Journal of Biophilic Design Vanessa Champion, editor, Journal of Biophilic Design

Did you know for every £1 you spend on even simple Biophilic Design enhancements, you could get £2.70 back? So reveals the new research conducted by Joyce Chan Shoof Architect and Sustainability Lead at the UK Parliament.
Using a scientific approach with control environments, adding biophilic design elements to test the effect and then removing them to further test the effect of their absence, Joyce explains the rigorous approach she took over a seven-year period to arrive at her conclusion.
This is a phenomenal breakthrough for those of us working in Biophilic Design.
You can read the whole report here: https://plplabs.com/reap-what-you-sow-2/
And come and see Joyce present the research in person at Workplace Trends in London on the 18th April 2024 https://workplacetrends.co/events/wtrs24-prog/
We often have struggled trying to articulate the economic benefits of Biophilic Design, this research can be used to support arguments why businesses need it in the workplace.
Joyce has also developed a framework to help designers work out what we need and the impact it will have. Using existing frameworks, like the Flourish model (as advocated by Professor Derek Clements Croome) and others, she has woven a great new model we can all hang our designs on.
From a career as a practicing architect, Joyce explains that transferring to the client side within the Parliamentary Estate has been transformational in the way she sees building design from feasibility study through to construction. The change and the opportunity it gave her has inspired her to incorporate multidisciplinary approaches and to study the impact of taking a biophilic design on efficiency, productivity and well-being within the workplace.
Just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, one interesting outcome that she highlights during the podcast, the study concludes that an immersive approach to incorporating Biophilic Design in the workplace is less effective overall than a more measured approach. But she explains that the immersive effect was preferred by people. The results showed that the moderate Biophilic Design intervention (that which we could normally advocate) seems to be the best.
Joyce sees academic rigour as an important part of her role when leading a complex development. Since 2017, she has been conducting this doctoral research with the Design School at Loughborough University, focused on Sustainable Well-being in the workplace with a particular interest in biophilic and social value. She is a keen advocate of how Architects can make positive impacts towards allowing people to live happier and healthier. Her team sits within the Design Authority who are a group of design professionals and specialists who are managing the estate in Westminster, and their objective is to inject new thinking into the adaptive use of new and heritage buildings within the Parliamentary Estate – a UNESCO site.
Parliament’s vision is amibitious; it aims to set an example to lead the early adoption of Zero Carbon (Scope 1, 2 & 3), Healthy Buildings, Social Value and Circular Economy through our own refurbishment projects and procurement. The team manages the design, construction and operations of the Parliamentary Estate of 20 buildings including the Palace of Westminster.


Joyce discusses her study of the economic benefits of incorporating a biophilic design approach to workspace and gives many insights into her approach and into how she found a way of attributing economic value to the benefits.
Her wish is that we reconnect with nature, the sources of food, the feeling of being part of nature rather than living lives that separate us from the natural world. She wishes that all of us benefit from an improved environment, and her research is a massive and welcome step in that direction.
To register for Workplace Trends and meet Joyce in person on the 18th of April 2024: https://workplacetrends.co/events/wtrs24-prog/
Reap What You Sow: What’s the value (£) of

The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries and this fact is yet another reason we need more Biophilic Design included into urban planning, architecture, design, and every environmental facet of city and town life.

Robert Delius, Associate Director, Architect and Head of Sustainability at Stride Treglown is doing just that. Aiming to maximise biodiversity through design, Robert has a passion to create an Eden, where buildings and landscapes come together and there's a feeling of abundance, where there's nature and birdsong and insect life and a powerful sense of well-being.

Robert’s background in housing design and master planning has set him up in good stead to create good design and great places. Distinctiveness and place making are a thread through his career. He also has a particular interest in regenerative design and how great design can have a measurably positive impact on climate, ecology and people. In short, he is a brilliantly creative proactive advocate for Biophilic Design.

He believes that forging a closer connection to the natural world, is extremely good for our well-being as well as being good for the planet and good for nature, and his passion for Biophilic Design is life-long. One of the projects he discusses is his Great Bow Yard project in Somerset from 2008. This had gained media attention because it had been flagged as the most energy efficient scheme in the UK. Having recently revisited the project, Robert notes that residents, are not only pleased with the low energy costs, but were actually most enthused by the shared garden and the feelings of well-being that stem from it being a beautiful spot.

