Launched at FutureScape 2023, the Pro Landscaper Sustainability & Biodiversity Awards highlight the future of landscaping.

These awards are on a mission to showcase the most important innovation and initiatives across the UK landscaping sector, from design, to construction, to product supply and manufacturing. We look for great stories of environmental impact reduction and of those working towards a more sustainable future for the planet.

We caught up with some of the inaugural winners to find out the benefits of entering these awards what we can expect to see from them over the coming year.

Read the full article in the March issue of Pro Landscaper Magazine.   

Name: Leila Fuerst

Company: idverde UK

Role: sustainability advisor

Pro Landscaper Sustainability & Biodiversity Award 2023: Grounds Maintenance Company

• How has winning the award benefitted your business?

While it is a recent win, there has already been a wave of excitement and positivity. It has given us an opportunity to re-state and share our sustainability programme; it has truly been an energiser! It is a great opportunity to share with our customers and stakeholders the progress and solutions we have around sustainability, and to share our successes, while demonstrating our own commitment to improving our business.

• Have you noticed any differences?

As mentioned, it is early days, so there has not been a huge difference. To this point, however, what is different is that our colleagues are showing a renewed interest in the topic of sustainability and the award itself and are incredibly positive about it.

• Why did you enter the Pro Landscaper Sustainability & Biodiversity Awards?

Having spent three years progressing our sustainability strategy, it felt like an appropriate time to put ourselves forward to a level of assessment and scrutiny, knowing there is still a huge amount of work to do, but pausing along the way to recognise our success to date, which is a real motivator.

• Why do you believe the awards are so important?

This is one of few high-profile sustainability awards in our industry, and it allows us to benchmark our development towards a sustainable future. In our industry we have a huge opportunity to make a positive impact through the work we do, and this is one way to recognise successes along the way.

• What have the biggest challenges been across the last year?

The economic climate over the last two years has created a challenging environment for everyone, during which keeping nature-positive solutions and ideas on the agenda can be difficult. Bringing sustainable improvements into our business improvements has enabled us to focus on the real positives for us and our customers.

The economic pressures also place an increased demand on our teams to find more sustainable solutions and to strive to improve in sustainable terms.

• What do you think is the reason behind these challenges?

Time and the ability to focus on improvement and development within the busy operational environment described above are key reasons to these challenges.

• What are you most looking forward to for the year ahead?

For idverde, the turn of the year always provides an opportunity to think about our next steps. The opportunity of working with our teams to make real differences in our sustainability programme is always exciting!

• Any exciting upcoming projects?

The future sees a lot of growth for our sustainability programme. We are looking to develop our nature-based solutions and develop our net zero strategy/plan.

Biodiversity assessment and improvement at a local, operational, and regulatory level creates a lot of potential projects and opportunities that are exciting for us, our customers and our partners.

• Any new developments within the company?

2024 will see an expansion of the sustainability team, with a view of really pushing the pace of development both internally and with our customers!

• Would you recommend entering an award with Pro Landscaper?

Yes, absolutely, it has been such a rewarding experience and highlights the great strides our industry is taking towards achieving a sustainable future.