Green infrastructure is globally recognised as an essential component of liveable and sustainable places, and new developments are increasingly required to deliver green infrastructure. We worked with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust in a Knowledge Transport Partnership funded by Innovate UK to develop a new benchmark for green infrastructure: Building with Nature.

During this research we spoke to stakeholders from across the built environment and development sectors and found that there was still considerable uncertainty about the best way to design, deliver and maintain green infrastructure. We used the findings from these discussions, as well as a review of the academic and practice literature to develop a framework for high quality green infrastructure which underpinned Building with Nature. This was further tested and refined through live developments before the final release of the benchmark in 2017.

The framework sets out a series of core requirements for green infrastructure, including the formation of a multifunctional network which meets the needs of the area, plans for maintenance and governance, and a series of principles focussed on achieving objectives for biodiversity, sustainable water management, and health and wellbeing.