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• Twyford Abbey, Ealing

  2007 - ongoing

  Twyford Abbey is a Grade II listed convent on the English Heritage “At Risk Register”. Planning consent for residential development within the grounds has been sought in order to fund the restoration of the Abbey. We were called on as experts for the sensitive integration of the proposed buildings within the historic landscape. The site is covered by a Tree Preservation Order and Metropolitan Open Land designation, as well as being an area of special character, local importance, archaeological and nature conservation interest. All these designations require careful consideration in the formation of the landscape masterplan.

  51º32’5.794”N 0º17’6.853”W

• Royal Parks Skyspace, Westminster

  2003 - ongoing

  The Royal Parks appointed us to help protect areas and views of historic significance from potential intrusion by tall buildings proposals in the surrounding metropolis. We developed an innovative methodology for mapping the bottom plane of views out of the parks and coined the term “skyspace” to describe the area of clear sky needed above the views to avoid them being damaged. A notably successful defence includes the Millennium Tower, that was withdrawn and replaced by the lower “Gherkin”. Our work was recognised in 2003 by an EU Cultural Heritage Award Europa Nostra Medal.

  51º30’30.619”N 0º9’57.761”W

• RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Essex

  1995 - 2006

  The ambitious brief from the Royal Horticultural Society required a guiding plan for the expansion of the original private hilltop garden and conversion for public access. The plan was inspired by, and so incorporated, plant collections from the core garden. Visitor experience and the special characteristics of the place were our priorities. “The challenge was to expand a private paradise into a garden designed and maintained on a scale that people could relate to at home”. Our concept and design for the “dry garden” area, featuring plants from arid climates, is now one of the visitor highlights

  51º39’57.627”N 0º34’32.940”E

• Hampton Court, Surrey

  2003 - 2007

  Applications for inappropriate tall buildings were perceived as a threat to the remnant Arcadian setting of Hampton Court Palace. We were appointed to define the “skyspace” needed to safeguard the visual context of the Palace, using the same innovative sky mapping methodology we developed for protection of views in the Royal Parks. The resulting document became the position statement of the Historic Royal Palaces on the acceptability of tall buildings around Hampton Court.

  51º24’12.273”N 0º20’18.581”W

• Sir Harold Hillier Garden and Arboretum, Hampshire

  1994 - ongoing

  Following a competition amongst selected landscape practices, our winning masterplan for the gardens is being executed to bring order to what had been a massive but un-structured plant collection. The 50-year plan is still evolving but the basic form has now been established, including the location of the visitor centre, visitor circulation, viewlines and spatial organisation. Our “winter garden” creation boasts one of the largest collections of its type in Europe.

  51º0’36.396”N 1º27’24.125”W

• White Horse Hill, Oxfordshire

  1971 - 1975

  The National Trust estate at Uffington comprises a complex of ancient remains, including the 3000-year-old horse and a hill fort topping the Ridgeway escarpment. We were appointed to advise on visitor access including the location of a car park, which would give people an easy route to the chalk downland area. Our solution was to use a disused quarry to hide away the car parking, enabling visitors to enjoy unspoilt views of the ancient monuments, open countryside and striking vistas of the vale below. The project caught the imagination of television viewers, who voted the work as winner for a BBC Design Award.

• National Botanic Garden of Wales, Carmarthenshire

  1995 - 2004

  William Paxton’s 230-hectare 18th-century park is the setting for the first new botanic garden to be created in the UK in over 200 years. Following our guiding masterplan, the garden’s general organisation is arranged as a processional movement for visitors, who approach the heart of the garden gradually through a sequence of views and experiences. Original buildings survive, while special garden spaces have been created. An enchanting series of riverine lakes now wind along the valley in the centre of the site.

  51º50’32.998”N 4º8’50.883”W

• Padeswood Cement Works, North Wales

  1989 - 2008

  Because of our long association with the minerals industry and considerable experience in all aspects of the Environmental Impact Assessment process, we were asked by Castle Cement to carry out a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment study for a new kiln. We used innovative visualization techniques, including showing how different surface treatments for the vertical kiln tower would impact on views from the surrounding countryside. Planning permission was approved and Padeswood Cement Works now houses the most modern kiln in the UK.

