Day 2 - Inspire Theatre

Earlier this year, the industry launched Elemental. This ‘green’ design tool based on the six pillars of environmental design was developed to help garden designers, landscape architects, design and build landscape companies and gardeners to create gardens and landscapes that have a lower environmental impact. This session will explore what Elemental is and why the industry needs it.

This session will show how Elemental, the industry’s ‘green’ design tool can be used in practice to reduce embodied carbon, minimise waste through material management, promote biodiversity, protect the soil, harness water within the site, improve air quality, and make landscapes for people and communities along with a case study.

Emma Mazzullo FSGLD and James Scott FSGLD will lead a new-look Accreditation advice session. They will speak from experience about the professional benefits of going through the SGLD Accreditation process – including how it shaped their practice and career trajectory. Attendees considering registration can also bring portfolios for discussion and feedback from panel members in a private session following the talk.

Helen will explore and discuss her design process with illustrations from her portfolio, covering site analysis (what it is and why we do it), what we should consider during construction (and why that matters) and why as designers and contractors we only start gardens and so leads to gardening. Along the way Helen will take a look at soils, trees, climate and native vs non-native plants.

The panel will be chaired by John Wyer FSGLD, who contributed to Elemental’s development. Panel members will include Helen Elks-Smith and Rachel Bailey, together with Rupert Keys and David Stevens FSGLD, offering decades of combined insight across design, construction and education. Expect wide-ranging conversation that moves between practical application, career development, and future-facing design thinking.