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Reframing nature in the built environment
Key insights from our BREEAM webinar: A Growing Space – Refocusing Priorities on Nature.
Jen Dudley, Product Manager for Residential Housing at BRE
About Jen Dudley
Jen is dedicated to science research and the development of international certification products that promote sustainability in the built environment.
She works with customers and multi-functional teams to deliver science-led schemes that support market needs and drive continuous improvements.
Nature is a global priority, and the subject of the fourth session in our BREEAM webinar series: A Growing Space – Refocusing Priorities on Nature. I chaired a panel of leading voices from architecture, ecology, consultancy, and government and the session explored how the built environment can — and must — work in harmony with nature.
While carbon and climate resilience have long dominated sustainability conversations, nature is now stepping into the spotlight. As panellist Sophie Hazza, Head of Nature Services at Longevity Partners noted, “We’ve had carbon tunnel vision for the past 20 years. But nature is finally being recognised as a material topic for business and policy.”
This shift is being driven by frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Global Biodiversity Framework, which are helping organisations understand their dependencies and impacts on nature.
Why is nature harder to tackle?
Nature’s complexity is both its beauty and its challenge. Unlike carbon, which can be measured in tonnes, biodiversity is dynamic, site-specific, and difficult to quantify. As Ben Mitchell, Principal Ecologist from the Ministry of Justice said, “Nature is messy, variable, and inconvenient. But it’s also essential.”
This complexity has historically made it harder to integrate nature into ESG frameworks and investment decisions. But that’s changing.
Breaking down silos
A recurring theme we discussed throughout the webinar was the interconnectedness of nature with other sustainability goals:
- Carbon: Soil and plant systems are key to carbon sequestration.
- Resilience: Green infrastructure helps mitigate flooding and urban heat.
- Social impact: Access to nature improves mental health and community wellbeing.
Morgan Taylor, Director at Greengage Environmental explained, “Nature isn’t one thing — it’s everything. We need to stop treating it as separate from our systems and start embedding it into them.”
Financing nature: The next frontier
One of the biggest challenges is funding. Public money alone won’t be enough. Mark Topliff, Natural Capital Consultant from Knight Frank highlighted the need to attract private finance by making nature-based projects investable. “We need to show that nature can deliver measurable returns — whether that’s flood risk reduction, asset value uplift, or carbon offsets.”
These updates aim to make nature more measurable, actionable, and integrated into the design and construction process.
What’s next for industry?
At BRE we are introducing updates to BREEAM Version 7 to enable projects to put greater focus on nature, including:
- A refreshed Land Use and Ecology category.
- Alignment with new metrics like Biodiversity Net Gain and the Urban Greening Factor.
- A two-tier assessment approach: Foundation (for low ecological risk sites) and Comprehensive (requiring a qualified ecologist).
- Enhanced alignment with global biodiversity goals.
The panel discussion closed with a call to action: raise the profile of nature in ESG, measure embodied ecological impacts across supply chains, and rethink growth itself.
As Jonathan Mizzi of Mizzi Studio commented, “We are nature. And if we can get people to fall in love with the natural world, they’ll go on to protect it.”
Missed the webinar?
A full recording of the session, along with links to previous webinars on carbon, resilience, and social impact is now available.
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