In this podcast, Robert talks of his background and upbringing and how that has led him to his passion for living in harmony with nature. He discusses how on his projects, and those of his colleagues, he always looks to introduce as many opportunities as possible for planting in designs, both internally and externally to reduce hard space and introduce a softer more natural element.

This passion is carried through to the present day. As we said at the beginning, Robert is concerned to note that the UK is the most one of the most nature depleted countries in the world and this fact has inspired him, and others, to create a public event “Code Red for Nature” (link below), a funeral for nature in Bath on 20th April 2024. The event is open to all, even Chris Packham will be there supporting and Dan Pearson design studio will also be taking part.

Great Bow Yard: https://stridetreglown.com/projects/great-bow-yard/

Code Red: https://www.coderedfornature.uk/
2pm on Saturday 20th April 2024 in Bath, TAKE PART IN ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL AND AMBITIOUS PIECES OF STREET THEATRE YET TO BE ENACTED ON BEHALF OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS

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Robert Gardner is CEO and Co-Founder of Rebalance Earth. With over 20 years of experience in the financial industry, he has a unique expertise in sustainability, pensions, and wealth management and believes that money can be a force for good.
Rebalance Earth, is a fund manager that redirects the flow of private capital to protect and restore Nature. Their mission is to drive the transition to a nature-based economy by enabling the flow of private capital to protect and restore nature. Rebalance Earth achieves this by creating opportunities for investors to achieve sustainable financial returns from projects to restore Nature.
Robert is passionate about the idea of “natural capital”. He believes that investment in the environment shouldn’t simply be about climate change but should take a broader approach. He sees a future in which biophilia is prominent and discussion of environment-conscious investment should include reduced biodiversity loss, rewilding, and all aspects of being in tune with nature.
Robert sees nature as the most valuable asset class on the planet. It provides everything from clean air to carbon capture and biodiversity; not forgetting that a balanced ecosystem is essential to create pollination and soil fertility for our food.
The investment community currently operates an extractive financial model that has been using all of nature's resources for free, not valuing them and, worse than that, destroying them. Rebalance Earth is taking steps to build and propagate a more sustainable, biophilic approach.
In this podcast, Robert talks about how he studied Geography at university and how his passions are hydrography and glaciology. He notes with sadness that a glacier he worked on as part of the Alpine Glacier Project during his studies is now gone. He sees glaciers as the canary in the coalmine of climate change and nature loss but sees the good news as being that this can be turned around with money used as a force for good.
Robert explains how his background, growing up in Holland and travelling all over the world with his parents led to his interest in geography and how is career in finance and 25 years of learning how money flows around the world has led him to establishing Rebalance Earth. He says that there is no point having a great pension if we have no coral reefs, rivers are filthy, there are no fish, and the air is polluted. There’s nothing to enjoy!
He sets out his idea that nature should be valued. He explains that assets have utility, scarcity and cashflow in order to be valued. He gives us the example of the humble bee and how it has been estimated that it would cost £1.8bn to pollinate crops if the bee were to disappear. Using this and other examples Robert observes that the concept of valuing nature is currently an intangible and how by making the intangible tangible, people will value nature and therefore will look after it. Because people look after things they value.
The five key problems that Robert sees in the UK are: Flooding, Drought, Water Quality, Biodiversity and Carbon. He goes on to detail how each of these problems represent significant opportunities for companies to make a return. The essence is the idea that companies can charge customers for reducing the customers’ risks across these areas.
He is excited by his dream that pension funds allocate 2% of their capital to invest in nature (enough to bridge the nature deficit), companies start paying for services to reduce risks from the five problem areas and the UK becomes a place worth living in.
It would be amazing if we all look at the successful ideas around the world, which Robert shares with us in the podcast, and see how they work, so we really see the value of investing in Nature. For instance, nature-based towns and cities, a countryside with nature back in it and a farming system that has nature at the heart of it. Once people see that it works they will do more.

