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The Trees and Design Action Group (TDAG), brings together individuals, professionals, academics and organisations from wide ranging disciplines in both the public and private sectors to improve knowledge and good practice to support the role of urban trees through better collaboration in the planning, design, construction and management and maintenance of our urban places.
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Sue’s particular expertise and specialist knowledge and advocacy is around the use of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). She contributed to the CIRIA SuDS Manual and was lead author for the SuDS Construction Guidance for both new developments and retrofitting. How to integrate trees and Sustainable Drainage Systems is one of the issues regularly raised by TDAG supporters.
However, Sue’s engagement in SuDS is part of a desire to see the approach to urban landscapes embrace the broadest extent of climate change, where water, trees, SuDS and landscape as a whole can make a major contribution towards reducing the effects of climate change. Sue immediately agreed to be a TDAG Trustee when invited explaining that “I have always had a love of woodland, and considered forestry as a career. I cherish the time I spend walking in our local woods, and am increasingly saddened by the felling and death of so many trees. I am keen to support TDAG on its mission, as adapting our environment to create attractive and resilient towns and cities is a major challenge for us all.” Sue will be talking about SuDS at the TDAG meeting on 12th May 2022 (see our Events page for details). A successful three days at Futurebuild 2022 for urban trees!
The Trees and Design Action Group, supported by Defra, the Forestry Commission and GreenBlue Urban, curated the Urban Tree Knowledge Hub at Futurebuild 2022 from 1-3 March. Six research partners – University of Birmingham/BIFoR; Forest Research; Global Centre for Clean Air Research, University of Surrey; Branching Out/Loughborough University; Royal Horticultural Society and University Centre Myerscough – offered the latest research on urban trees alongside the Institute of Chartered Foresters and the Arboricultural Association. Despite the difficulties of tube strikes on days 1 and 3, attendance was good especially on the second (non-strike) day. The partnership brought an interesting breadth of research and practice into the heart of the sustainable built environment with accompanying talks in the near-by Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Pavilion. These will be available on the TDAG website shortly. 
On receiving the honour, Sue said, “this is also in recognition of the work that the Trees and Design Action Group has done since its first meeting in 2007 and the contributions that the many people involved have made over the years…and continue to make.”
Sue is a chartered architect but, as with other members of her profession, has long recognised the vital role that trees play, particularly in creating healthy, liveable urban environments for all. Trees are climbing up the agenda as seen in both government policy and the greater understanding of the multiple benefits that they deliver, but, in order to protect and increase our urban and rural tree cover it is vital that we all continue to collaborate to ‘work together for better places’.
Tony has had a distinguished 43 year career as Head of the Arboretum, Gardens and Horticultural Services at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, responsible for the management and curation of over 14,000 trees.
Following the impact of the great storm of 1987 he participated in and led several plant collecting expeditions to Chile and the Far East. He is the author and co-author of several books – some covering his travels and others offering practical guidance such as the Pruning of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers (2004), the Haynes Workshop Manual of Trees (2019) and his latest book to be published in September 2021 Growing Trees and is a general guide to growing trees in the garden. In 2019 he was awarded an MBE for services to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Arboriculture, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Victoria Medal of Honour and the Arboricultural Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
TDAG believes trees can and should have a key role in creating better places and value for people, both aesthetically and functionally. National and local governments, along with professional institutions and associations are increasingly aware of the benefits trees deliver, not least their role in adaptation and mitigation to the threats of climate and ecological breakdown. Our new guide addresses the main issues for the key audience of planners, developers, designers and other stakeholders.
The guide is designed to facilitate a better understanding and to secure the range of returns trees offer new developments, and will be periodically updated to reflect any changes in planning and associated policies. It also complements Trees in Hard Landscapes: A Guide for Delivery, and is the second companion to Trees in the Townscape: A Guide for Decision Makers. All guides are freely available on our website. As with all TDAG documents, careful research has been supported by a wide range of contributors and the results reviewed by an equally diverse range of industry experts. Available here.
This draft document has been released by Homes England as a companion to Building for a Healthy Life and Manual for Streets. It provides that vital missing element of what good, adopted residential streets should look like and how they should function. TDAG is pleased to be a member of the Sounding Board and supports this document as a valuable addition to the growing body of knowledge focused on ‘how to get it right’. Streets for a Healthy Life is referenced in TDAG’s own Trees, Planning and Development: A Guide for Delivery. Both documents are designed to be read on line and revised over time.
Available here: 
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