Like many small businesses, it all began around the kitchen table (if it’s not there, it’s down the pub!).We had settled on a name — nobody can remember who takes the credit — Planit. We called ourselves. ‘Environmental Development Consultants’ rather than Landscape Architects, and so we started life as Planit EDC. We needed a logo, so we came up with one based on a cross between a tree and a globe, used in place of the ‘T’. We had no brand or heritage, so we ran with it for a few years.

Then, we started to do more and more things, moving towards the interdisciplinary practice we are today. We got our first brand consultancy in to give us a new name and look and became “Planit-IE”. The IE stood for Intelligent Environments and represented our growing range of services — i.e. we do this, and that, and the other. The logo design could be interpreted as a thumbprint, or the growth rings of a tree.

Over the years, the IE has served us well, but we were periodically asked: ‘Are you from Ireland’ and ‘Why are you called PIE?’. Fast forward to today and we’ve built up heritage and a strong reputation. We knew we needed to be careful with both.

Celebrating our 25th year in 2023 has come at the end of eighteen months of change and reflection for the practice. It has been an ideal opportunity to look back on the work we have delivered, our partners, and to look forward to our role in the next 25 and beyond.

Over this time, we’ve gained excellent ‘knowledge through doing,’ but our biggest challenge is our impact in reducing global greenhouse emissions and helping the world to recover.

We have a head start. Our lifeblood has been, and still is, nature-led design — planting, growing, nurturing — in the countryside, within towns and cities — putting people and nature at the heart.

Alongside the invaluable insights from our client and partner External Perceptions Study in 2022, we felt ready to go with the final aspect of our change project — our rebrand. Through this we would better reflect who we had become over the last two and a half decades; what our purpose is for the decades ahead and how we would define and deliver Planit’s mission.

Enter brand agency number two — Sheffield’s Peter and Paul. We gave them a carefully considered and detailed re-brand brief highlighting our ambition for the new Planit to: leverage our depth of knowledge and experience to become a force for positive environmental change; support the built environment to decarbonise; and bring about nature recovery and social impact.

The brief had only two provisos:
1 Drop the IE
2 Keep the Planit

At the same time, we set-up various working groups across the business to explore how we would, and if we could, deliver our ambitions.

Fast forward 10 months, some great creative sessions with Peter & Paul, and we’ve reached the end of the journey formulating Planit’s new brand strategy. And we’re excited. Excited to start Planit’s next chapter and see the difference we can make to our clients, society and critically the planet:
When we design for the living world, today, tomorrow and the next 250 years, and deliver our promise — To Create Regenerative Places.

We’re under no illusion that this won’t be a straight road and there’s no simple solution. But through collective experience, collaboration and creativity we are determined.

We’re Committed

We’ve made five significant changes to the company over the last three years to enable us to guide Planit’s journey and deliver on our new purpose, mission, and brand promise.

B Corp Recertification

In 2020, we became a certified B Corp and submitted for recertification. B Corp pushed us to be braver and more ambitious with our climate and carbon commitments. The Triple Bottom Line drives the practice and our teams to ensure we deliver the highest standards in our social and environmental impact.

Embracing the Pathfinder Climate Positive Design Toolkit

We are collaborating with Pamela Conrad, the founder of the Climate Positive Design toolkit in the USA, to help tailor the Pathfinder programme for the UK market. By working alongside other built environment professionals, manufacturers, suppliers, and developers, we’re helping to advance data-driven tools that enable anyone working in infrastructure design and delivery to reach a regenerative future.

Regenerative Practice

In 2021, we launched our dedicated Regenerative Practice studio at the Long Barn in the village of Standish in Gloucestershire. Led by Planit’s Co-Founder, Ed Lister and colleague Ben Webb, we have established and grown Planit’s Net Positive to Regenerative Pathways Programme to help us and our clients on their journeys to move beyond sustainable. We will host the first of our regenerative client workshops in the autumn.

Employee Ownership

In 2022, Planit became Employee Owned. There is compelling research to show that a combination of shared ownership and employee participation fosters more engagement, innovation, productivity and sustainability. Many of our projects run for decades but will impact for centuries. We are not going anywhere.

Interdisciplinary Approach

Planit is an interdisciplinary practice. We can deliver a single service but have the unique ability to provide collaborative solutions that better deliver tangible results to the planet’s challenges. Our co-dependent services are: Landscape Architecture, Urban Strategy and Design, Urban Story Doing, Visual Impact Assessment and Visual Storytelling.

We hope you like the new Planit vision and look. Tell us what you think on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.