Rebalance Earth: https://www.re

The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) is the only professional institute for interior designers in the UK. Our growing membership represents both the commercial and residential sectors, from heritage to cutting edge. In addition to rigorous entry requirements which assess training, experience and professionalism, they require our members to continue their professional development throughout their career to ensure their continued expertise in design process, practice and regulatory matters.
For those wishing to find an interior designer or to confirm the credibility of a potential interior designer they offer a directory of our Registered Interior Designers.
Each year BIID celebrates the very best of British interior design through its awards program. The BIID Interior Design Awards showcase the best interior design projects completed across the UK.
Winners are awarded across 7 regional categories ranging from the largest commercial project to the smallest residential dwelling. In addition, there are two landmark prices – the Interior of the Year Prize, which is awarded to the best interior design project in the UK and the Anna Whitehead Prize, which is awarded to the best achievement in sustainable interior design. 9 awards will be given out in total, along with acknowledgements of Highly Commended projects.
In this podcast, we are joined by two previous award winners and one of the judges of this year’s awards to discuss the value of the awards programme. If you are reading this on an RSS feed, try and visit https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcasts-journal-of-biophilic-design to view the visuals from these brilliant projects.
James Gavigan is co-founder of House of Kin (houseofkin.com) who were the Greater London winners for 2023 with their Riverside project. The Riverside is a unique nursery that preserves the character of the original church building, whilst combining clean aesthetics, soft colours, and simple lines with homely and interactive touches. The judges praised its harmonious and child-friendly design, emphasizing sustainability with cork-clad walls, wood waste flooring, and recycled plastic bottle tiles. The space is imaginative, thoughtful, and perfect for children's learning and growth.
Susie Pfeiffer founded Pfeiffer design who won the Anna Whitehead Prize in 2022 for their design studio. The studio was designed with sustainability at the forefront; it uses a wide range of the latest sustainable technologies, sourced locally and is an inspiration to others looking to use similar sustainable elements within their own homes and offices.
Asif Din is one of the judges for the 2024 awards. He is the Sustainability Director at Perkins & Will. He has worked across the world as an architect and is a keen advocate of Zero Carbon design projects and the use of circularity in design.
Susie and James explain the importance to them, as past winners, of the BIID awards. How, the bring kudos and opportunity to their businesses but also how they bring the design community together and elevate design standards, especially when talking about sustainability and fostering creativity so that design doesn't become bland.
From a judge’s perspective, Asif comments on how it is often clear that biophilic aspects such as sustainability and environmental factors have been considered from the start as clear elements in any project. Such projects stand out and are key to achieving success at the awards.
Throughout the discussion it is clear that just adding sustainable materials to a design doesn’t make the overall design sustainable. Consideration has to be given to materials being appropriate for the design; the design can’t simply include “box-ticking” elements.
Durability is mentioned as a major factor in materials choice for many sustainable designs.
The participants are all clear that a sustainable design doesn’t involve a compromise on aesthetics. Indeed, taking a biophilic approach to

Steve Tonkin is the Dark Sky Advisor to Cranborne Chase National Landscape, in Wiltshire. Cranborne Chase is a designate Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that, since 2019, has been recognised as an International Dark Sky Reserve.
Steve can pinpoint 4 October 1957 as the first became aware of dark skies. His family were, at the time, living 8 miles outside Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and his father took him outside to see if they could see Sputnik which had been launched the previous day. It was his first time looking up at a pristine dark sky and it triggered a life-long passion for astronomy which has made him aware of the effects of light pollution, and he has been raising the issue with anyone who will listen for the last 30 years.
After a first career as a telecommunications engineer, he did a BSc in Human Environmental Studies, then postgraduate work in technology policy, before training as a teacher. He taught physics, maths and astronomy in a variety of settings for 35 years, before retiring from teaching to concentrate on astronomy outreach activities. He has written several books on practical astronomy, has a monthly column in BBC Sky at Night Magazine, and is a regular speaker on astronomical topics.
Starting with a programme he made for BBC Radio Bristol in the 1980s, Steve has long been an advocate of reducing light pollution. He supported the Cranborne Chase’s International Dark Sky Reserve bid as a volunteer, taking sky quality readings and supporting the stargazing evenings by giving talks and showing people the night sky. His primary task as Dark Skies Advisor is to continue and consolidate the good work that has already been done and strengthen the Cranborne Chase’s standing as an International Dark Sky Reserve.
Light pollution is a global issue. The pollution itself is known to affect human health and wildlife behaviour and that is before considering the wasted energy involved in sending light upwards instead of downwards to where it is required. To take a Biophilic approach to the design of lighting is to reduce light pollution with direct and indirect benefits to nature.
Steve explains that there are 21 International Dark Sky Reserves across the world that have been recognised as being of distinguished quality. He explains that these spaces are not about no lights but about the right light in the right place at the right time to preserve the area for heritage, educational and enjoyment purposes.
Dark skies are relative. A truly dark sky is defined by Steve as one in which the Milky Way galaxy casts a shadow. In the context of Cranborne Chase, it means the ability to see the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye. Steve expresses his excitement at being able to see something that is 2.5 million light years away and has been visible to earth since before humans were even around and was visible to all humans ever until light pollution started to be introduced 200 years ago.
Steve explains in some detail why it is important to take account of the circadian rhythm of light and darkness and how there is always a negative effect of introducing artificial light. He discusses the impact on the reproductive cycle of birds and relates that 8 to 10 million birds a year are killed by lit communication towers.
Moving to humans, Steve tells of studies linking light pollution to
• increased susceptibility to cancer;
• increased incidence of obesity, diabetes and hypertension due to the impact of poor lighting on leptin levels (leptin being the hormone that tells you if you feel full);
• the impact of the wrong sort of light on mental and physical health; and
• the huge reduction in insect life (both pollinators and composters) and its impact on food production.
Across a wide range of examples Steve explains how the wrong light can have disastrous consequences. He introduces the idea that not all light is the same and sets out what to look for in order to achieve healthy lighting.
Steve enumerates the f

