The Landscape Institute recently announced the winners of the 2021 Landscape Institute Awards. The successful projects include the Beijing Forestry University, which was awarded Excellence in Landscape Design, and the Guangzhou Ecological Belt, which has protected eight waterfalls, dismantled 10 small hydropower plants, restored 16 bird habitats and protected 42 water sources.
Winners also included projects that promoted mental and physical wellbeing following the Covid-19 pandemic. Oxhey Park in Watford, awarded the prize for Excellence in Public Health and Wellbeing, encourages inclusive physical activities to tackle community obesity – with some of the best-wheeled sports facilities in the country. The development extended to green spaces, attracting multiple species of bats and birds which will inhabit the newly planted habitats.
Professional services company ARUP won the prestigious Landscape Innovation award for its report on Meanwhile Use projects in London. These designs take derelict and underused buildings and spaces in the city and re-purpose them as transitional projects, such as affordable workspaces for local creatives, that benefit local communities before they are re-developed.
The Landscape Institute announced the winners at its 2021 virtual awards. Judges from bodies like Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Public Health England selected 19 winners from a 73-project shortlist that featured developments from across the globe.
The Landscape Award Winners are:
The Dame Sylvia Crowe International Award
Guangzhou Ecological Belt Master Plan and Implementation – Guangzhou Urban Planning & Design Survey Research Institute
Landscape Innovation Award
Meanwhile Use London – ARUP and GLA
Landscape Legacy Award
Yantai Mountain Urban Micro-Renewal: The Restoration of a Historic District with Complimentary Intervention – Lab D+H
Partnership and Collaboration Award
Northern Heartlands Great Place Scheme – Newcastle University
Excellence in Biodiversity Conservation and Enhancement
Trumpington Meadows Country Park – Terence O’Rourke, Wildlife Trust BCN, Grosvenor and USS
Excellence in Community Engagement
Rectory Lane Cemetery – from Dead Space to Living Place – Friends of St Peter’s Great Berkhamsted
Excellence in Flood and Water Management
West Gorton Community Park – BDP
Excellence in Heritage and Culture
Rectory Lane Cemetery – from Dead Space to Living Place – Friends of St Peter’s Great Berkhamsted
Excellence in Horticulture and Planting Design
Southmere Public Realm – LUC
Excellence in Landscape Construction
Sighthill TRA – LDA Design
Excellence in Landscape Design
Quarry Gardens in Nanning Garden Expo Park – Beijing Forestry University, Atelier DYJG
Excellence in Landscape Planning and Assessment
Gilston Area Neighbourhood Plan – The importance of landscape in areas of growth – URBAN Silence / HEGNPG
Excellence in Masterplanning and Urban Design
Better Queensway – LDA Design
Excellence in Place Regeneration
Sayer Street & the Meadow – BD landscape architects
Excellence in Public Health and Wellbeing
Oxhey Activity Park – Southern Green Ltd
Excellence in Small Landscape and Garden Design
West Downs Centre, University of Winchester – LUC
Excellence in Sustainable Infrastructure
Teign Estuary Trail – The Landmark Practice
Excellence in Tackling Climate Change
Forest For Change, London Design Biennale 2021 – Scape Design Associates
Excellence in Visualisation and Digital Practice
Clapham Park Regeneration – PRP
Building with Nature National Award 2021
Queensland Court and Gardens / Queensland Community Park – RaeburnFarquharBowen
President’s Award
Guangzhou Ecological Belt Master Plan and Implementation – Guangzhou Urban Planning & Design Survey Research Institute
Student Dissertation
How can the multi-disciplinary approach to the recovery of the wetland landscape of Srinagar, India benefit ecosystems and the indigenous community? – Manchester School of Architecture
Student Portfolio
Carbon Farming Meshwork: The Cromarty Firth Bioregion – University of Edinburgh
See all the winners and finalists at the 2021 Landscape Institute Awards website
Image Credits: Courtesy of the Landscape Institute