  53º9’9.360”N 3º3’39.373”W

• Aberglasney Gardens, Carmarthenshire

  1994 - 2002

  We were involved in the rescue of this derelict property and helped transform it into what is now one of the finest public gardens in Wales. Our masterplan was inspired by the picturesque descriptions of 17th-century Aberglasney poet John Dyer, which informed the framework around which the complex gardens now flourish.

  51º52’46.336”N 4º3’47.764”W

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• Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill, Westminster and Camden

  1992 - 2009

  We were commissioned to conduct a major archival review, which culminated in a public exhibition on the history of the park at the Knapp Gallery and was accompanied by contemporary landscape watercolours of park scenes by Mike Ibbotson. Our research revealed that by 1832 the park had not flourished in line with Nash's original design intentions and our findings, along with more detailed studies of 19th-century private park tenants and early public areas, were subsequently used to influence a series of renovation and design projects by the Royal Parks Agency.

  51º31’53.570”N 0º9’17.264”W

• Leeds Castle Park and Lady Baillie Garden, Kent

  1995 - 2003

  A Conservation Management Plan was required in order to understand the complex framework and vistas of this unusual, large-scale medieval landscape and what this meant for visitor circulation and management. Our conservation work led to a prestigious commission to design a contemporary lakeside garden. The “Mediterranean” Lady Baillie Garden now provides visitors with a sheltered and tranquil space, which has been created through lushly planted brick terraces and timber pergolas.

  51º14’54.657”N 0º37’46.677”E

• Petworth Park, West Sussex

  2003 - 2006

  We were honoured to have the opportunity to research the history of this iconic Brownian masterpiece, famously immortalised in the paintings of Turner. With rare access to private family papers we were able to compile a groundbreaking, illustrated chronology of landscape development, including the revelation of Brown's impact on the greater landscape, in addition to the immediate mansion setting. These previously undiscovered findings were used to formulate a Restoration Management Plan for the park.

  50º59’27.996”N 0º36’49.050”W

• Buscot Park, Oxfordshire

  1997 - 2007

  In order to determine the best possible location for a new Summer House within the mansion grounds we conducted a full review of the landscape history. Painstaking research uncovered a wealth of new material and misattributed archival items. Their discovery not only led to a successful planning application, but also transformed the understanding of the history of the park and pleasure grounds, and now forms a major part of the revised property guidebook.

  51º40’10.755”N 1º38’59.106”W

• Witley Court, Worcestershire

  2001 - 2004

  Our competition-winning design for English Heritage created a new garden in what was formerly the Wilderness. We expanded the area open to the public and our creative inspiration came from a visual link between the wilderness garden and Nesfield’s Goddess Flora Fountain in the east parterre garden. Meandering informal paths through glades have glimpses back to the main formal gardens and pass locations designed to accommodate modern sculptures from a collection to be housed at Witley Court.

  52º16’54.712”N 2º20’21.227”W

• Trewarthenick, Cornwall

  2005 - 2007

  This exciting commission to rejuvenate a large Cornish country estate commenced with a Park and Pleasure Ground Conservation Plan that uncovered the work of WS Gilpln in addition to the known involvement of Humphrey Repton. The unbuilt Repton Red Book proposal for a new drive through the park was executed and we created a garden masterplan that allowed the extensions to the house and new garden buildings to be carefully integrated into the complex levels of the existing walled gardens, providing 21st-century facilities in an historic setting.

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• St. John’s Lodge, Regent’s Park, Westminster

  1992 - 1994

  We were given the task of the sensitive renovation of a hidden, but much loved public garden at the heart of Nash's urban masterpiece. Careful research of Robert Weir Schultz's late 19th-century Arts and Crafts design for the Marquess of Bute inspired our imaginative renovation framework. The richly planted English country garden compartments include partly concealed seating for private contemplation and the location of pergolas, statuary and garden ornaments.

  51º31’39.370”N 0º9’13.402”W

• Rosebank, Mill Hill, Barnet

  2005 - 2008

  Designed to exploit extensive views across a valley, our strategy, developed with Marks Barfield Architects, saw Rosebank house partially buried into a hillside slope with terraces arranged into a series of striking parallel steps leading down from a roof garden. This energy-efficient design would have wide-open views from the glazed façade. In contrast to the linear formality immediately surrounding the house, our design for the wider grounds used the natural springs to form wet meadows and pools, thus creating a charming, relaxed area of conservation value.

