In the first of a new series looking at projects using elemental26, pre-registered SGLD member Dave Green explains how using the new sustainable landscape tool helped him to design and build a show garden almost entirely remotely, for a new flower show in Japan.
The new version of elemental, the sustainable landscape tool, has been launched as elemental26 and in talking to designers who are already using it in their design and build processes, it is clear the software is fast becoming a positive addition to their toolkit.
One such adherent is pre-registered SGLD member Dave Green, who was among the international designers who took part in the Fukuoka Flower Show in Japan earlier this year. The Show is not only a newcomer to the garden show circuit, it was also the first time that elemental has been used on the international horticultural stage, with the tool’s originator, Liz Nicholson and her team at Nicholsons, working with the Show organisers and the judges (including two from Britain) and using elemental26 to assess all the gardens in the competition.
Dave’s Spirit of the Forest show garden won a Gold medal and the Best in Show award. We spoke to him to find out more.
When did you first hear about elemental?
Probably around its inception. Paul Cowell MSGLD, of PC Landscapes, was working with Liz Nicholson on the very earliest ideas for elemental and in 2019, he worked with me on the Stop and Pause Garden at RHS Hampton Court that year, for which we were very keen to minimise the use of cement and to do things as sustainably as possible. A couple of years later, I was rehoming another show garden and Paul used the relocation part of the process as a pre-launch test for elemental, looking at the transport miles, the carbon capture from the trees and the carbon in the materials and so on.
When I first heard about the tool, I thought it was just another carbon calculator, and only for landscaping which, for me, was a bit dry – just a calculator that spits out a figure – but working with it, I have found it is so much more and this new, updated version is very user-friendly. The categories – the six ‘pillars’ (see panel, page 42) – are much more clearly defined and it takes an holistic approach. Two of the pillars, People and Place and Biodiversity, are particular favourites of mine. We designers can often forget we are creating places for people to use and interact with and forget about accessibility and how users might feel about the garden and the effects it will have on them, so having People and Place as a key category is really good. The design for the Spirit of the Forest garden was inspired by my visits to some natural forests near Kyoto, and lots of temple gardens in Japan ten years ago, and I wanted it to feel tranquil and linked to the landscape, to be a place that makes people feel calm.
How did you apply elemental26 to your show garden?
As the show garden was being judged, I used the calculator from the outset and worked my way through all six categories, but one of the strengths of elemental is that you can choose when and how to use it, completing whichever of the six pillars you feel are relevant for the project in hand. The tool develops with the project (it is holistic and almost a formalisation of all the things a designer will be thinking about anyway, which means the time spent on the process will be accounted for as part of the design fees in the design proposal) and I fill in the categories as I progress; for a show garden, it helps me to do this myself as while the volumes tend not to be very large, they can be more technical and have lots of detail. For a permanent garden, I would usually ask other members of the team to help fill it in.
What challenges were there?
I wanted to use reclaimed timber in the garden, no cement, and a fusion of cultivated plants and species that represented the natural forests of Japan.
It was easy to source a selection of Japanese trees and shrubs typically found in Japanese forests, but the contractors found it difficult to understand why I wanted to use reclaimed timber. They are very particular about showcasing excellence and making things look very, very special, and understanding why I wanted materials to be aged and to have character was a kind of cultural challenge. In the end, unable to source reclaimed boards, we settled for new, sustainable timber from a sawmill near the show ground, and we aged it while I was there for the build.
The team found it easier to buy into the idea of not using cement and making everything temporary, so it could be easily removed after the Show, I think because they understood the efficiencies.
What about the cultivated planting?
This was another interesting discovery; I found that the plant supply industry in Japan is not as well geared up for flower shows as it is here in Britain and one of the issues was trying to get hold of plants grown at good sizes. Also, the peat-free planting medium, which is part of the Soil category in elemental26, is handled slightly differently in Japan; the nurseries I worked with are working with materials such as wood chips and coir and making their own mixes, but they were still using peat in cuttings, for instance.
WHAT IS ELEMENTAL?
