Go Get Some Fresh Air. No, Really.

This morning, we had the pleasure of hosting the BCO Scotland breakfast panel on biophilic design, chaired by me and sponsored by OOBE. I was joined by three exceptional panellists — Greg Meikle, landscape architect, Bernie Carr, architectural environmental specialist, and Gordon Yeaman, workplace interior designer — for what turned out to be one of those conversations you leave still thinking about. Thank you to BCO Scotland and OOBE for making it happen, and to everyone who joined us for breakfast and stayed for the discussion.

I was genuinely excited when BCO Scotland asked me to chair this panel. Biophilic design and landscape architecture keep coming up in conversations with some of the most visionary people I've been lucky enough to spend time with — Tim Heatley, Peter Kerr, to name just two. And I wanted answers. Why is something that can make such a profound difference — to our health, our mental wellbeing, and the commercial success of a project — so consistently overlooked? So often left to the end, when the budget is tight and the cuts have to start somewhere.

Through my judging for the Herald Property Awards, I've seen it from both sides. Developments where more attention to the outdoor space would have made them significantly more compelling — and developments where that investment was made, and it showed. The difference is not subtle.

So I was grateful for the chance to sit down with Greg Meikle, Bernie Carr and Gordon Yeaman — three genuinely inspiring voices approaching the same issue from completely different angles: landscape architecture, architectural environmental science, and workplace interior design.

Here's some of what I took away.

The outdoors can support recovery from trauma. Even a "not very glamorous" view from your office window is better than no view at all. Natural plants — and we were all firmly agreed that artificial ones are not a substitute — do something to us that goes beyond aesthetics. They change. They grow. They blossom. That aliveness is what lifts us. It makes the spaces we inhabit feel more human.

Bernie made a point that has stayed with me: being kept at a constant 21 degrees is neither natural nor good for us. We need to be able to move between cooler and warmer spaces. Temperature variation is part of what it means to feel alive in a space.

We also talked about the role that landscape and public realm could play in urban regeneration — and this is where it got a little closer to home. Neal Hemingway from Threesixty Architecture raised something that feels both obvious and quietly radical: Glasgow has so many unused plots of land sitting idle while developments are planned. Could we not activate them as green spaces in the meantime? Temporary, yes — but meaningful.

And then I went a little off-script. Because I would genuinely love for "Candleriggs Square" to become an outdoor space rather than another tall building. Imagine a proper square — somewhere people could gather, enjoy an ice cream in the sunshine, maybe even a bandstand. Every café and business in the area would benefit. The whole neighbourhood would feel different. The Japanese have been doing this for years — creating dense, immersive woodland spaces right in the heart of their cities. We could take a leaf out of that book. Literally.

The old instruction to "go get some fresh air" turns out to be excellent advice. It boosts productivity, reduces stress, and improves mental health. We've always known this. It's time we started designing like we mean it.