• Kingsmead, Surrey

  2005 - 2007

  A speculative developer required advice on the location of a new house in Kingsmead to support and secure planning consent. We designed the grounds, including setting the house at the top of the land to benefit from commanding views across surrounding paddocks. Having helped secure planning consent we completed detailed designs and supervised the implementation of the landscape works. The client successfully sold the property and estimated that, as a result of our contribution, its value had increased by £3 million.

• Ingliston House, Wentworth Estate, Surrey

  2005 - 2008

  Our landscape masterplan required the removal of large quantities of spoil to create a series of terraces, which would work to integrate a new house on a strongly sloping site. Our design also breathed new life into an overgrown, neglected garden area by creating a large axial lawn leading to a romantic woodland garden. The terraces flanking the house were developed into themed garden areas including a Mediterranean terrace, and an older “Arts and Crafts” style outbuilding was turned into a pool house and inspired the creation of a curved swimming pool and curved terrace to match.

• Alderbrook Estate, Surrey

  2008 - 2011

  We were appointed by the new owners of 400 acres of historic park and agricultural land to develop landscape proposals for the rejuvenation of the estate. This included the redesign of the gardens to create a natural setting for a contemporary family seat designed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt. The site is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the new building and rejuvenated landscape have the full support of the AONB Management Board.

• Medstead Grange, Hampshire

  2008 - 2009

  We worked in partnership with Adam Architects to convert a rural equestrian property from commercial riding centre to private residence. The new indoor school, manége and stable block were set in paddocks and informal gardens, surrounded by woodland. The wider landscape was enclosed by new shelterbelts, which protected the property as well as screening out unwanted elements in the views. Extensive informal gardens within a woodland setting surround the house connected with the geometry of the architecture through axes and avenues.

• Ewhurst Park, Hampshire

  2008 - ongoing

  We were commissioned to develop a landscape masterplan and detailed designs for the setting of a replacement country house in this fine estate. Our new garden designs dovetail naturally into the existing fabric of walled gardens and outbuildings with small private chapel, and the estate masterplan includes the restoration of lost lakeside parkland and improvements to approaches. A reworked main entrance to the estate is currently under construction alongside the gardens.

• Witcha House, Wiltshire

  2007 - 2010

  Our design for a simple open garden, with lawn running seamlessly into fields beyond, exploited the fine valley views to the front of this new country house. The terracing and small formal gardens were tucked to the side of the house, and a walled kitchen garden created behind a former chapel, connected to a new orchard.

• Kerandraon, Brittany, France

  1987 - 1990

  This seaside garden was created out of rampant undergrowth for a German owner who wanted exuberant planting for summer enjoyment. We opened up views of the sea and remodelled the steep ground to make new garden spaces. Using our experience of working on Cornish gardens to meet our client’s desire for an English style, we introduced sweeping lawns flanked by borders of deliberate horticultural virtuosity.

  48º6’8.285”N 4º24’36.858”W

• Martinstown, Ireland

  2005 - 2009

  Our masterplan reorganised an existing stud farm around a new country house, creating a new main drive through the stud to the house as well as extensive formal gardens around the property. Planting plans developed a framework of set-piece views to and from the house within the stud farm, as well as to the open countryside beyond, giving vistas to distant mountains. A sunken, Italianate garden was designed to bring light and planting interest to a basement pool area.

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• Minerva, Westminster

  1999 - 2003

  The property developer Minerva PLC invited us to participate in a limited entry design competition for a new courtyard as part of their redevelopment at 42 Wigmore Street. The architect’s proposals included a flight of steps in front of the building. Our scheme to lower the courtyard beyond the steps to address the building created an inviting entrance with luxuriant planting around the edges and a large feature tree overhanging the central area.

  51º30’59.596”N 0º8’51.271”W

• Cable and Wireless Training College, Warwickshire

  1990 - 1998

  Our client had a very clear vision for creating a landmark building in a stunning landscape. Working in partnership with MacCormac Jamieson Prichard Architects we achieved the perfect integration of building, landscape and external functions. Conceived in layers, the spaces pass from romantic free-form, to dense urban form. A series of internal courtyard gardens each have their own identity, but are joined by running water, which culminates at a small lake. A roof garden allows visitors and staff to enjoy extensive views over the site and countryside beyond.

