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Our environments provide the setting for childhoods, holidays, friendships and many joyful life events
Landscape Planning
Rooted in place
We think outside the box, ensuring that new developments are intrinsically linked to their surrounding landscape – be that urban or rural. Responding to context is critical to successful placemaking. We enjoy getting to grips with a site’s constraints and finding the opportunities that lie amongst them. As landscape planners, understanding the bigger picture enables us to make robust recommendations to guide the promotion of sites through every stage of the planning process. It is a thread which runs across all aspects of our design work and ensures that we secure allocations and permissions, but if needed can be confidently defended at Appeal. A number of the team have Expert Witness experience.
Landscape Design
Creating settings for childhoods, holidays, romances, retirements and joyful life events
We work hard to make our projects remarkable so that they endure in the memories of all who experience them. Through understanding the contextual landscape or townscape and leading the design process with this knowledge, we weave green and blue infrastructure and new built form to create mosaics which add positively to the places they are set within. We are cognisant that communities need sufficient space and places to breathe, and by allowing the right amount of space, we create places that grow and flourish. The benefits of nature on mental health and wellbeing is well-documented, as is the connection with psychological and physical health. Our projects aim to preserve and increase biodiversity, and help reverse the climate breakdown using nature’s innate ability to capture carbon.
Masterplanning & Urban Design
Designing for people and nature to co-exist
We adopt a collaborative design process to co-create resilient neighbourhoods, in which people from all walks of life can thrive. Our mission is to create places of joy, enhancing the world in which we live. By designing with nature and for people, we create places that are happy, healthy and memorable. We take a holistic approach, which recognises the close links between climate, biodiversity and ecosystem decline, health and wellbeing, and social and economic inequality. We deliver comprehensive masterplans across a variety of sectors and scales.
Planning Appeals
Turning refusals into opportunities
When planning applications are refused, a well-considered Appeal can provide the opportunity to demonstrate the strength of a proposal and secure a positive outcome. We work alongside planning consultants, architects, developers and landowners to prepare clear, evidence-based urban design and landscape input that responds directly to the reasons for refusal. From Design Statements and Proofs of Evidence, to expert witness support at hearings and public inquiries, we present compelling arguments that demonstrate how proposals meet planning policy, respect local character and deliver high-quality places. Our experience across residential, mixed-use and regeneration projects enables us to navigate complex planning issues and help unlock development potential through the Appeals process.
Arboriculture
Trees are good for the soul
The benefits of trees in supporting healthy living are extensive – from fighting air pollution to improving mental health and overall wellbeing. We adopt the approach of ‘right tree, right place’ and seek to not only advise on the planting of trees for mitigation and compensation, but also and more importantly, to ensure the establishment of planted trees, so they reach their full potential and fully provide these benefits. Properly managed, trees increase the value of places, since healthy trees enhance the environment for people and wildlife, reduce energy costs and provide a quiet, peaceful atmosphere. We provide expert knowledge to help manage trees within both urban and rural environments, helping to preserve existing trees and shrubs, and advising on their management or removal when retention is not possible. We also help to diagnose issues and provide solutions to keep our landscape and trees healthy and attractive to look at.
Collaborative Engagement
The life of a place stems from the people that use it
The community is the expert. Exposing and incorporating their ideas is essential to creating a successful and vibrant neighbourhood. The people who use a place regularly provide the most valuable insights into how an area functions and they can also help identify the issues that are important to consider. Places are shaped by their community, and we put their needs and aspirations at the heart of everything we do. We connect, listen to and understand all parties, balancing the interests of developers and local communities, and finding common ground between social responsibility and commerciality. Human-centred design can only come through effective collaboration.
Visualisations
Bringing ideas to life
Powerful visualisations bring ideas to life, helping clients, stakeholders and communities understand proposals with confidence. We produce a range of high-quality graphics, from concept sketches and illustrative masterplans, to photorealistic views, 3D visualisations and animations, tailored to every stage of the design and planning process. Whether supporting public consultation, planning applications, design review or marketing, our visualisations communicate complex information clearly and accurately. Combining technical precision with creative storytelling, we create compelling imagery that captures the vision of a place while remaining grounded in deliverable design.
Success