Climate Contract Playbook Edition 3
194
[Edgar’s clause] NEW
The Origin Story
Child’s name
Edgar’s clause
Full name
Climate Resilient landscape design contracts
Practice Area / Sector
Construction, Real Estate Development
Land around new building projects is often either left underdeveloped or landscaped using either hard landscaping (concrete etc.) or non-native species (for ease of maintenance). This creates unnecessary embedded carbon and development less resilient to climate change.
Issue
Insert a clause into landscape architect appointments and/or building contracts requiring the appointee to utilise the available open space in an environmentally efficient manner. Where applicable, include pain/gain mechanism to allow for future savings (i.e. through reduced water costs via effective grey water management) during the building’s lifetime to be split between parties.
Solution
Biodiversity is inextricably linked to climate change. Biodiversity provides ecosystem services including carbon sequestration 110 .
Context
Urbanisation, habitat loss, species decline and pollution are some of the key issues facing the UK along with rising temperatures and increasing CO2 levels 111 . In urban or industrialised areas, efficient utilisation of green space is one of the most important tools for improving sustainable development 112 .
Landscaping these spaces with natural and biodiverse flora provides an opportunity to improve the built environment both from a financial and ecological perspective, particularly in dense urban areas, yet it is not occurring at scale or speed required.
Widespread adoption of this clause would:
Impact
1. Increase overall habitat diversity in urban and industrialised areas; 2. Aid reduction in CO2 emissions through effective planting, particularly of trees 113 ; 3. Support better building sustainability through use of water management/ energy efficiency support; 4. Provide more outside space for the public and other stakeholders.
110 https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/01/15/biodiversity-climate-change/ . 111 See for example Hayhow et al, The State of Nature 2019, The State of Nature Partnership https://nbn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ State-of-Nature-2019-UK-full-report.pdf 25 June 2020 112 See for example Karade, R.M., Kuchi, V.S and Salma, Z 2017. The Role of Green Space for Sustainable Landscape Development in Urban Areas, Int, Arch. App. Sci. Technol.; Vol 8 (2). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321307661_The_Role_of_Green_Space_for_Sustainable_ Landscape_Development_in_Urban_Areas 25 June 2020 113 Crowther, T.W., et al 2015 Mapping tree density at a global scale Nature 525, 210-215
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