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: Mark Latchford

Company: HollandGreen Landscapes

Role: Director

Pro Landscaper Sustainability & Biodiversity Award 2023: Sustainability & Biodiversity- Domestic Design Project of the Year 2023

• How has winning the award benefitted your business?

Sustainability in garden design is a topic close to our hearts and is something we consider right at the beginning of each project. Winning this award helps support our values as a studio, and has definitely resonated with our current clients, our new business, and industry colleagues too.

• Have you noticed any differences?

Absolutely! It has solidified our approach towards sustainability and biodiversity and brought a sense of pride within the design team – they are delighted to be recognised for their passion and efforts in this area.

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

It’s such a key area for our industry to take the lead, so we are delighted these awards have started. Our project tied in particularly well and enabled us to demonstrate our company ethos, and we wanted to showcase our work, champion the topic further and learn from other companies who entered too.

• Why do you believe the awards are so important?

Sustainability is hugely important to all our projects. In recent years, we have noticed more clients are onboard and more willing to consider sustainability and biodiversity than ever before. Being able to champion the topic through awards like these I think does inspire people. They can see that great design can be beautiful, functional, and also support the environment. When people connect with nature it really does generate feelings of wellbeing, and awards like these can demonstrate this. I think when people see the results their own garden and efforts can enact on the local biodiversity, it’s a powerful thing.

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

Recent economic challenges have affected almost every walk of life with costs on almost everything increasing exponentially. We’ve also seen skill shortages and role vacancies across our industry over the past few years, and these have been challenging too.

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

There have been a lot of major, worldwide macro events over the last few years. And of course, climate change is a huge challenge within our industry – and needs to be tackled now so that future generations can still enjoy the legacies that we have. Environmental challenges around climate change are changing how people live now, and how the future is preserved, and there is a lot of work to do in this area.

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

Spreading our passion and expertise for sustainability and biodiversity through our projects and sharing our learnings with our industry partners and collaborators. We’re very thankful for the amazing projects we work on and believe winning this award will support our work in biodiversity further.

• Any exciting upcoming projects?

We have a number of exciting projects currently in design to start site work this year; these range from some countryside family homes and farm regenerations to contemporary roof gardens and holistic collaboration with our in-house architecture and interior design teams.

• Any new developments within the company?

Our practice is moving to a beautiful Grade II listed building this year, as we expand our team. We’re also focusing on developing team skills and career progression and creating regular idea sessions with our teams to develop our ESG company-wide programme.

• Would you recommend entering an award with Pro Landscaper?

Absolutely! Diversifying the awards that landscape design studios would usually enter helps to raise the bar within the industry, and championing sustainability and biodiversity, as well as beautiful design, is more important than ever. The more the positive impacts can be shared, the more it will inspire current and future generations. Greener, more sustainable environments are imperative, and we are one of the industries at the forefront of this, and in a unique position to be able to make a positive impact for people and nature.