MaryAlice Keirstead’s Post

We value the contributions that our team makes in advocating for better, greener, and more sustainable buildings in urban centres. Next week, MaryAlice Keirstead will present her research on the impact of green roof accessibility design as it relates to maintenance practices, and the overall health of roof vegetation. Implementing efficient accessibility design, better facilitates affordable green roof maintenance for buildings. Maintenance efforts are essential for ensuring the long-term health of green roof vegetation. For green roofs to achieve their highest potential environmentally, economically and socially, accessibility design needs to improve. This will be presented as part of the emerging research sessions offered at CitiesAlive.   Keirstead will speak to the need for cohesive and ongoing dialogue between architects, engineers and landscape architects to pre-empt issues, minimize poor design decisions, and stay on top throughout the building and maintenance process. Limited in-field communication between professionals can create a disconnect in design, and incur costly, unnecessary repairs in the future.   She will address the importance of licensed green roof designers and how the City of Toronto, who pioneered green roof policy in North America, should implement a clear standardized approach that prioritizes maintenance-who does what – and at what stage. This ensures accountability, the success of the vegetation, and an economical way forward. https://lnkd.in/gDE7ASjf

Stormwater management is a highly important aspect of modern landscape design. It may sound a little boring on paper, but through green infrastructure and best management practices one can improve both the aesthetic and ecological quality of their local environment. Green infrastructure is the practice of using natural processes (through native plants / restored ecosystems) to store, filter, and protect against stormwater. In doing so, we can reduce nonpoint source pollution in our waterways, improve water quality, and create aesthetically pleasing habitat that can be better utilized by wildlife. Simple turf grasses can protect against basic soil erosion, but rarely contribute to a self sustaining, developed ecosystem. To learn more about the impacts of stormwater, check out this great clip from the EPA: https://lnkd.in/gsyq34G4 Infographic courtesy of Heal Our Waterways / City of Wilmington, NC: https://lnkd.in/g7jgmik4

New Orleans is updating its Urban Water Plan. The science has advanced, and the plan needs to be more implementation focused. Some stakeholders will be eager to lower expectations, revert to conventional design, and settle for concrete lined drainage channels providing few ecosystem services. Examples like this on the Nangang River will hopefully inspire us to strive for better. https://lnkd.in/gvKNpkUE AECOM - Water

June 3rd marks #EarthOvershootDay for the UK for 2024. Could high-density, mixed-use developments be a part of the solution?     For comparison, Earth Overshoot Day was March 14th for the USA,  May 20th for Spain, June 1st for China and it will be July 20th for Romania and November 24th for Ecuador.     As our society is using resources faster than they can be replenished, systemic turnarounds are needed to manage our need and use of these resources.  Yet, as individuals and companies, we can help become part of the solution to reduce our ecological footprints through our actions.  One of the most impactful practices in the built environment sector is for landscape architects and developers to work together to promote #efficient land use. Having landscape input at an early stage to inform landscape capacity and guide a sensitive approach to development is fundamental.  But there is also more to it.  As a society, we need to embrace the design of more compact and higher-density living, which will reduce sprawl and preserve more of our natural landscape and leave more space to nature enhancement. Preserving these areas enhances #biodiversity and promotes a higher quality of life for residents by providing access to nature. Compact, well-planned developments help protect natural landscapes by concentrating growth in designated areas, preserving valuable ecosystems, agricultural land, and wildlife habitats on the periphery. Other sustainable design practices that landscape architects use to address ecological footprint include: - Reducing urban heat islands through well-designed streetscapes incorporating trees and planting and paving design,   - Designing systems to capture and reuse rainwater and manage stormwater and reduce flooding risks through well-designed SUDs proposals, - Thoughtful green infrastructure design, connecting habitats, using planting design strategies that require less water and maintenance creating movement corridors and food for wildlife. #SustainableLiving #EfficientLandUse #MixedUseDevelopment #UKREiiF #Biodiversity #NatureConservation #SustainableDesign #LandscapeArchitecture #ClimateAction #ResourceManagement

An article by Greg Weykamp illustrates the importance and various strategies of designing marinas with habitat in mind. https://lnkd.in/gFaw944d

