Protecting Habitats together
through collaborative
knowledge sharing

Our ambition is to protect every ecosystem and habitat.
We have to be ambitious to make a difference.
Delivered by ACO

The built environment must create diverse habitats to protect biodiversity

The Campaign

Habitat Matters aims to inspire, connect and empower people to improve the quality of our built environment. Formed through a collaboration of businesses, affiliated organisations and NGO’s, we have come together to show how collectively we can help address nature & biodiversity decline, and tackle the challenges faced when safeguarding urban habitats.

Contact us

Our Focus

To share educational content through a series of webinars and podcasts, exploring biodiversity protection and enhancements within the built environment.

Our ambition is to utilise interactive mapping to create an open source, knowledge-based platform, hosting data pertaining to biodiversity and habitats within the UK built environment, and demonstrating biodiversity nett gain.

Collectively, our aspiration is to help the UK Construction sector, maintenance bodies and the public, to understand the intricate relationship between humans, infrastructure and the environment through education and collaborative tools.

Roadmap

As we look to COP26, our series of educational webinars and podcasts will create a roadmap to Glasgow, and help us to explore how we can learn from the past in order to help us to protect nature, now and in the future.

Key Webinars + Podcasts

1

How have we COP to this?

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • How have natural systems and biodiversity declined in the UK?
  • How has infrastructure increased over time since the industrial revolution?
  • Why is COP26 so important?
  • How can the UK become a leader in protective legislation?
2

Habitat and species conservation

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • History of groups and initiatives that have protected the natural environment and biodiversity.
  • How does the UK population engage in biodiversity conservation?
  • How has engagement and monitoring helped the natural environment?
  • For more details, please click register.
3

Future cities encompassing natural systems

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • What has the legislation done to transform the building sector?
  • How are Biodiversity action plans & Biodiversity Net Gain affecting planning?
  • How are SUDS playing a vital role in urban environments?
  • How can building retrofit help nature?
  • For more details, please click register.
4

Habitat connectivity

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • What effect has fragmentation had on biodiversity and genetic diversity?
  • How are major cities connecting green infrastructure?
  • How are rural environments connecting biodiversity habitats?
  • How can monitoring help transform our understanding of infrastructure and natural systems?
  • For further details, please click register.
5

Healthy connection to habitat

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • Where did the habitat health-conscious movement start?
  • What effect does biodiversity have on our own wellbeing?
  • How is this starting to become part of our day to day design?
  • Examples of best practice.
  • For further details, please click register.
6

Habitat by design

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • How do we incorporate natural and manmade habitats into urban designs?
  • What standards and best practice are available?
  • How have cities incorporated biodiversity action plans into the design of streetscapes?
  • How has conservation work created nett gains and species diversity in city environments?
  • For more details, please click register.
7

Design & management of high quality green spaces

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • How do we measure the effectiveness of good green space?
  • How do we manage and maintain green spaces for maximum benefit now and in the future?
  • How is good governance increasing the longevity of habitats?
  • How can the public get involved to report issues and maximise the potential of green spaces?
  • For more details, please click register.
8

COPin or COPit

Watch now on-demand Read Details
  • Multigenerational cross section of society giving us there one big idea to get people engaged in biodiversity conservation
  • Leading panel of experts giving us there one big policy idea to enhance biodiversity in the built environment
In conversation with:

Phil Askew and Neil Mattinson

Available Now
Transforming Thamesmead: unlocking the potential of natural assets to create a biodiverse sustainable neighbourhood for a post-pandemic world. Listen now
Read Details
Peabody and LDA Design have just launched ‘Living in the Landscape’ a blueprint for how natural systems can change lives for the better in Thamesmead, London that demonstrates that an investment of up to £100m in capital costs generates benefits worth £850m to the people of Thamesmead over 30 years. Phil Askew and Neil Mattinson discuss the urgent need for Natural Capital Accounting and the challenges and benefits of investing in biodiversity and unlocking the potential of green spaces and waterways.
In conversation with:

Deborah Saunt and James Fox

Available Now
Greening the city: bringing biodiversity into a corporate environment and putting in measures to ensure its long-term success. Listen now
Read Details
On transforming Exchange Square into a new 6,000 square metre landscaped park for the Broadgate neighbourhood for British Land, blending nature with the energy of inner-city London and promotes physical and emotional well-being. The project exemplifies research commissioned by British Land showing that better designed urban environments could improve personal wellbeing and potentially lead to a £15 billion boost to the economy by 2050. The project includes an innovative initiative to appoint a long term gardener/estate manager with responsibility for championing and protecting the biodiversity strategy.
In conversation with:

Steve McIntyre and Ashley Welch

Available Now
Biodiversity net gain: new regulations and how to comply
Listen now
Read Details
Biodiversity net gain - new developments risk being caught out by biodiversity net gain obligations expected to become law in 2021, due to lack of awareness and confusion over what is required. ANS Global has partnered with AECOM, to produce advice guides setting out best practice methods in using the Biodiversity Metric to assess how urban green infrastructure contributes to achieving biodiversity net gain, as well as explaining the differences between green infrastructure habitats, how these differences impact on BNG calculations, and illustrating how each habitat should be designed to ensure biodiversity units can be achieved.
In conversation with:

Joe Morris and Agnieszka Glowacka

Available Now
Biophilia and the city Listen now
Read Details
Morris+Company is introducing a cascade of hanging gardens as part of an ambitious retrofit of a 2001 office building that forms part of British Land’s ambition to transform its building portfolio to net zero carbon by 2030 and introduces biodiversity into the urban realm in line with Paddington Central’s Biodiversity Action Plan. Haptic Architects has just won the Davidson Prize with its proposal to reimagine the home along the biophilic principles. Joe Morris and Agnieszka Glowacka discuss the increasing demand for live and work space that offers a closer connection to nature.
In conversation with:

David Mooney and James Lord

Available Now
Place-making for wildlife and people Listen now
Read Details
On Cator Park at Kidbrooke Village, Berkeley's flagship net biodiversity gain project in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and winner of the prestigious 'Sir David Attenborough Award for Enhancing Biodiversity' and the 'Overall President's Award' at the Landscape Institute Awards. It is the first of Berkeley Group's 40 net biodiversity gain projects to reach maturity. Together these projects will create 480 acres of new or improved natural habitats.
In conversation with:

Cristina Monteiro and Charlotte Harris

Available Now
Rewilding the urban childhood Listen now
Read Details
What are the physical, psychological, environmental and educational benefits of access to woodland and green spaces? How do we design spaces that allow wildlife to flourish and grow and encourage exploration and play? How can we retrofit our towns and cities to ensure that every child, especially those in the most deprived neighbourhoods, enjoys access to woodland and wild spaces as an integral part of their education?

Taking us on the road to COP26

Join our series of webinars and podcasts leading up to COP26 and beyond. The series will show you how and why we must incorporate rich habitats into the built environment.

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