Get ready for the inside track on sustainable placemaking! Our director – Paul Osborne has been invited by the UWE Planning Society to talk to students this evening about our approach to low-carbon, people-focused design.
Paul is a Chartered Landscape Architect and Urban Designer, and will draw upon our diverse experience in the design and delivery of high-quality masterplans for sustainable regeneration and development across the UK to discuss the importance of design to enable people to make sustainable choices and reduce their carbon footprint, whilst creating beautiful places that are biodiverse and mitigate climate change.
Whilst leading our Urban Design team Paul has been responsible for the successful delivery of a wide range of residential and commercial masterplans and developments including Oceansgate at South Yard, Devonport, Taunton Rethink and most recently – Wisloe Garden Village.
In his talk, Paul will introduce LHC Design and highlight the importance of people in everything we do – from our multidisciplinary team to the future residents and visitors to our schemes and the wider communities they sit within. Paul will discuss how we deliver intelligent, cultural and sustainable design, forged through successful relationships with external teams, stakeholders and local authorities.
Showcasing the diversity of our projects and exploring the multi-disciplinary design process he will consider how communities must be at the core of successful master planning – and how ensuring communities have ownership and long-term stewardship of their environment is fundamental to successful placemaking.
Paul will talk about how Design Codes, Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, Biodiversity Net Gain and Carbon Assessments are important tools that must be integrated into the design and planning process from the outset to deliver the best outcomes – not used retrospectively to justify poor design.
From the microcosm to macrocosm, consideration of the bigger picture will take us beyond buildings to the whole site and its context; looking at how good design can enable everyone to access sustainable lifestyles and address the climate and ecological emergencies.
With the recent launch of the Design Code for Wisloe Garden Village, Paul reflects on the Garden Village concept and explores these factors in relation to this innovative new settlement. He will also reflect on the consternation and confusion surrounding the concept of the 15-minute city and just how important it is to understand the entire context behind such initiatives and ensure planning and design focuses on the needs of individual people (and dogs!).