Morgan Taylor leads the biodiversity side of Greengage, a multidisciplinary environmental consultancy who cover everything from energy and carbon assessments, sustainability, health, wellbeing, socio-economic assessment, and EIA management as well as the whole gamut of biodiversity assessment through to planning.

 

As designers, architects, or planners, we all need to be mindful of the impact our ideas, advice and decisions have on the world around us. We recorded this interview in the summer last year* Their work is focused outside of the legislative and planning policy sphere in the world of natural capital and ecosystem service value assessment. So rather than working with developers where they are only brought in because there is a potential impact on biodiversity in the first place, they're working with a lot of people with regards to asset management, land management, informing how financial capital is put towards recovery of natural capital across managed assets.

 

We’ve got hundreds, maybe thousands of years of degradation and we need to take measures and understanding to address the impacts of our actions, and account for the significant loss of biodiversity particularly since the Industrial Revolution.

 

Morgan outlines all the different levels of legislation and planning policy that impact biodiversity in the built environment. He highlights three aspects of legislation and regulation that particularly drive positive change:

 

1.     the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

2.     The Habitats and Species Conservation Regulations, and

3.     the Environment Act, which is from 2021.

These three pieces of legislation, he says, drive most actions with regards to protected species, protected habitats and importantly, the Environment Act is the legislation that will require all new development as of November 2023 to deliver measurable gains in biodiversity.

 

Morgan explains how Greengage guide development and design teams to incorporate biophilic design into their projects to improve biodiversity and meet the legal requirements.  He explains that the scope can be as narrow as simply integrating swift boxes and house sparrow boxes or as broad and complex as approaches such as recreating woodland.

Moving away from the regulatory “stick”, Morgan explains how the requirement for financial disclosure by FTSE 100 companies resulting from the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) has created a “carrot” where positive disclosure on areas such as urban heat islands, surface water and all aspects of climate change can improve the prospects of securing investment.

Greengage, says Morgan, are particularly excited about the sister disclosure recommendations from the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD).  With a similar “carrot” companies benefit from how they implement biophilic design and how the economic benefits improve investor return.

He lays out in some details the potential for improved building performance that comes from delivering a living roof in terms of energy performance for both cooling and heating, reduced surface water meaning lower flood risk and contributions to net zero strategies.

 

The approach Morgan outlines is focused on the key driver for business, capital growth, and explains how biophilic design and improved biodiversity help them achieve that fundamental goal as well as being able to be proud of their green credentials.

 

Morgan expands on his theme covering urban and rural developments and the application of a biophilic approach in many aspects of ecology.  He concludes with his personal desire to see an integrated green infrastructure in which grasslands take the place of lawns and the landscape in both town and country is managed as a habitat for nature rather than predominantly as a human playground.

To find out more visit

https://www.greengage-env.com

 

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