2B has had a typically busy 25th birthday year! We've enjoyed reflecting on 25 projects that demonstrate the huge breadth and variety of the interesting work we do, and picking out those that were particularly fun or meaningful. It was hard to pick just 25, though...and to choose just one image and one paragraph for each!

This will be the first of '5x5' blog posts, covering the 'Twenty-five at twenty-five' projects, to give a flavour of our quarter-of-a-century in practice - look out for the rest in the coming weeks.

 

South Humber Bank

An early project for 2B, with a considerable budget for tree planting across miles of Lincolnshire.

Mitigation planting of views for the new power line was a huge opportunity for habitat creation. We love watching the trees we project-managed grow and increase in biodiversity value over time, providing a wonderful green corridor and achieving the aim of screening the industrial infrastructure.

Take a look at the case study on our Green Infrastructure page for before + after photos!







 

Barrow-Upon-Humber Market Place

Our design-competition-winning master plan for Barrow-Upon-Humber's market place celebrated the heritage of it’s most famous son, John Harrison, inventor of the first accurate marine chronometer.

2B redesigned the space in collaboration with the local community, to provide an attractive everyday place for the village to rest and play, as well as a flexible events space.

Take a look at the case study on our 3D modelling page to learn more.





 

You Can Slow The Flow

What you might call a ‘pet project’, for our good friends at Slow The Flow. 2B’s accessible graphics explaining SuDS have been used time and again, and remain relevant as ever. You can see the whole award-winning project on the 'SuDS' section of STF's website.

In recent years, 2B has been increasingly focused on incorporating SuDS and NFM into everything we do. Flooding is a key effect of climate change in our country, and careful consideration of drainage is one of the important ways that landscape architecture can contribute to mitigating the climate crisis.

In addition to reducing flood risk, good drainage design, considered as a cornerstone of site planning, can achieve multiple benefits for biodiversity, aesthetics, water and air quality, mental and physical health.


 

Great Western Railway

2B worked with Network Rail to consider how they might minimise the impact of electrification of the Great Western Railway.

We had fantastic site visits in the three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty adjacent to the route, and really felt our obligation as landscape architects to protect, conserve and enhance these special places.

Take a look at the case study on our Transport page, to get a sense of the scale of this huge undertaking.

As a result of our work, an extensive programme of tree and hedgerow planting is underway, which will mitigate the effects of the railway electrification and contribute to maintaining the special qualities of the AONBs (now newly named National Landscapes!).



 

Hebden Bridge Town Hall planters

In collaboration with Slow The Flow and Calder Rivers Trust, 2B worked with local non-profit fabricators at Green Future Building to develop bespoke rain garden planters for the courtyard at Hebden Bridge Town Hall.

Not only do they brighten the place up and help to slow the flow of storm water to the flood-prone Calder Valley, they come with an interpretation panel, and are used as an educational tool to showcase what can be done on a small scale. Many small interventions can make a big difference to flood alleviation.

Monitoring of the flow into and out of the rain gardens has contributed valuable data to Slow The Flow’s citizen science catalogue.

Take a look at our blog post for further information.



Sign up for our new alerts at the bottom of the page, to get an email when we reveal the next set of 5 projects. In the meantime, we wish you all the best for the festive season, and a happy and healthy new year.