  52º23’15.018”N 1º35’7.827”W

• Milton Park, Surrey

  2005 - 2010

  We were appointed to help secure planning consent for a speculative commercial development on a Grade II listed site. We advised on the position of the building within the historic landscape, rejuvenated the landscape setting, and designed herbaceous borders around a central lawn within the historic walled garden that created a break out space for staff, as well as an attractive prospect from the offices. Planning consent was achieved and the development was sold at a time when the commercial market was stagnating. It is now the UK headquarters for Belron, a major European company.

  51º24’50.820”N 0º33’2.792”W

• JCB, Staffordshire

  1988 - 1997

  Following a longstanding tradition of environmental improvement whenever modernization is carried out, JCB asked us to reconstruct the formerly ordinary factory approach to enhance the setting of the new reception and showroom facilities. The lakeshore beside the factory has been remodelled with flowing landforms and extensive new planting. The long factory front seen across one of several existing lakes is now set in a simple framework of trees and shrubs.

  52º57’15.854”N 1º50’42.214”W

• Hepworth, West Yorkshire

  1987 - ongoing

  We have a long-standing commission to design rural and woodland landscapes in restored clay quarries. A close working relationship with our client has ensured the consistent delivery of successfully vegetated schemes across challenging and dramatically re-levelled ground. This has helped establish the company’s good reputation for sensitive and considered restoration, which has played a critical role in the success of their ongoing planning applications.

  53º33’32.388”N 1º45’2.170”W

• Gale Common, Yorkshire

  1965 - 2005

  We were commissioned by the CEGB over a 40 year period to design a hill for the sensitive disposal of ash produced as a by-product of electricity production. We were inspired by the angular facets of chalk downland terraces to create a sculptured form to the artificial hill. We worked in partnership with the University of Sheffield on the groundbreaking techniques employed to bring our sculpted vision to life.

  53º41’26.006”N 1º9’13.759”W

• Roadford Reservoir, Devon

  1976 - 1991

  As landscape architects for the build of South West Water’s Roadford Reservoir, our treatment of the reservoir was inspired by the landform of the estuaries of South Devon, where gentle slopes meet waters edge. Much consideration was given to the shape of the dam, which is now curved for better integration with the land on either side. In order to create a reservoir that fitted naturally into the wider landscape, we reconnected severed field boundaries. In addition, we created woodlands and recreation areas, which were incorporated at strategic points around the water.

  50º42’13.472”N 4º13’44.579”W

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• SCORE, Waltham Forest

  2002 - 2004

  Score Trust approached us to help secure planning consent for a new community health and sports facility on a designated recreation ground in Leyton. We developed a strategy for flat pitches on a sloping site with trees framing views into the area, while shutting out views to surrounding streets. This meant we were able to increase the perception of greenery around the site’s periphery, even though the actual area of greenery was reduced. Planning consent was successfully secured, and working in partnership with a design and build contractor, we helped to deliver the external works.

  51º33’38.680”N 0º0’52.374”W

• Newington Green, Islington

  2001 - 2006

  We were appointed alongside Haworth Tompkins Architects to develop a proposal to replace a Grade II listed building with new student housing. Working closely with the architects to develop their concept of landscape pavilions, our proposal increased the perception of greenery across the site from the limited public vantage points. Views into the site were directed at existing or proposed trees, and the courtyards between the pavilions were set into the ground to reinforce the sense of place. Four previous attempts to secure consent had failed. Consent was granted and we were novated to the contractor to oversee the implementation of the external works.

  51º33’7.602”N 0º5’8.950”W

• St Mary’s University, Richmond upon Thames

  2006 - ongoing

  We were approached to provide landscape advice on the proposed development of a new sports hall within a site designated as Metropolitan Open Land. Careful consideration of the wider setting, and in particular public experience of the Metropolitan Open Land, informed our masterplan proposal for the project. Our plan focused on improving views by opening boundaries along the public pavement, and by the careful placing of trees to create a distant, treed skyline, where presently a building dominates.

