Building with Nature is a relatively new accreditation scheme that encourages and celebrates developments that place green infrastructure at their core, to the benefit of both people and nature. LUC has five approved buildings with Nature Assessors: Martin Tabor, Sophie Tombleson, Jacq Whitworth-Allan, Rob Lewton and Antonia Serantoni.

We have reviewed the recent change in assessment standards for this industry-wide Green Infrastructure (GI) accreditation. The standards were updated to align with recent and emerging changes in policy, legislation and practice to ensure Building with Nature continue to award the highest quality GI.

The new standards simplify the accreditation process without impacting the rigor of assessment, making them simpler and easier to use by reducing the number of standards and combining common themes. Alongside this the previous ‘Good’ and ‘Excellent’ accreditations have been replaced by an accreditation for Design, Full, National or Policy Awards, encouraging developers to push forward and celebrate commitment to high-quality GI at all stages of the project.

A key additional standard looks for projects to positively respond to the Climate Emergency, combining both resilient and adaptive interventions with long term management and maintenance objectives. This is a key addition to the standards and ensures accredited projects build in long-term sustainability goals.

The refreshed standards should keep Building with Nature projects ahead of the curve in terms of designing and delivering environmentally sustainable and resilient landscapes. Accredited schemes will be exemplar projects that have raised the bar on GI and maintained their commitment to better places for people and the environment.

LUC’s Toryglen urban retrofit scheme in the City of Glasgow is an exemplar for how GI can be improved for the benefit of the local community and wildlife using the Building with Nature approach.