Services

  • Landscape Architecture, Urban Design

    SpruceLab Inc. is a full service landscape architecture consultancy. Products and services include master plans, concept plans, site plan applications, tree planting and protection plans, construction drawings, and contract administration. We will work with you to develop innovative plans, designs and programs that fit your needs and budget. And we also offer professional peer review to add value to and confidence in your project. See examples here.

  • Urban & Regional Planning

    We specialize in urban design as well as community and stakeholder engagement, and Indigenous engagement and consultation, applying our unique and effective co-design process throughout. Other planning services include urban design guidelines, standards, streetscape design, master plans, and obtaining government approvals. Deeply dedicated to our vocations, we take the time required to truly understand your project and the place and people involved.

  • Indigenous Co-Design

    Relationships are at the core of what we do. Working closely with Indigenous Peoples, we curate collaborative environments that are culturally appropriate, meaningful and successful, and we are deeply honoured to be trusted with this important work. Projects include First Nations community planning, Indigenous gathering spaces, healing garden design, food forest planting plans and advice, shoreline ecological restoration, and program development.

  • Green Infrastructure Design

    We design resilient landscapes to combat climate change and enhance ecological conditions. This involves using nature-based solutions to reduce the urban heat island effect, capture and treat stormwater runoff, improve biodiversity, and provide co-benefits such as health and ecological literacy. By working in a transdisciplinary way, we collaborate with experts and Knowledge Keepers to generate effective approaches to complex land-based problems, and that take stewardship and life-cycle asset management into account.

  • Training and Design Workshops

    Every client and community’s needs and projects are unique. Viewed as thought leaders in green infrastructure and Indigenous co-design, we have been requested to offer training and design workshops to engage people and build capacity across this work. See examples here.

    We also welcome writing and speaking opportunities to share our learnings with others, in the hopes of creating a more environmentally friendly and socially just society.

Contact Us

Our services are designed to achieve your vision.

See them in action.

Economic Reconciliation, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy

SpruceLab Inc. is committed to economic reconciliation by hiring and training Indigenous staff, through financial compensation and other support for Indigenous Advisors, collaborating with and engaging Indigenous artists and consultants, and also through our ‘Earth Tending’ paid Indigenous employment training program. We respect people from all races, cultures, sexuality / gender expression, age, abilities, and backgrounds in our work. As we evolve as a firm, we continue to seek ways to diversify and to support a stronger presence of Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour in our professions. This is to help right past wrongs, given much of the work of our professions has occurred on lands that were unfairly taken from Indigenous Peoples, and through systemic racism, has contributed to damages done to racially discriminated communities. It is also a response to the reality that while these fields are predominantly white, we need to create environments for a future that reflects all of us. Promoting diversity through supply chains is also a goal, undertaken by purchasing goods and services from diverse suppliers at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by an equity seeking community or social purpose enterprise. These communities include: Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis), racial minorities, new immigrants, and 2SLGBTQ peoples (Two-spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer). Just as biodiversity is essential to healthy ecosystems, inclusion and diversity is critical to healthy people and communities.

Consulting Policy

SpruceLab Inc. will not knowingly enter into a competitive bid process that involves bidding with or against a team with an Indigenous community recognized Elder(s) as a subconsultant. We encourage commitment to building long-term relationships with Elders, versus engagement on a project which has a beginning and an end. We believe that traditional protocols should be respected, and Elders should be honoured, properly compensated, engaged early on, and aligned with a project prior to requests for proposals or quotes. This is to avoid the following situations: Elders entering into a colonial procurement process that devalues their importance (viewed as a '‘service’ or commodity); creating a scenario of Elders placed in competition with each other (versus consensus); Elders entering into a project that fails to truly meet their needs and concerns; and other issues that may arise within the typical client/consultant relationship dynamic.

Social Procurement Policy

SpruceLab Inc. is committed to promoting diversity in the workforce and supply chain by purchasing goods and services from diverse suppliers, meaning those that are at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by an equity seeking community or social purpose enterprise. These communities include: Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis), racial minorities, new immigrants, and 2SLGBTQ peoples (Two-spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer). We strive to hire Indigenous subconsultants on projects, work with Indigenous youth, and engage Indigenous services wherever possible. SpruceLab Inc. is dedicated to being socially responsible and working with individuals and organizations to implement this policy wherever possible.

Sustainability Policy

In all instances, SpruceLab Inc. considers the impacts of our practice on future generations, the Land, Water, and all living creatures, striving for a future of co-evolution. This involves planning and designing landscapes with green stormwater infrastructure, restoring ecosystems, specifying trees to be planted in healthy growing conditions, and sourcing local materials and fabricators to lower carbon footprints. Our designs focus on soil conservation on site to limit greenhouse gas emissions due to transportation, and to increase the success rate of ecological restoration. We take public transit, bike, walk, and carpool where possible, and design places that encourage and support others to do the same. We also limit printing on paper to instances only where necessary to not contribute to additional tree loss, use recycled paper and materials, and re-use and recycle where possible.