Thoughts from Pro Landscaper Landscaping leadership Forum 26/06/25

Martin Scholar, Barratt London

The Labour Planning and Infrastructure bill is a major force for growth asking for 1.5m homes in the next 5 years. 

A problem to this is that a lot of planning applications are not being built. Land trading is where some property developers will buy the land and apply for planning permission and then try to sell the development to Tier 1 construction companies to build.  However, there is problem inherent with this is that is more than likely not a commercially viable option so is not being sold or built.

There is also a shortage of planners in the public sector so councils are under resourced creating a delay in the length of planning applications. Pre covid it was 18 months and post covid it is now 31 months.

Getting gateway approval for the Building Safety Act can take up to a year as this is another area that is under resourced.

Both of the above two points have led to a lag in projects.

This has led to Housing Associations focusing on remediation on their existing buildings and not being prepared to enter into any new partnerships with developments with Tier One construction companies.

Added pressures on the construction industry are that there is a labour shortage and materials are more expensive.

The conclusion that the only way for the government to meet their targets is for them to step in.

The average cost to buy in London was £350k up to £450K and there is not point building houses that you can’t sell. This has led to a 50% reduction in housing starts across London boroughs.

Another issue is that pre commencement conditions take along time and up to a year, again due to lack of resource.

Policy guidance both national and council level will dictate the amount of play space and amenity space to be provided per household.

 Lauren Gibbons – Land Trust

The Land trust is a charity that managers 85 sites often ex colliery in England.  They have been forecasting the next 20 years green space usage and produced two reports.  The outlook is a negative curve.

Society pressures – social inequality, aging population, more multicultural, and tech more embedded in society (leading to indoor pursuits rather than outdoor). Health of the nation is declining due to obesity and a move to more private health solutions. The environment is under increasing demand due to climate crisis. 

Future proofing the Public Realm needs some action and Land Trust has their Green Angels with practical adult education in hedge laying, drystone walling, photography and well being courses. This is run in conjunction with their partner Groundworks.

Louise Clarke, Berkeley Group

Head of sustainability at Berkley Group

BNG – Biodiversity Net Gain which can into law last year.

There is a lobby group for offsite BNG. However, this is expensive.

Berkley group maintain onsite is the way forward as it coincides with the provision of amenity space criteria. BNG should be close to the residents not in separate space (fenced off) and should focus on connecting green links (biodiversity corridors).

The early you act to bring in the BNG is easier as there are less constraints and it is possible to build it into multifunctional spaces. Retro fitting BNG can be expensive too. It is possible to create landscape barriers or buffer zones to leave some areas undisturbed.

Wildflower meadows are often deemed by the public to be a mess and untidy and can be rectified by information boards showing realistic photos of the stages of wildflower meadows.

Joe Harries, WSP, Wayne Gills, British Association of Landscape Industries, Rob Hughes, Landscape Institute, Chris Wellbelove, Blakedown Landscapes.

Wayne

All parliamentary party group and the environment Horticultural group

There are 68 associations in the sector and 4 working groups.

There is change from maintaining landscapes/green spaces to managing them.  This is a positive change.  Growers need confidence from the government to invest and plant native stock.  Biosecurity is a risk and native stock mitigates this risk rather than importing from Europe.

Joe

There are growth opportunities in the energy sector with wind farms and strategic green infrastructure/framework.

Chris

They see a lot of refurbishment work in parks. In part to the added pressure on green spaces as a result of covid. 

Pre commencement problems of 8 weeks after project award and often the start line keeps on moving and difficult to keep business ticking over as they have an employed rather than subcontractor work force.

What is the size of our industry?

2017 £24.2b

2019 £28b

2024 £34b

Of which landscaping is 50%

Of the 766,000 people involved in the industry of which 300,000 are landscapers.

Landscapers are looking at becoming design and build rather than just build. Which is getting involved in stage 3 to stage 4 of the process.

Some businesses with directly employed are focussing on stability rather than growth.

Skills gap again as other business looking at their sustainability are adding BNG to landscapes that are existing rather than just new which is taking resources away from new landscapes.

Some companies are suffering and 22 companies within BALI have liquidated in the last year.

Some companies are picking and choosing types of work as they have been caught out by project start delays.

Costs that have to be absorbed are the NI contribution and fuel.

Campanies are looking at their existing work force and upskilling where possible.

Investing on recycling on site has been a cost saving. Using AI has filled some processes and speeded up work and enabled existing staff to do more work.

Andy Corcoran, Glendale

Growth is always easier to manage

Glendale needed an 11.5% uplift in revenue to cover the increase to NI contributions.

Rapidly advancing technology where driverless cars will be able to transport operatives to site and to a set schedule.

Don’t be afraid to increase your prices and have those difficult conversations with your clients.

Alistair Bayford, Frost Landscapes

Fortunate to be invited to a CITB collaboration “solving tech”.

Recent changes to employment law now mean CIS and Agency staff are entitled to holiday pay.

Entry level London living wage is now £13.95.

Look to develop staff within and leverage tech to solve some of the process issues in the business.

It is important to look at the usability of tech before adopting it for use.

ITP’s and tech subs grew out of the building for 2012 Olympics.

But with any system GI- GO still applies.

AI is making Frosts more agile.

Fireflies – records the meeting and creates the minutes

Copilot – following a holiday can read all emails in the inbox and summaries what has happened and may even prioritise.

For every use of AI there is a water cost associated with the data centres.

AI adobe pdf reader can compare two documents and highlight the changes made on the second document – especially useful for specifications (not sure if this applies to drawings too)

Robert Cunliffe – Nurture

Risky business and how to assess tenders.

The biggest risk to business is winning unprofitable projects.

If you find yourself placed under time pressure you are unlikely to win the work unless you guess your costs and end up making a loss.  Which is to be avoided. So, make sure you have enough time to do a considered tender.

Using frameworks where suppliers are already vetted is worth looking at.

Suds masterclass.

Soil is what plants grow in and the healthier the soil the more likely it is absorbing water.  Flood mitigation is part of all planning applications and it is possible to use the amenity space designated by planning for both BNG and Suds and it is not necessary to go down more than 350mm deep to achieve the site requirements for flood mitigation. 

Suds scheme was originally developed in the USA as a means of improving water quality near rivers.

A little every where is better than the engineered solutions of one site that oftens ends up being a health and safety concern and is fenced off which reduces the amenity value of a site.

It is heartening that the environment agency is moving towards SUDs to mitigate flooding.

MY Summary

Don’t be afraid of AI.

Skills and labour shortage needs to be address

Shortage of planners and landscape architects in the industry

AI can help make your business more agile as the cost of staff increases

Get in early in any development talking about BNG and Suds as more likely to happen in a way that is attractive to those living nearby.

Explain the differences to the general public the BNG is not a show garden………