‘Work at the pace of nature’: How real estate can embrace wellbeing

John Prevc wants real estate to slow down. “Nature is our most important client, and we need to work more at its pace rather than this more artificial pace that the industry has picked up: ‘let’s do it really fast’,” says the partner at HOK and member of the architecture firm’s mental health and wellbeing group. “There’s a real joy in working with the rhythms of nature… Slowing down the way that we do business, the way that we perceive place and greenery and our environment will make us healthier, will make us mentally better. Let’s recalibrate time and work at the pace of nature.” It’s an unusual suggestion – Prevc warns that he’s “going to go a bit weird here” before he offers it – but there’s arguably no better time to make it than this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, for which organiser the Mental Health Foundation has chosen the theme of nature. The foundation’s own research suggests that almost half of people polled said that being in green, open spaces had been “vital” to their mental health during the pandemic. Its chief executive, Mark Rowland, has said that it is “almost impossible” to encourage good mental health without “a greater connection to the natural world”. As well as Prevc, EG gathered guests from the Crown Estate, Grosvenor and design studio KKS Savills to discuss the real estate industry’s role and responsibility in embracing nature through its schemes in order to support the wellbeing of people using them. Prevc believes that real estate’s contribution here can do more than make people feel better – it can save lives. He recalls presenting design ideas for a hospital scheme and being told by a doctor there that the open, inviting space he had included could even save more lives than the hospital itself. “It isn’t just about seeding a few green bits and bobs here and there, it’s actually curating them in a way that establishes an invitation for society and communities to come out and start talking with each other,” Prevc says. “This is a global problem about this sense of ownership of place. The more you can make it the place of those that use it, and we as designers say, ‘it’s not ours, it’s yours, come and join us in the design process’ – suddenly you’re saving lives. And I love that connection between urban space and life-saving.” Big picture and small details Real estate’s initiatives don’t have to be outsized to have a big impact, says Clara Dawson, HSE and wellbeing business partner at the Crown Estate. “We don’t have to look at the big picture all the time,” Dawson says. “That is important, but [so are] simple things like rooftop gardens and allotment clubs, where it brings that sense of community together, where customers and people we are in partnership with can come together. Can we introduce honeybees to our area? We’re looking at insect hotels. There are lots of things that we can be doing.” On Regent Street, W1, the estate has introduced hundreds of new planters and trees during the pandemic, as well as benches along widened pavements “so that people can just stop and enjoy the space rather than rushing around”. For Dawson, the work to use nature to nurture wellbeing was already under way in the business, but the experiences of the estate’s tenants and visitors during the past year have accelerated the trend. “Many of us have been drawn to green space throughout the pandemic, and technology, combined with the disruption of the pandemic, has given people new choices about where they work, where they live and where they spend time,” she says. “Covid has accelerated people’s awareness of the impact that the physical environment has on their mood, their overall wellbeing. So our cities, our offices, our social spaces, they need to work for them. Many businesses, including the Crown Estate, had introduced green initiatives before the pandemic. This is a continuation of the great work, but just maybe at a faster pace.” At Grosvenor, schemes such as Trumpington Meadows – a 1,200-home community with a 148-acre country park developed with the Wildlife Trust – and Barton Park, which was a demonstrator site for the NHS Healthy New Towns programme, have shown what can be achieved when a developer focuses on nature and wellbeing from an early stage. Such initiatives can go a long way in forming a new community, says Alex Robinson, development director for strategic land at Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. “The big challenge with large strategic sites where you’re creating, to some extent, a new place, is how do you get that homely and pleasant feel when you walk around?” Robinson says. “You can’t quite put your finger on it sometimes as to why some areas work and others don’t. There was a lot of time spent at Trumpington trying to bring in as much greenery [as possible] on to a site which had, when we took it over, two trees on it. We were trying to use the park as a place where people can meet and congregate – things like mobile cinemas put on pre-pandemic and during it when we could, or the Wildlife Trust hosting various days there for children to get in touch with nature.” Happy hormones A sprawling country park is one thing. What about helping people to connect with nature in the workplace? The opportunities in biophilic design are smaller scale, of course, but no less valuable – and shouldn’t be thought of as simple, says Katrina Kostic Samen, head of workplace strategy and design at KKS Savills. “They can’t just be a token gesture,” she says of efforts to bring nature into office developments. “You can’t just put outdoor space [into a scheme] or plants on a CGI just because you think they should be there.” But get the initiatives right, Kostic Samen adds – and yes, that includes landlords and tenants coming to a clear agreement about who is responsible for the upkeep of plants on a roof terrace, for example – and everyone in the building will benefit, even if they’re not all aware of why. “What’s fascinating is the reduction in anxiety and fatigue – it just brings a sense of calmness to the office environment by putting plants in and any kind of natural material,” she adds. “I’m all for reducing hostility in the office. Anything that’s really using the five senses, working on the sight, sound, touch, smell and hearing – biophilia brings so much into all that.” The Crown Estate’s Dawson agrees. “People feel better with nature around them,” she says. “Personally, it makes me feel calmer and more relaxed. Natural light, fresh air, pollution-absorbing greenery – these elements improve our overall wellbeing. They help us to release our happy hormones, which is a good thing.” To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette IMage © ejaugsburg/Pixabay