Calculate, reduce and offset...
What challenges do we face within the horticultural industry when considering climate change and our impact on the environment? Are we sufficiently informed and able to calculate, reduce and ultimately offset our carbon footprint? Can we promote and encourage industry wide collaboration?
The aim of our 2020 workshop is to present an overview of where we are as an industry, to highlight the key concerns regarding our current practices and how they impact the environment and to present a potential framework for understanding how we can become more sustainable in our work practices and reduce our collective carbon footprint.
The day will comprise of thought provoking presentations from selected climate and ecological experts, landscape architects, designers and other organisations and businesses who have environmental awareness and sustainable practice at their very core. An extensive array of exhibitors and organisations will be on hand to offer advice throughout the day.
This year's event will take place on Wednesday 22 January 2020 and will be held at its traditional venue, the Ashford International Hotel in Ashford, Kent. We have a full schedule of speakers and events organised and will publish details in due course. The delegate fee including a buffet lunch and refreshments costs just £40 + VAT. For delegates travelling by rail there will be a shuttle bus meeting the fast train from London St Pancras to transfer you to the venue and back.
Meet the speakers:
 Arit Anderson; photo by Julian Winslow
The current panel of speakers comprises:
Peter Gibbs
Peter Gibbs is a former BBC Weather Presenter and enthusiastic amateur gardener with more than 30 years’ experience as a professional Met Office forecaster. He chairs BBC Radio 4’s ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’ and is a regular reporter on the Radio 4 environment series ‘Costing the Earth’. Peter’s first job as a meteorologist was running the weather observation programme at the British Antarctic Survey’s remote Halley research station in Antarctica in the early 1980s, spending two consecutive winters on the ice. Peter is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Reading.
Sophie Leguil
Sophie Leguil is an independent botanist with a specialism in plant-environment interactions. After an MSc in Ecology, and a stint in environmental consultancy, she made a move to the horticultural industry. Sophie worked for the charity Plant Heritage, developing its network of National Plant Collections® and other initiatives aimed at conserving the diversity of cultivated plants in the UK. Living in London, she became interested in sustainability issues, particularly in relation to urban planning. Sophie currently works as horticultural advisor, writer and nature tour leader, while continuing to offer expertise in botany and entomology on an ad hoc basis.
John Weir
Adviser for woodland creation and resilience Having started working within the forest industry in the mid 1970's, he has worked as a forester in Scotland, England and Wales. Most recently after 7 years as Director of the National Arboreta (Westonbirt and Bedgebury Pinetum) he took on the role as Climate Change Programme Manager for Forest Enterprise England and is author of the Climate Change action Plan for the Forestry Commission estate in England. In his current job for the Forestry Commission the purpose of his job is: ' Provide expert advice and facilitate knowledge transfer, to facilitate ‘anticipatory adaptation’ within England’s woodlands'.
Dr Debbie Bartlett
Dr Debbie Bartlett is a Chartered Landscape Architect and Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management. Currently a Principal Lecturer at the University of Greenwich her background is in horticulture, garden design and she has worked for local authorities as well as consultancy. Her research interests focus on the changing environment and how we value native and non-native components of ecological communities in this context. She is currently working on an EU funded project on the effectiveness of green/blue infrastructure for mitigating heat stress in public open space and another, funded by DEFRA, looking at Sargassum inundations on Caribbean beaches.
Tony Kirkham
Tony holds the top job in arboriculture as Kew’s Head of Arboretum, Gardens and Horticultural Services where he and his team amongst many other things manage 14,000 trees and share their passion for trees with the visitors to Kew. He is the author of four books and ran the ‘Treeathlon’ to support the Trees for Cities campaign for more trees in urban areas in the UK, and says that “looking at trees anywhere in the world” is one of his hobbies. Kirkham sits on many professional committees including the International Dendrology Society, science and education committee, RHS, awards committee and is a vice chair of the RHS woody plant committee.
Henrik Sjöman
Henrik Sjöman´s work is mainly focusing on developing knowledge of site adapted plant use for urban environments. How the capacity of different trees will vary in context to its urban environment and in delivering ecosystem services has become the prime driver in Henrik’s work and as such how to extend the knowledge of diversifying the urban treescape.
Noel Farrer
Noel has practised as a landscape architect for 30 years, with extensive experience in both the public and private sectors. His work is founded upon the belief that landscape makes an essential contribution to socially cohesive and sustainable communities. He is an accomplished masterplanner and strategist who has an in-depth understanding of the people, diverse communities and politics that drive change in London. He is a passionate advocate for the social and environmental value of landscape, continuously asserting the importance of high-quality environments for all. Noel is past President of the Landscape Institute (LI) where he is also a Fellow and past Chair of Policy.
Jackie Clay
Jaquelin Clay is the Managing Director and Principal Landscape Architect at JFA Environmental Planning which was founded in 1989.Her background is in the botanical and soil sciences. Originally her practice concentrated on providing ecological and arboriculture services, but her approach has always incorporated an awareness of aesthetics and she became dual qualified as a chartered landscape architect in 1993. This means that her practice is well qualified to produce designs which are ecologically sensitive and include maximum biodiversity which means it’s well placed to respond to the new Environment Bill’s requirement for a 10% (minimum) increase in biodiversity post development – and to provide guidance to others.
Anna French
Anna set up Anna French Associates in 2011, we work on a range of projects including private apartments, social housing schemes, school grounds, commercial developments and residential projects large and small. We believe in delivering high quality design services taking a holistic view of aesthetics, ecology and community. Anna is a member of the Landscape Institute Council and Writtle College Professional Review Group. After taking her two daughters to the Global Climate Strike in March, Anna set up the Landscape for Future campaign to help raise awareness of the climate crisis and inspire others to take action.
Marian Boswall
Marian is a leading landscape architect known for creating beautiful spaces often in sensitive places. For years Marian taught Historic Garden Conservation at Greenwich University. She is gardens advisor to a number of important gardens, estates and trusts and writes a regular series for Listed Heritage, the magazine for Listed Buildings. Marian is on the Board of the Blackthorn Trust Healing garden, and as a plantswoman is passionate about the healing power of plants. Marian read French and Italian at Oxford having spent years in Italy as a child. She is interested in creating harmony, in forming places where people can be themselves and project their own personalities. She works with the setting, the people and the available materials to discover and develop the special and the important in each garden and landscape. Respect for the ecology, the history and the future inform her thinking and her designs. Marian’s team includes industry specialists and talented designers who share her passion for achieving rigorous quality through the softest effects.
Arit Anderson
Arit Anderson is a garden designer, writer and presenter on BBC Two's Gardeners' World. She studied gardening at Capel Manor College and whilst there had success at RHS Chelsea 2013 winning the Fresh Talent category for a student design collaboration with two other students. After attaining a diploma in garden design, she won a Gold Medal for her own design at RHS Hampton Court in 2016 in the conceptual category. In her designs for both private and commercial clients her ethos includes simplicity and environmental sensitivity – affecting her choice of products and plants at source, with regard to their future setting. Working as presenter for Gardeners World, and writing for national publications has enabled Arit to publicise issues about the future of gardening in an ever-changing climate, and promote solutions to the wider public.
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