How the LTOA is Making a Difference for Street Trees
GreenBlue Urban are delighted to have sponsored the LTOA July Seminar, kindly hosted by the London Borough of Barnet. GBU sponsored the production of the latest guidance Surface materials around trees in hard landscapes. This guidance is particularly welcome at a time when many local authorities face challenges to budgets and resources and a care […]
Announcing our 25th Anniversary
GreenBlue Urban are delighted to celebrate their 25th silver anniversary. The month was July, the year 1992, a landscape gardener from Hastings, East Sussex having studied horticulture, arboriculture, tree nomenclature and landscape design at Plumpton Agricultural College soon realised there were causes for early tree mortality. On a particularly dry summer he discovered that drought […]
How to Make an Unsustainable Landscape Sustainable
Rome wasn’t built in a day. And considering that it’s over 2,500 years old, it’s fair to say that it has sustained a fair bit in its day. Over the past year, Rome has improved its ranking in the world’s top ten sustainable cities from 8th place to 7th, based on sustainable environment factors. Not […]
The Implementation of Blue Green Corridors
In the last decade there has been a significant rise in the number of green, or what are now being termed as “blue-green” corridors, being established in our dense urban environments in order to enhance and maintain existing habitats by connecting fragmented and isolated ecosystems. Benedict and MacMahon (2006), in their definition of green infrastructure, […]
How Trees Help Gain Planning Permission
The preservation of existing large specie trees, and the planting of new ones, can help developers gain planning permission for urban developments much more readily. As part of standard planning permission for most urban developments, local authorities require site improvement and mitigation of potential damage to natural settings. Designers and developers can implement large specie […]
Garden cities and their role in the community
Whilst working with Local Authorities across the United Kingdom, GreenBlue Urban have watched the renaissance of the garden cities and garden village concepts with fascination. Originally planned in the early part of the twentieth century, places like Welwyn and Letchworth were designed as healthier, happier, more liveable places, to enable people to live, work and […]
ArborFlow – Installing a SUDS/LID Tree Pit
Great news we have compiled a comprehensive yet simple video for installing a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS/LID) tree pit. Dean Bowie CEO of GreenBlue Urban details the simple steps from ground preparation, laying of soil cells, root management, aeration, installation of ArborFlow stormwater panels, ground preparation and permeable paving. Watch Now! ArborFlow – has […]
How Urban Trees Reduce Energy Costs
Trees are becoming an increasingly recognized asset for many city councils, and for so many reasons including aesthetics, carbon reduction, stormwater management, and many more – but what about cost savings? This article discusses the financial benefits that the establishment of mature trees in urban areas can offer through the reduction of energy costs. It […]
Green Infrastructure as Part of Health Impact Assessments
The research into the relationship between green infrastructure and human health is well advanced, and across the world, Healthy Cities initiatives have been implemented and local/municipal authorities across Europe, North America, and beyond are applying green infrastructure to deliver added value and save costs related to health care. It is now more widely accepted that […]
Vertical Forests: The Benefits & Beauty
Stefano Boeri Architects, a Milan-based urban planning firm, presented their home city with a world-renowned concept demanding careful analysis. Officially opened in October of 2014, Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) won the International Highrise Award in November 2014. A year later, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) selected Bosco Verticale as the “2015 […]
Introducing Trees, Stormwater & the Built Environment – A Podcast by GreenBlue Urban
GreenBlue Urban are delighted to announce the launch of our new podcast – Trees Stormwater & The Built Environment. These downloadable podcasts are designed to provide a diverse range of content which will respond to the increasingly complex issues related to green and blue infrastructure in the built environment. We understand that there are so […]
New Green Infrastructure Research Database
At the last meeting of the Green Infrastructure Partnership, hosted by the Town and Country Planning Association, a new, searchable database was unveiled – named GIRL, the Green Infrastructure Resource Library. This powerful tool, which has been developed by Dr Ingo Schuder of the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster, will be hosted on the […]
Reuniting Chicago with the River that Runs Through It
Stretching along the south edge of Chicago River, the Riverwalk is a pedestrian-only open waterfront located a level below the adjacent streetscape. The famed redevelopment initiative to reclaim the Chicago River for the ecological, recreational, and economic benefit of the city was finally completed toward the end of 2016, after over a decade of planning. […]
