Connecting urban with rural and everywhere in between.
Green and Blue Infrastructure Planning
Green and Blue Infrastructure planning isn’t new but is an increasingly important design approach for development projects. At Tyler Grange, we provide a holistic design service by integrating ecology, arboriculture, and landscape planning – all led by our experts in each specialism. Together, we’ll ensure your Green and Blue Infrastructure design meets the needs of your project and nature.
What is Green and Blue Infrastructure?
‘Green’ includes open and undeveloped landscapes, and ‘Blue’ is for water-based landscapes. Together, they provide a wealth of ecosystem services which benefit all people. Green and Blue Infrastructure planning emphasises the role of nature as a primary resource in land planning, design, and management.
Green and Blue Infrastructure encompasses planning for a range of environments from urban to rural areas, and everything in between. It includes parks, gardens and green spaces, heritage landscapes, and habitats such as orchards, meadows, rivers and wetlands. It also includes built designs that rely on natural processes such as water management systems, productive land, and living roofs.
It also includes projects prioritising biodiversity, natural systems, and ecosystem services, all underpinned with an environmental purpose (which is what we’re all about at TG). Biodiversity and climate change are driving the shift towards green and blue infrastructure planning as its holistic approach aligns with sustainable development goals by addressing nature restoration, carbon reduction and climate resilience.
Why you need Tyler Grange’s Green and Blue Infrastructure advisory on your project
The latest National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) elevates Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) from a recommended environmental benefit to a mandatory “Golden Rule” for major developments, particularly on released Green Belt land. This shift means that high-quality, accessible nature-based solutions are now a legal priority for securing planning permission, as developers must demonstrate that residents can access functional green and blue spaces within a short walk of their homes.
If you need holistic design, environmental sustainability and nature-based solutions or if your Local Planning Authority requires a green and blue infrastructure strategy to progress your project, you’re in the right place. By integrating sustainable design within your development, you benefit from all the added value it brings.
The right partner for Green and Blue Infrastructure planning can benefit your project by:
Translating technical advice on baselines into spatial design proposals that work together with other aspects of the development brief (such as people experience and well-being, built forms, water, infrastructure, and circulation).
Opening more opportunities for BNG by turning metric-based advice into innovative inter-disciplinary designs which take the opportunity for biodiversity in a project and see it through to a complete design strategy that focuses on the opportunities in the Environmental Act.
Our green and blue infrastructure planning and design services are fully integrated with our technical expertise in ecology, arboriculture, and landscape planning. TG gives you a holistic approach to green and blue infrastructure design. This approach is critical in projects:
– Where nature recovery, biodiversity and an eco-systems approach are key to the design brief and vision
– Which are inter-disciplinary and include nature-based solutions such as sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), zero carbon infrastructure, and active travel
– In which BNG is being integrated within the site boundary
– Where the brief has a focus on natural capital and sustainable development, climate adaptation and resilience
Having the right people on the job early in the process means we can help your project run as smoothly as possible. Our experts at TG have a deep understanding of the planning process and paired with their technical expertise, they can keep you on track and deliver the project sustainably.
If your project also aligns with our values, including being a B Corp, then even better!
Our Green and Blue Infrastructure Services
We offer a range of Green and Blue Infrastructure planning and design services, including:
– Strategic GIS Mapping, Baseline Studies and Opportunities & Constraints Assessments to define planning context, identify green and blue assets, and inform development potential.
– Early G+BI Advice, Strategic Appraisals and Policy Development to support site promotion, planning policy, masterplanning and landscape-led design decisions from the outset.
– G+BI Plans, Strategies and Statements supported by clear, engaging plans, drawings and visualisations to communicate project outcomes.
– Nature-Based Solutions, Strategic Design Principles and Spatial Masterplanning to deliver multifunctional, climate-resilient places that enhance biodiversity, water management, health and wellbeing.
– Detailed Landscape Design, Technical Specifications and Tender Documentation to translate concepts into practical, deliverable and high-quality green and blue infrastructure solutions.
– Construction Support, Landscape Contract Administration and Clerk of Works Services to provide quality assurance, site monitoring and successful implementation throughout the delivery phase.
– Post-Development Monitoring, Governance and Stewardship to assess infrastructure quality, management and biodiversity performance, demonstrating the successful delivery of sustainable and resilient places
– Technical design and construction support to sort out technical challenges in implementing the mitigation measures
– Urban Greening Factor to identify opportunities for well-connected habitats, SuDS and planting within your project
– Building with Nature Assessment to inform design and for quality assurance
– Engagement, co-design and consultation on public green spaces, biodiversity, sustainable water management, and access to nature to shape projects, inform decisions and de-risk planning
– Ecosystem services advice to guide the G+BI design approach and deliver multiple benefits Natural capital advice
Technical services for baseline, analysis, assessment and recommendations come in the form of reports and plans. The technical advice will inform you of viability, direction, and principles from the perspective of specific disciplines.
The green and blue infrastructure projects are carried out by chartered landscape architect (CMLI) in interdisciplinary design teams and follow the Landscape Institute’s Scope of Services and the Royal Institution of British Architects’s (RIBA’s) work stages, which means your designs will be up to code.
Is your Green and Blue Infrastructure project a good fit for TG?
We’ve worked with a range of private and public sector clients, across several sectors including healthcare, urban renewal, residential, education, and master planning. You can find out more about our previous projects here.
If you’re looking to fulfil Local Planning Authority requirements or the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, we are the experts.
We’ve managed projects from small-scale development sites to strategic masterplans, urban renewal, residential, commercial and renewable energy sectors and have experience delivering large contracts alongside our ecology, arboriculture and landscape planning teams.
Let’s see what we can do together for people and the planet.
Talk to our green and blue infrastructure team today