The cost of soil compaction
It was a privilege to attend the Sustainable Soils Alliance event in Westminster this week focusing on the economics and valuation of soil. As our readers will be aware, the importance of soil cannot be underestimated. It is the fabric, the building block of our landscape and for our trees, a vital source for them […]
Embedding Biodiversity Net Gain into the Planning System
Following the close of the Government’s consultation regarding the new biodiversity net gain and the updated planning requirements it is timely to discuss the implications. GreenBlue Urban have been lucky enough to have insight from specialists at the forefront, developing best practice guidance and metrics to assist in the realisation of higher quality landscapes and […]
Pioneering Natural Green Infrastructure Solutions
It has been an immense pleasure to get to know members of the SUDs / LID community working tirelessly to deliver green infrastructure schemes across our towns and cities as part of the Water Resilient Cities project (2Seas Eu Interreg funded) and other GreenBlue Urban sponsored associations like the Green Infrastructure Foundation, the American Society […]
The Victorian Tree Legacy – How did it happen?
Many of our older cities are enjoying the benefit of large, old canopy volume trees – a wonderful legacy from a bygone era which is almost impossible to put a monetary value on. In terms of ecosystem benefit, these trees form the living green backbone of carbon sequestration, stormwater interception, urban cooling in our urban […]
Designing for Retail
There have been a number of publications reflecting the uplift that urban trees and high-quality landscape can achieve when it comes to areas specifically weighted toward retail and commercial use. The work that Treeconomics have undertaken with is a case in point. The growth of research which tries to quantify and attribute a qualitative value […]
Trees: “Frontline” Bulwark in Combatting Air Pollution
What single thing can you incorporate into a city which increases in value every year it exists? What item will remind you of seasons, enhance property value, provide shade, urban cooling and stormwater attenuation whilst simultaneously boosting retail sales, improve social cohesion and reduce crime? Well as it happens, this same entity – (it can […]
Maximising Land Value through SuDS
As we all are aware, land is a limited commodity – it’s not being made anymore. Pressure on housing means that as economies we need to provide homes for our increasing population, and there is a strong case for resisting urban sprawl into our green fields. Land values have reflected these challenges, with a direct […]
Cool Towns Meet Up
It is a great pleasure that GreenBlue Urban have become partners on a second successful EU Interreg program in the 2Seas area – “Cool Towns”. This project will be specifically focused on developing tools and capacity building resources to ensure that towns and cities across the 2Seas area and beyond will be able to design, […]
It’s a HAPPY NEW YEAR for Welsh SUDs!
Following a series of consultations on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS), Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 comes into force in Wales this new year. From January 7th 2019, all proposed new developments with 1 house or more in Wales are required to include SuDS and must comply with the Welsh […]
Protecting our Trees for the Long Term
Below we detail the steps urban landscape professionals and residents alike should take in preserving and protecting prized trees of all size and age that find themselves in danger from the consequences of the urban environment. Unlike most things that depreciate with age, trees increase in value over time and provide more benefits as they mature, […]
A More Sustainable Option Under Ground
Most people understand the problems associated with single-use plastics, with many companies around the world making every effort to ensure that their value chain is more ethical and sustainable. We have a collective responsibility to the environment and to future generations to ensure that our business practices now are setting a gold standard for the […]
Enhancing Urban Tree Drought Tolerance
Through Tree Planting Pit Design The long hot summer of 2018 is still very much on our minds, and at GreenBlue Urban we have been studying the implications of such weather patterns on urban trees. What trees did well? Which failed to survive and reach the autumn – and why? Very useful work has already […]
Encouraging Increase in Retail Sales with Urban Trees
Over the years, research institutes around the world have studied the importance of having trees in shopping areas, proving that the presence of healthy mature trees positively influences shopping behavior. One study done by the University of Washington examined the connection between trees and people’s response to shopping locations. The research found that shoppers respond […]
