There have been such great changes in legislation, official guidance, the British Standards and the techniques used in landscape and external works since the third edition was written ten years ago that the Handbook has been totally rewritten for this edition. This new edition of the Handbook provides a guide to planning and landscape law, a review of computer-aided design techniques for landscape designers, together with guidance on data to be collected during first site visits. The opportunity has been taken to change the format of the work sections to comply with SMM7 to make it easier to find specific items and to read in conjunction with the current edition of Spon's Landscape and External Works Price Book. The SMM7 sections are now divided into four parts - General Guidance, British Standards, Data and Outline Specification. Diagrams, typical drawings and photographs illustrate each section. The useful bibliography has been updated and revised.