The tool comprises six pillars that make up the natural capital of any garden or landscape: Materials Management; Water and Air; People and Place; Soils; Biodiversity; and Carbon Balance.
‘elemental,’ says its originator Liz Nicholson, of Nicholsons, ‘is an opportunity for self-assessment in landscape industry work, to celebrate positive achievements, find areas of improvement, and to justify the decisions made in the course of designing and building a natural landscape. You don’t need to have any expert knowledge to use it – the details you will need are built into the Help section of each question, or within the Knowledge Base.’
It can be used for projects of any size, in both the public and private realms, and it includes a report tool specifically for post-build maintenance and management projects.
The tool has been designed so projects can be duplicated and users can trial different scenarios; they can also grant permissions so projects can be shared with other professionals. An option to use languages other than English within the tool is being developed and will be available soon.
In the newest version, elemental26, the carbon calculator has had a few new features added to it: hybrid factors can be fast-tracked (known as ‘easy elemental’); emissions that would occur from soil disturbance and removal of vegetation can now be calculated, as can the sequestration potential of any new planting.
elementaltool.org
How did you manage material selection and construction methods?
The contractors worked really hard to try and source the kind of things I wanted and would also add in their own ideas. For the raised beds, for instance, I specified cedar or hinoki, which are well-known timbers in Japan, and to waterproof the cedar, the construction team came up with a recycled weatherboard, while Mr Shimizu (Souto Gardens), who built the garden, was happy to make a tataki path, which is a traditional method of path-making using lime instead of cement. Mr Shimizu is a garden craftsman, so he wears a traditional jacket to represent his company and the artisan skills that represent Japanese garden craft, and as the tataki method is not practised very often, even in Japan, we were joined on the site by some apprentices from a college who wanted to try their hand at it.
How was elemental received?
The craft of making gardens is part of the culture in Japan and I saw some excellent examples of sustainability, practices that they have been doing for centuries – joinery that minimises the use of fixings, for instance – and I felt they were fully invested in making things as sustainable and successful as possible. Working with me, from a different culture and a country where we are very vocal about sustainability, was challenging, I am sure, especially when materials are so different, but Mr Shimizu showed such flexibility and openness to new ideas and to embracing different ways of doing things.
What did you learn from the experience?
One of the things the Japanese contractors were excellent at was being clean and tidy – they were so thoughtful about everything they did. On one occasion, for example, I was asked to be more careful when planting after spilling soil into some of the finished areas. When I work at shows such as Chelsea, everyone has a great sense of pride and displays excellent workmanship but in Japan, they take immaculateness to another level and not just for a show; it is part of their culture; when they work, they want to show themselves as well as they can and that thoughtful orderliness is something I want to try and achieve in my projects.
Will you use elemental for every project?
Yes, definitely. I might not use all six pillars every time, and I might not end up with a calculation at the end of every project, but I will certainly use it to inform things. It helps you to re-focus, to remind you of things and make sure you really have covered all the aspects to consider in the design process, which is especially useful for projects where you work alone. If you think the tool is just something that you fill in at the end of a project, when you have done the quantities, know all the materials and have got the quote, it is almost too late in the process to use it.
Is it also about giving a garden longevity and value?
Yes, exactly, and particularly these days, when we need to sell our ideas and what we are doing, and to ensure our clients believe in that. You can do your site analysis and say right, the sun is over there so the seating can go here, but using elemental means we will be prompted, for instance, to also think about the garden’s accessibility in 30 years’ time, or to allow for the possibility that the client has an accident and will need to use a wheelchair, which is why your design may include a sinous movement and also a ramp. I think, when customers are spending lots of money on a garden or landscape, they want to be convinced that they are spending it on the right thing and elemental is an additional tool to help us to show people that it is.
Are you using elemental26? Garden Design Journal is interested in seeing case studies for possible publication in the magazine; please send details of your project to the Editor, via gdj@jamespembrokemedia.co.uk.
Words, Arabella St John Parker; photographs and visual, Dave Green
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