High Level Talks at Landscape Below Ground IV
GreenBlue Urban were pleased to sponsor, exhibit, and speak at the fourth Landscape Below Ground Conference hosted in Lisle, Illinois. This industry-leading event is held every 10 years, and although they are shortening this to every five years, it is an important event for GreenBlue Urban to attend. Attendees came from all over the world […]
A Tour of Greener Grangetown
Opened just recently, the pioneering SUDs scheme, ‘Greener Grangetown’, is situated in the heart of Cardiff city centre. Whilst we can point you to the technical details of the scheme and wax lyrical about the hydrology and engineering involved, this blog focuses on the human and community narrative surrounding this project. Ian Titherington, lead Drainage […]
Defining Urban Tree Canopy Cover
By Kieron Doick To appreciate the total contribution of an urban forest (defined as all the trees in the urban realm) to the livability of a city, we need a city-wide tree survey, right? Well, partially. It’s true that one cannot beat a full inventory appraisal or, alternatively, a statistically representative survey – via an […]
Time to Reflect on Value
This year professionals from the length and breadth of the country and beyond gathered in Greenwich for the Landscape Institute Valuing Landscape Conference discussions related to how the concept of value relates to the landscape profession. The term value is loaded and presents those of us working to achieve the highest quality schemes with a […]
Soils & Trees – Choosing the Right Solution
Supporting our work with arborists, GreenBlue were proud to sponsor this year’s Arb Association Conference “Soils & Trees” held on the stunning campus of the University of Exeter in Devon County, UK. GreenBlue Urban has always advocated the value of the right soil specification for our ArborSystem and ArborFlow SUDs / LID tree pits. Indeed, […]
Water Resilient Cities Update: Middelburg Test Site
An update from another project partner, the municipality of Middelburg As part of our work in the EU Interreg project, Water Resilient Cities, we are working with a Dutch partner, Middelburg municipality in Zeeland to implement SUDs tree pits using the GreenBlue Urban Arborflow system. The city of Middelburg dates back possibly to the late […]
Why Species Selection Is So Important when Planting Urban Trees
Working with associations that encourage urban designers and policy makers to create more sustainable and livable urban areas is exactly what GreenBlue Urban are all about. Organizations like the Urban Design Forum and Urban Design London work hard to ensure that the cities we build are places where people want to live, work, and play. Mature urban trees […]
How GreenBlue Support the Arb Vision
Twenty-five years after our inception, GreenBlue Urban have developed solutions we are proud of but we don’t stop and stagnate! It is through our work with Arboriculturalists that we are truly able to understand the complexities of our most precious assets – trees. Our focus is on providing the most robust, structural soil support systems […]
GreenBlue Urban Host a Trial Tree Pit Event
On a very warm summers day – Independence Day to be precise, GreenBlue were pleased to invite contractors onsite to their Headquarters in Bodiam, East Sussex, the first to witness RootSpace 400 – the next generation Soil Cell solution. The day commenced with a tour of their onsite manufacturing facility by which both StrataCell and […]
Why Urban Tree Planting Encourages Modal Shift
Modal shift is one of the most urgent goals in our urban areas; defined as replacing a saturated means of transport with another to make the first less congested. Normally it is used in the context of reducing our reliance on private vehicle use, and encouraging the use of public transport, or even better, walking […]
Maximising Development Through Sustainable Urban Design
At GreenBlue Urban one of the saddest occasions for our team is when we see lost opportunities to integrate multifunctional tree pit solutions on developments. What we mean by this is that at some stage through the design process, the scope of the landscaping plan for a site is altered and the vision diluted, resulting […]
How Trees Improve Air Quality
We are all aware of the facts and figures relating to the effects of poor air quality on both human and animal populations across our urban environments. Indeed, there are communities in semi-rural areas and smaller towns and cities suffering from poor quality air, that one wouldn’t usually associate with having a ‘pollution problem’. The […]