How to Prove Sustainable Urban Drainage to a Skeptic
For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. The intensification of new developments has exacerbated the potentially damaging effects of traditional stormwater management. The hydrological process that nature intended to manage stormwater, infiltrates rainwater into the ground where it is stored, contributing to soil moisture and groundwater retention. […]
The History of Urban Drainage
The age of enlightenment, among many benefits, brought to importance the question of urban drainage. Until the early 19th century, London’s River Thames, like many urban rivers in the world, contained relatively clean water. Some 200 years earlier, renowned British architect Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723) realised that drainage and sewage disposal would sooner or later […]
East Anglian Odyssey
The pastel coloured houses, many of which are thatched, and the rich biodiverse beauty of the broads make Norfolk and Suffolk – East Anglia ideal destinations for walkers and those seeking more leisurely trips. These two counties offer a wealth of possibilities for nature based exploration and adventure. However, there are some obvious challenges to […]
The Vision for Greater Lincolnshire’s Urban Habitats
There is no denying that the city of Lincoln and the surrounding authorities enjoy a diverse and beautiful network of green and blue spaces delivering a multitude of ecosystems services. To the west, the limestone hills and road verges of North and South Kesteven are proving a valuable grassland resource. West Lindsey boasts rich heath […]
Lancaster Council Announces Local Plans to Shape a Better Future
Last week, in a village hall in South Lancaster, Charlotte Markey; PR & Planning Consultant for GreenBlue Urban joined the planning team at Lancaster City Council for one of their public consultation events. They were presenting an ambitious new local plan for the city. There are a number of complex challenges for Lancaster. Lower levels […]
A City with a Vision: Worcester Green Infrastructure Partnership
From the late 1980’s onwards, it has been clear that Worcester City Council has been dedicated to maintaining and enhancing their strategic green infrastructure network. The interplay between policy and implementation within the city and related green infrastructure partnerships is impressive. The team at Worcester City Council remain exuberant and buoyant despite cuts to resources […]
The Importance of Deep Irrigation & Aeration
There is benefit for all of us in the elevation of arboriculture to its deserved importance in urban regeneration. The expectations of an increasingly affluent society for a green and pleasant environment in which to live, work and play has resulted in local authorities, developers and employers competing to attract residential, commercial and civic prosperity. In […]
Green and Blue is Good For You: Presentation at Newcastle University on the Health Benefits of Urban Trees
GreenBlue Urban recently had the immense pleasure of presenting to post graduate Planning and Architecture students at the University of Newcastle, UK on the health benefits of integrating trees into urban designs of all scales and for a variety of uses. Charlotte Markey, GreenBlue Urban’s Head of Strategic Partnerships & Public Relations, led this highly interactive […]
How to Avoid Root Heave & Pavement Damage Caused by Urban Trees
It’s important to have trees in cities for so many well-proven reasons, but without adequate consideration, trees in urban environments can cause costly damage to built infrastructure. The most common issue being surface pavement damage caused by the occurrence of root heave. Characteristically, trees and cities do not coexist. Trees are meant to be in […]
Sheffield Tree Action Group Reacts to Mass Street Tree Removal
The news of the ongoing debacle between Sheffield City Council and concerned local residents regarding the felling of thousands of street trees has sparked outrage among local residents and has been widely covered for some time in both national and international media. “Dawn tree felling in Sheffield sparks outrage” “A dawn raid, dissenters silenced: is this […]
Permeable Pavement: The Pros and Cons You Need to Know
Permeable pavement is a pavement type with a porous surface that is composed of concrete, open pore pavers or asphalt with an underlying stone reservoir. Also considered as green pavement, it allows water to run through it rather than accumulate on it or run off of it. The precipitation and water get stored in the […]
Urban Green Space: How can the Ecologist’s Voice be Heard?
Ecology is such an integral discipline in securing the long-term resilience and establishing a future urban landscape that recognises the centrality of nature in the heart of and periphery of our built environment. Charlotte Markey, GreenBlue Urban’s Head of Strategic Partnerships and Public Relations, recently attended the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) Southwest Winter […]
