Advancing nature-based design,
governance and retrofit across Wales
Wales has the opportunity to lead a new kind of transition. One that places nature, community, and long-term thinking at the heart of how we design, build and govern.
Biophilic Living and Design
Biophilia is a fast growing concept and innovative endeavour to revolutionise 21st century living.
Biophilic Wales connects research, policy and practice to help shape Wales's transition toward becoming a biophilic nation.
Nature-Based Retrofit
Reimagining homes, neighbourhoods and post-industrial landscapes through biophilic design.
Policy and Governance Innovation
Aligning design principles with Welsh legislative frameworks to embed long-term ecological thinking.
Research and Evaluation
Developing evidence, tools and frameworks to measure environmental, social and wellbeing outcomes.
Collaboration and Co-Creation
Bringing together researchers, policymakers, practitioners and communities to shape systematic change.
Our work generates:
- Policy briefs and legislative insights
- Academic research and publications
- Evaluation frameworks and scorecards
- Design guidance and practical tools
- Creative and public engagement outputs
By linking evidence to implementation, we aim to accelerate meaningful change.
Wales combines industrial heritage, ecological vulnerability and legislative innovation in a way that is globally distinctive.
Across south and west Wales, communities are navigating the transition from carbon-intensive industries to more sustainable futures. At the same time, the Welsh policy context encourages long-term thinking, collaboration and preventative action.
Together, these conditions create a powerful testbed for biophilic transition and a model that can inform change beyond Wales.
Wales will demonstrate how nature positive, regenerative living can work in practice.
Reimagining Wales Through Nature
Wales was once at the forefront of the industrial revolution. Today, it can lead a different transformation. One rooted in ecological resilience and social wellbeing.
With pioneering legislation such as the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, Wales has created a policy landscape that supports long-term, integrated and preventative approaches to sustainability.
Biophilic Wales works at the intersection of design, governance and community to translate these ambitions into practice.
Project REPAIR: Retrofitting for the Future: Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Adaptation
Project REPAIR explores how biophilic design can transform existing buildings and communities into spaces that support biodiversity, climate resilience and human wellbeing.
Through transdisciplinary research and cross-sector collaboration, REPAIR develops practical approaches to embedding nature into retrofit, policy and place-based regeneration.
REPAIR at a glance
- What is REPAIR? A transdisciplinary research project exploring how biophilic design and nature‑based retrofitting can support climate resilience, nature recovery, and human wellbeing.
- Why now? Communities face increasing climate pressures—heat, flooding, storms, drought—and declining access to nature. Traditional infrastructure alone cannot meet these challenges.
- Our focus Understanding the real‑world barriers and enablers that shape biophilic living, especially in urban areas affected by long‑term underinvestment.
- Our testbed BIOME Swansea, a major retrofit of a former Woolworths building, serves as a living case study for biophilic design in practice.
- What we aim to deliver Evidence‑based frameworks, valuation insights, design principles, and new models of collaborative working that can be replicated across the UK and internationally.
- Who’s involved Researchers, practitioners, community partners, and an international advisory board spanning architecture, ecology, psychology, anthropology, economics, and cultural studies.