Arup - public realm expertise and awards
Arup is well known for its excellent regeneration of the Olympic Park after the games and the awards that the project won.
So it is no surprise that Future Cities Forum has asked Arup Director, Tom Armour to join our public realm discussion panel at our next conference at the IET in London on 6th March 2017.
Arup transformed the South Olympic Park into one of the largest urban parks in Europe. It won the CEEQUAL 'Excellent Whole Project Award (95.8%) in 2012. Meeting sustainability targets was of paramount concern which led to the re-use of 90% of demolition material in the landscape works.
Tom states: 'As landscape architects we don't always need to make design statements, some of our best work is invisible. The profession is about delivering creative and sustainable solutions to real problems.'
Arup will be discussing 'green envelopes' in cities, as well as the Garden Bridge Project for London.
A report by Arup called Cities Alive: Green Building Envelope shows that the
contribution of ‘green building envelopes’, such as moss and vegetated walls, vertical farming and roof gardens, has been underestimated.
The firm states that worldwide 3.7 million premature deaths in 2012 were attributed to exposure to poor air quality. Approximately 200,000 of these were in Europe and 900,000 in south-east Asia.
Green envelopes, it says, are often dismissed as “architectural window dressing”, but can reduce localised air pollution by up to 20 per cent in some locations, rapidly reducing toxic air at street level.
“Tackling rising air pollution is a priority to help improve people’s health. As our cities continue to become built up, ‘grey’ structures, such as walls and roofs, are a source of untapped potential for adapting into green spaces. When well-designed, green envelopes can have a positive impact on tackling air pollution, but can also deliver a wide range of social, economic and environmental benefits to make cities more attractive and healthier places to be.” says Tom.