Our Services
We aim to provide high quality and sustainable landscapes, working from the smallest scale: urban courtyards, domestic gardens and pocket parks, to large scale master planning projects as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Landscape Design Consultancy
Offering full design service from project inception either as part of a larger design team or as a sole practitioner, including concepts and sketch proposals, master planning and detailed design, through to contact administration, inspection and completion of works on site.
The Practice has a wide range of experience in the following areas of landscape and urban design:
- Planting and soft works, including establishment of semi mature trees, ornamental and amenity planting, native planting, particularly habitat creation, land reclamation and ground modelling, e.g. creation of lakes and pools, and works associated with Sustainable Drainage Schemes (SuDS);
- Hard landscaping including design of paving and all forms of enclosure, including bespoke metalwork, placement and design of site furniture, fittings and artworks. Exploration of new ideas and materials for landscape works e.g. use of
- Recycled glass, corten steel;
- Feasibility studies;
- Master planning.
Landscape Assessment
The Practice has both reviewed and prepared a number of Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments (LVIA’s) for both commercial clients and local authorities. These have included single assessments for one off developments, particularly housing and renewable energy, but also borough wide assessments to assist local authorities in determining future
development opportunities.
Community Engagement
Our experience covers:
- Working directly with community groups to enable them to improve their neighbourhood, from concept through to achieving their ideas in reality;
- Working with clients to ensure that local people are appropriately involved in the design process;
- Organising community workshops, action days and exhibitions;
- Collaborating with other specialists in community involvement such as artists and youth workers.
Other Services
- Preparation of cost estimates and bills of quantities;
- Provision of hand drawn sketches to illustrate concepts and more detailed proposals;
- Planning applications and negotiations including expert witness appearance at public inquiries;
- Preparation of management plans and manuals associated with scheme design;
- Contract supervision of designs done by others, for instance when funders require independent practitioners;
Other activities
Penny Bennett has been a Green Flag judge of parks since 2004 and has taught as an occasional tutor at both Manchester University and Manchester Metropolitan University. The Practice regularly participates in ideas competitions, frequently collaborating with other design professionals, and uses this as an opportunity to develop and hone new ideas and
techniques.
Schools and Community
The Practice has worked with many school and community groups to help them get projects off the ground, initially providing sketch ideas to enable projects to get funding and then developing the schemes further through the planning system and ultimately to completion on site.
Using the outdoor environment to enhance the school curriculum is becoming recognised as an invaluable opportunity for schools and the Practice encourages schools to involve pupils in the design and development of outdoor spaces and has run workshops to facilitate this.
Parks Play and Open Space
The Practice has worked with local authorities as well as developers, in particular Lancashire County Council’s Environments Projects Team to improve and redevelop a number of parks and green spaces. A key component of this has been close liaison with the community enable them to create spaces which are appropriate for local users. Opportunities are taken to bring in new ideas, for example incorporating sustainable drainage features, or introducing new habitats to support pollinators.
The Practice has developed a particular expertise in designing for natural play, using simple low-key elements, ground modelling and planting to create exciting and inspirational places for children to explore, play and learn.
Rural Design Habitat Creation and Conservation
The Practice has worked on many schemes where the protection and enhancement of existing habitats and the creation of new habitats has been an important component. Development in rural areas will often need to conform to quite specific planning requirements and developers are increasingly being called upon to consider what environmental enhancements can be achieved to minimise the impact of schemes on the wider environment and the Practice can advise on effective ways of achieving this.
Residential
The Practice has worked with developers to design sensitive and appropriate proposals throughout the North West. Whether you need help with proposals for a small urban infill site or a larger greenfield site with challenging planning requirements, we can help you develop practical and sustainable solutions.
Health Care
It is now widely recognised that high quality environments, and particularly access to attractive green space, has a positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of patients, as well as visitors and staff. The Practice has worked with two local hospices to radically redevelop their grounds to create beautiful spaces where patients can enjoy respite and visitors relax and is currently developing expertise in the specialist needs of dementia care patients.
Roads and Roadside Improvements
The Practice has extensive experience of road design and the development of roadside planting whether to enhance the natural environment in rural areas or using more dramatic planting design in built up areas.
Commercial, Industrial and Urban Design
The Practice has worked with several clients in the commercial sector where high quality hard landscaping and innovative planting is often the key to a successful scheme.
Garden Design Archaeology and Heritage
The Practice has considerable experience of designing gardens for private clients throughout the north west and Yorkshire. We offer a basic service to provide a sketch master plan, which can then be developed to provide full planting plans if required. Where there have been particular constraints relating to historic buildings and landscapes the design approach has taken account of these.
Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments and reviews
The Practice has worked with local authorities and developers throughout the north west to provide assessments and review LVIAs by others. For most of the clients that we work with, an informal landscape and visual assessment (LVA) which is not part of a full EIA (environmental impact assessment) is sufficient.
LVA’s are most effective where they are initiated at the start of a project and they can be used as an iterative design tool to inform the design, and where the Practice is able to carry out the landscape design or work closely with the designers.
The Practice carries out assessments in accordance with the Guidelines for Visual and Landscape Assessments produced by the Landscape Institute and the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment.
Like what you have seen so far and think that we can help you?
We work with clients from all sectors and walks of life. If you’ve got a project, get in touch and we can have a conversation. This website showcases some of the Practices’ work; please contact us if you would like further information about what we do and how we could help you.
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