ANS GLOBAL
MAXIMISING BIODIVERSITY NET GAIN WITH BIOPHILIC DESIGN
BY STEVE MCINTYRE , PRINCIPAL URBAN ENVIRONMENT CONSULTANT AT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE SPECIALISTS , ANS GLOBAL
Technological advancements and changes in lifestyle have meant that more of our time is spent away from nature . Urban environments , residential developments and workplaces have not historically sought to include the natural world but that is now changing fast as studies have shown that human beings crave natural settings .
Biophilic design , that focuses on the innate human attraction to nature , first originated in the 1980s and has recently surged in popularity in both home and work environments . Recognition is growing that providing people with opportunities to live and work in healthy places is vital to both wellbeing and productivity .
This green building trend , boosted by the pandemic , uses natural materials to bring nature closer in to our daily lives . The inherent benefits of improving mental and physical health , as well as productivity , are backed by research and well documented .
The social , physical and health benefits make green infrastructure such as living walls well worth the investment . They also contribute to the requirements for all new developments to achieve biodiversity net gain , which the Environment Bill will mandate in law .
For architects , the burgeoning popularity of biophilic design presents an opportunity to add value to new development projects in a variety of ways , from enhancing the aesthetics of a development , to improving air quality , acoustics and helping developers to achieve the requirement for biodiversity net gain .
ARCHETECH - PAGE 76