant Landscape Architect, and Albie Williams, a trainee technician.

Matthew said: “I am looking forward to developing my understanding of Sustainable Urban Drainage and Natural Flood Management techniques, working closely with and learning from our in-house civil engineers, to ensure that we can advise our clients on the importance of integrating water management into the landscape design from design inception.”

Six months ago, Land Studio launched a pioneering in-house Civil Engineering division, the first nature-led landscape architecture practice in the UK to do so.

The new division, headed up by Lisa Sawyer, offers clients drainage design and water management solutions.