It takes a special kind of design team with an eye for detail and a flexible flare to enter the specialty market of project rehabilitation.

As land costs escalate and prime land, in some areas of the United States, diminishes, more and more land owners are trying to generate greater profits and revenue by managing their existing assets, be it commercial, institutional, housing or park projects. Land owners are turning to developers, architects and landscape architects to improve and rehabilitate their existing property?EUR??,,????'??+a new trend that holds interesting possibilities for landscape architecture.

Though rehabilitation is a specialty concept familiar to the planning and design of historic sites, there is actually another division, that of shopping centers and housing projects, encompassing more of a promotional marketing aspect. Promotional rehabs are interesting because of a new trend in shopping centers and today’s consumers.

Shopping Center Rehabs

Consumers in 1987 have become more discriminating than ever. No longer do they comb mega malls, buying on a whim as they pass dozens of small specialty shops. Consumers today know what they want and like to go straight to it, thus the growing popularity of multi-faceted stores such as Kmart, Best, Target and Sportmart, and the specialty destination shopping center.

“Developers are buying shopping centers that were built in the 1960s 3; and establishing a new marketing program by adding a couple of major stores,” says Weir. “And, they are developing a completely new profile by attracting other specialty shops for just the right tenant mix.”

In addition to enhancing the architectural structure, the challenge for the landscape architect with shopping centers becomes, in a growing number of cases, the ability to make a statement on a minimal amount of space. “What has happened in Orange County, for instance, is that the land value is so high that you end up with the largest building footprint possible on very small square footage,” says Weir. “Compound this with parking requirements and a landscape architect is left with a very small percentage of area in which to make a statement.”

Housing Rehabs

The challenge of the LA, then, is to restore the screen planting of the original concept, and add color and life through flowering shrubs and annual color designed in highly visible areas and strategic locations.

The existing landscape needs to be “cleaned-up”, and a new design implemented that is more manageable and cost effective from a maintenance standpoint.

Whereas shopping centers are almost a complete renovation, housing and apartment projects are more of a pick and save. Augmenting what is already existing and deemed positive becomes a greater challenge; not only is it on a larger scale, but you also have irrigation concerns. Modifications of existing irrigation systems must occur to meet the new landscape design, whereas entire new systems must be designed for shopping centers.

Historical Rehabs

A much more specialized field in a wide open market is the historical rehab. Restoring authenticity through research is the goal. Typically, this rehab consists of restoring historic estates and parks and other formal garden-type settings that were popular throughout the early 1900s.

Generating an adequate fee is the most difficult with historic rehabs because of the time required in all the additional research and detail. “It’s difficult to sell somebody on the idea that you’ve got to spend three extra weeks researching a site,” says Weir.

“Owners think it should be integral to your process, but it really isn’t. It provides the setting or basis for designing it as a regular project.” Also all the work is original and can’t be reused which adds on to the construction documentation phase. “You’re drawing 35 original details rather than reusing details that are common construction techniques.”

On the other hand, Weir noted that there may be recognition by a historical society for such a unique project.

The Rehab Process: Site Surveying

The first step in the process of any rehab is to analyze what exists there by visiting the site and studying existing civil engineer plans, utility inventories, landscape and irrigation plans. The goal of the site survey is to establish a list of positive and negative elements.

Though such a site survey is the hardest phase to pin down from a fee standpoint, Weir stresses the importance of a thorough inventory and an attention to detail. “For example, you need to be sensitive to root zones and you need to spend a lot of time with the civil engineer in order to acquire adequate space for existing trees if, for instance, parking expansion is planned.

After the site survey is accomplished and a “demolition plan” reached, a new basis has been established for the design and it can now be treated like an ordinary working drawing package.

The Design Phase

Next, a rough design concept that works with and augments positive existing elements of the area is developed. “For instance, if there’s an opportunity for a series of existing trees to make a statement, we can come in and augment them with new trees of the same variety,” says Weir.

Although the design is at this point treated no differently than other working drawings, Weir noted the need for flexibility when certain details, overlooked in the site survey, are uncovered in the construction phase.

The Construction Phase

It is just these unforeseen details uncovered in the construction phase that sets apart a rehab’s day-to-day construction from any other project. “The landscape architect almost becomes like a builder. You have that kind of a relationship (with the contractor) as opposed to strolling into the site and saying, ‘Geez, this isn’t quite how I pictured it.’ You can’t be that casual about it because you’ve got to give the contractor firm direction in resolving any unforeseen problems.”

Weir underlined three common problems that have come up in past projects. First, water shut-off valves or other utilities can often be in a location where a certain plant has been specified. The utility has been overlooked because of the overgrown plant material and was not uncovered until the construction demolition process.

Trenching for new irrigation piping through existing planters can often be a problem with plant roots becoming so hard and compacted that piping will have to be routed around these overlooked obstructions.

Another problem is finding room for large box trees. There may already be a large existing tree on one side of the planter pit and existing underground utilities on the other side. The question is, do you remove the existing tree, plant the tree with a different orientation, or not put a tree there at all?

As of now, rehab work will remain a specialty, but as the trend of asset management by developers continues, it takes a thorough, flexible design team willing to take on the role of designer-as-builder to tackle the specialty market of rehabilitation.