Gareth Toolan

Dear colleagues,

we can’t wait to see you next week during our annual meeting, the General Assembly held this time in London !
You can expect with the IFLA Europe / Landscape Institute Conference ‘Valuing Landscape’ inspiring days on Thursday and Friday for professional leadership focused on value with high level speakers from across Europe…[Read more]

Dear all,I hope the year 2015 meets your expectations both in your private and job life.Please find below the last issues of the IFLA Europe’s President’s Bulletin :
February editionJanuary EditionDecember EditionNovember Edition
Btw save the date ! Mid of October the IFLA Europe GA will take place in Lisbon ! See you there then !

Dear all,at the end of the week the IFLA Europe annual congress will take place, let’s read a few words about it and the IFLA Silver Jubilee : Enjoy here the second issue of IFLA EUROPE’s President’s Bulletin (English version)
veuillez lire la version française ici
at last and not the least in Spanish here 🙂

Dear all,it is the beginning of a new school year and the time to have a look about the work done in the past and be aware of the next challenges !Enjoy here the first issue of IFLA EUROPE’s President’s Bulletin (English version)
en francais c’est ici !
and Spanish here ! 🙂

Matt – From what I understand, the U.S. Botanic Garden does not support the lawsuit.  I believe this to be true because out of the three organizations, the U.S. Botanic Garden has the greatest legal resources and influence.   If the USBG was unhappy with the trademark request as filed by UT, they would have joined the legal battle to stop it and w…[Read more]

Thanks for your insights.   Having worked on a Pilot Project for some time I have a great deal of respect for SITES and the comprehensive approach it brings.   I can’t believe that there is some kind of a power struggle going on over what is essentially the bookkeeping.  However, stepping back I don’t think that any one of the partners should ha…[Read more]

Matt – Currently, SITES is not a separate entity.  The Executive Committee is made up of the ASLA, the Wildflower Center which is a part of UT and the US Botanic Garden.  SITES staff who work with the various committees and lead the development of the metric and educational materials are located in Austin at the Wildflower Center.  Liz Guthrie, Ma…[Read more]

Since the petition from ASLA and press release from UT are contradictory, please help me understand what’s going on with the following questions:

• UT States: “UT has never had a formal partnership or any legal agreement with ASLA, despite our efforts over the past two years to develop one.”    ASLA states : ” The SITES trademarks were developed th…

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In regards to the ASLA SITES Petition update,  publicly airing dirty laundry is rarely a good idea.  Particularly when it is smattered with childish comments and obviously intended to discredit a former partner.  Landscape Architects and many others in the site design industry have worked tirelessly to prove our value to the green building in…[Read more]

The legal petition from ASLA and the formal response from UT definitely tell two different sides of the story.  Regardless of which side you fall, we should all agree that litigation is not good for SITES or the profession as a whole.  SITES v2 and the reference guide are scheduled to be released in the next couple months and projects will f…[Read more]

Charles – you obviously have not read SITES closely or either don’t understand it.  It is a performance base metric – the opposite of prescriptive design.  Also, I challenge you to certify a project.  In my work, I have found that those who believe they have been “doing it for 40 years” have great difficulty meeting the minimum criteria.  

Interesting.  Two entities fighting over who will make money selling another guide to prescriptive design.  There is nothing new in the SITES project except adding points up to get to some magical level so you can pin a gold star on your wall.  We really don’t need another entity telling us how to design sustainable projects.  We have been doi…[Read more]