Green infrastructure

After The Concrete Society's feature on our incredible Sea Hive tiles, we thought we would share our Mumbles Sea-Hive project; a collaboration with BlueCube marine and Swansea University, that represents a pioneering step in sustainable coastal design. The goal? To protect Swansea Bay while actively supporting marine biodiversity 🐠 We developed custom UHPC panels, intricately textured with seaweed and oyster shell patterns. These panels do more than just form a seawall - they’re a habitat designed to attract marine life, playing a critical role in fostering ecosystems that thrive right at the shoreline. We’ve already seen promising results for long-term ecological impact. But the Sea-Hive is about more than statistics; it’s about rethinking how infrastructure interacts with nature. By incorporating textures inspired by the marine environment, we’re giving life to a wall that would otherwise be just concrete. The project serves as an example of how innovation in design can meet sustainability, proving that infrastructure doesn’t have to come at the cost of the environment. This is what the future of marine construction looks like - where every structure has the potential to contribute to the natural world, not just co-exist with it. #MarineInnovation #EcoEngineering #SustainableInfrastructure #UHPC #Biodiversity 

In the city of Randers, in the Central Denmark Region, on the Jutland Peninsula, in Denmark, an 893,000sqft park by C.F. Møller Architects, looks to combat climate change by getting ahead of it. This climate adaptation project, converts a nature area into a public nature park. This adaptation, creates public spaces alongside wetlands to better absorb storm water and wastewater. The newly engineered system, takes excess rainwater from the city, channeling it towards rainwater purification collection basins in the park, and then leads the water out into the wetland meadow area. The winding trains throughout the wetlands allow spots for visitors to interact with and view the natural environment. Acting as a nature preserve, educational experience, and serving a practical purpose with forward thinking objectives, this project showcases the ability for us to prepare in advance for climate change. The unfortunate reality is that climate change will continue to effect our planet, and besides trying to combat and slow these changes, we must also be preparing for the eventuality that it will have major effects on the way we live. We’re all in this together #sustainability #sustainabledesign #sustainablearchitecture #architecturaldesign #adaptation #adaptivereuse #environmentaldesign #cityplanning #urbandesign #urbanplanning #wetlands #watermanagement

🌿 Green Revolution in Urban Design! 🏙️ Did you know? Green infrastructure is transforming our cities into water-smart landscapes! • Rain gardens and permeable pavements are the new urban must-haves, capturing rainwater where it falls. • These green solutions reduce flooding by up to 5x compared to traditional concrete jungles! 🌊 Innovative tech like the Sea Guardian WasteCatcher™ is joining the fight, filtering pollutants as small as 10mm from stormwater. Let's build cities that work with nature, not against it! 💧🌱 #GreenInfrastructure #SustainableCities #StormwaterSolutions

September is all about BNG at EDLA. Last week, our director Donald Roberts attended the Biodiversity Net Gain Workshop organised by Pro Landscaper Magazine. The event brought together key players from across the landscape architecture and development sectors to explore how BNG regulations are reshaping planning, communication, and the implementation of new schemes. The day highlighted the critical need for greater collaboration between stakeholders and clearer pathways to project success. Workshops covered everything from planning considerations and stakeholder communication to long-term management strategies. Drawing on insights from EDLA’s own BNG In Practice roundtables earlier this year, Donald contributed to discussions on the two approaches to BNG: on-site and off-site. He emphasised that while on-site BNG integrates biodiversity improvements within the development itself, benefiting the local community with enhanced natural spaces, it can be challenging due to space limitations and ongoing management requirements. Off-site BNG, on the other hand, allows for greater design flexibility and larger-scale impact but disconnects local communities from experiencing these benefits firsthand, and long-term monitoring becomes more complex. Donald also highlighted the real challenge of balancing public spaceenjoyment with meaningful ecological improvements, ensuring we offer both amenity and biodiversity value in every project. We’re proud to be at the forefront of these crucial discussions, ensuring that the lessons we’ve learned continue to drive best practices across the landscape architecture and development industry. A big thank you to Nina Mason, Fiona Ross, Jack Potter, Richard Jackson CBE, John Wyer, Sam Bower for an engaging conversation. #EDLAcares #BiodiversityNetGain #SustainableLandscapes #LandscapeArchitecture #BNGInPractice #BNG #GreenInfrastructure #EnvironmentalLeadership #UrbanDesign #ClimateResilience #EDLA #ProLandscaper