The benefits of sustainable design

Why should we think about sustainability when we design a garden or landscape? It's all about consequences. The ethic is that we should not beautify one environment at the expense of another. Therefore we think about the impacts of the choices we make. That tropical timber may make a beautiful deck, but can we with conscience accept the destruction of rainforest to achieve it? Such are the questions we ask, with the aim that we create a similar end result by using a more sustainable and local resource.

Natural planting for beauty, resilience and ecological benefit

Natural planting is of huge benefit in creating relaxing, biophilic environments that look good all year round and are a joy to behold. They are also highly beneficial for wildlife and make use of tough, insect-friendly, climate adapted plants. No natural temperate garden is, or should be, irrigated.

A new landscape design approach

With the growing awareness of the planetary climate crisis, our landscapes must take on a more proactive role in adaption, mitigation and regeneration. What we design now will be crucial in stabilising our environment and making places we can still live and thrive in.

Designing water and rain gardens

Minimising external water inputs into a garden or landscape, whilst maximising the use and benefits, is both an art and a science. Keeping water clean in ponds is something we can do with the use of biofilters (biological filtration). Harvesting rainwater from roofs, or even using greywater, lessens the need for external inputs. When drought hits, mains water supply may not always be sufficient. On the other hand, managing floodwaters with swales, permeable beds and materials is an important aspect of water-conscious design.

Layered forest biomass

The most complex and beneficial ecologies come from the overlapping of ecozones. Forest gardens are important in the creation of layered biomass, each creating ecological niche. Edging a small copse of trees or multistem shrubs/trees onto more open areas of a garden also increases the opportunities for ecology, beauty and productivity. Such plantings can be harvested (as garden "management") for poles, biomass for mulches, compost materials and food products.

Fruit, vegetables and edible landscapes

Gardens need to be based upon circular systems to keep energy flows concentrated within the site and minimise external inputs. Plants that are ornamental can also create biomass for compost and mulches and useful products like poles and firewood. Food production especially enhances our connection to the garden and lessens our dependency.

An experienced and forward-thinking landscape designer

Mark Laurence has many years of experience as a sustainable garden and landscape designer. He has also worked extensively with living walls, is a consulting arborist (in the Middle-East), speaker at many sutainability conferences and with many published articles.

Based in Chichester, West Sussex, Mark works throughout the UK; he also works internationally in Europe, Scandinavia, the USA and the Middle-East. He is a committee member of the Society of Garden Designers, with a speciality in Sustainability, a Chartered Horticulturalist and Professional Member of the International Society of Arboriculture. Since 2007, Mark has developed and pioneered the use of modular hydroponic living wall systems and worked with them in the UK, Chicago, Norway and Dubai. Some of London's most iconic green walls were designed by Mark.

Mark's passion and focus is to create beautiful gardens which are adapted to thrive even with the climate crisis, which reconnect and empower people, reduce the level of external inputs needed and create homes and refuge for our vibrant wildlife.

Address details:

Mark Laurence Design Ltd
1 Manor Cottage,
Merston, Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 1EE, UK
Mobile: +44 (0)7949 099195