Landscaping is an important area for boosting the sustainability of a project
An expert has called for landscape designers to focus more on native plants for landscaping to reduce water wastage.
Speaking at the Construction Week Building Sustainability into the Middle East conference, Cracknell sustainability manager Lee Allen said that up a quarter of all water used for irrigation was wasted because of poor plant choice.
“Plant selection is very important. 20-25% of irrigation water in the UAE is lost by draining down to the water table,” he said.
He also highlighted the important role that selecting local plants would have on giving an area an identity.
“Local plants would boost cultural identity, which is being eroded by the use of tropical plants,” he said.
Allen also suggested that returning to more traditional designs would improve the overall sustainability of landscaping projects.
“Are the days of giant water features numbered?” he asked. “Perhaps we should be looking at gentler, more traditional water features, instead of giant fountain projects that use a lot of energy and water.”
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