LUC is currently working on a 3-5 year framework contract to provide landscape design services and planning advice to Inverclyde Council. We have undertaken in excess of 100 individual commissions on behalf of Inverclyde Council since March 2007, each one providing a different set of challenges. The scope of the commissions range dramatically from providing specialist grass seed specification for specific sport uses through to large-scale masterplanning of a secondary school campus. The work demonstrates LUC’s diverse set of skills and capabilities in undertaking various types and scales of project.Through the provision of landscape design services, LUC is helping Inverclyde Council deliver a number of priority leisure, recreation and education projects. We are assisting in creating state-of-the-art facilities for sport and learning, to encourage Inverclyde communities to live an active and healthy lifestyle and to benefit thousands of children with inspirational school environments.Through the provision of planning advice, LUC is helping to conserve important environmental designations and landscape features, and ensuring high-quality landscape design benchmarks for future Inverclyde communities.As a direct result of our successful working relationship with Inverclyde Council we have been engaged by Riverside Inverclyde Urban Regeneration Company to assist in the development of various environmental improvement projects throughout the Inverclyde Council area.Many of the sites we deal with are sensitive in nature. For example the new Parklea Sports Facility is located immediately adjacent to a Special Protection Area for wintering Redshank on the River Clyde. During the design process LUC consulted extensively with Scottish Natural Heritage to determine what appropriate action was required by the design team during the design process. As a result the LUC Ecology team has undertaken a Habitat Regulations Assessment of the proposals which is informing the design in terms of mitigation measures and construction methods on site.In contrast, our commission with Riverside Inverclyde to improve an uninviting pedestrian underpass in Greenock demanded an innovative design solution to attract people to use a vital pedestrian link between the town centre and the town’s bus station. LUC worked with public artists DUFI to create a unique creative experience that has made the underpass a destination in its own right responding to Greenock’s cultural heritage.In many ways we are acting as Inverclyde Council’s ‘landscape emergency service’; exploring solutions to environmental and landscape problems and challenges. Although some projects require significant design inputs over a long period of time, many of our commissions are short and instantaneous. Each commission brings a site with a different scale, character and surprise thus we are accustomed to expecting the unexpected.