  51º26’11.715”N 0º20’2.874”W

• Langley Park Hotel, Buckinghamshire

  2010 - ongoing

  Arab Investments appointed us to help discharge planning conditions relating to a planning application for the conversion of a listed mansion and gardens into a 5-star boutique hotel and spa. We advised on planting proposals and tree removals, demonstrating that public views to the historic house would be enhanced. Detailed proposals are currently being developed to support a planning application for a new outside swimming pool within the formal gardens, and an enlarged underground spa. We are advising on the depositing of development spoil within the listed parkland landscape setting, required to make the proposals financially viable.

  51º31’16.853”N 0º32’3.157”W

• Stowe Park Visitor Centre, Buckinghamshire

  2007 - 2009

  In order to assist the National Trust with the restoration of the gardens, we transcribed Victorian maps of the grounds onto modern surveys. Our understanding of the garden’s history helped obtain planning consent to transform the 18th-century coaching inn into a first-class visitor centre. The New Inn near the Corinthian Arch allows visitors once again to enter the gardens from the Bell Gate, with car parking neatly tucked away in an old extraction site.

• Holburne Museum, Bath

  2008 - 2010

  The Museum sits between Great Pulteney Street and Sydney Gardens on an axis that runs through all three. Building on our restoration plan for the gardens, we acted as landscape advisors on the transformation of the Museum, which included a spectacular modern extension with a garden café opening onto the gardens. We ensured that these works retained the subtle relationships between street, Museum and gardens.

  51º23’8.373”N 2º21’4.137”W

• Moulton Stud, Suffolk

  2007 - 2009

  A new stud farm for thoroughbred racehorses set in 200 acres of rolling countryside is being developed near Newmarket. In addition to extensive accommodation for the breeding horses and foals, we achieved planning permission for a large Queen Anne style country house and gardens for the stable racing manager. The house is located on high ground with an open aspect to fine views over the stud farm and the wider landscape beyond, with sheltered private garden spaces around its other sides.

• Cotswold Four Pillars Hotel, Gloucestershire

  2007 - 2008

  The hotel sits on the edge of a clear lake surrounded by the aquatic and marginal habitats of the Cotswold Water Park. Our landscape proposals for the hotel frontage, arrivals area and car park built on this native habitat to provide a naturalistic setting, thus blurring the boundary between the hotel and the native Water Park landscape.

  51º40’11.905”N 1º54’0.586”W

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• 7/7 Memorial, Hyde Park, Westminster

  2007 - 2010

  Following an international design competition, we worked in partnership with Arup and Carmody Groarke Architects to design a permanent memorial in honour of those who lost their lives to the 7/7 London bombings. We approached the competition with an open mind and open ears, inviting dialogue with the Steering Group, which included representatives from the bereaved families. We believed the project was as much about the process as it was the final decision, which made the engagement of the families our priority—the final memorial, which now stands in Hyde Park, belongs to them as much as to the design team.

  51º30’21.400”N 0º9’10.544”W

• St Anne’s Church, Richmond

  2002 - 2003

  Donald Insall Associates invited us to work with them to develop a proposal for the restoration of St Anne’s Church in Kew. We assessed the current setting of the Church within Kew Green, creating a plan that increased the Church’s presence through selective tree removal to open views, and re-ordered the forecourt to reinforce the sense of arrival at the Church.

  51º29’1.740”N 0º17’16.045”W

• Newhall, Essex

  2007 - ongoing

  This is a major urban expansion scheme in Harlow, where the client-landowner aspires to deliver a legacy of high quality and provide a model for future developments. We are providing landscape masterplanning advice on Phase 2 of the development, focusing in particular on the retained landscape features and their integration with the landscape infrastructure so as to tie the diverse development parcels together.

  51º46’20.476”N 0º8’11.295”E

• Gravesend, Kent

  2000 - 2006

  Our five-phase masterplan for urban renewal across a 1960s slum clearance site is now into its second stage. The site, once a low-grade car park on the fringe of Gravesend’s commercial and heritage core, has been redesigned as a streetscape with shared semi-private garden areas, to create both public and private benefits. Trees and bollards define the edge of the street and enclose the car park space without creating barriers to pedestrian flow. As well as serving as a car park, the central space was seen as a venue for public events, such as a market and visiting fairgrounds, a civic space rather than a merely functional one. We were novated to the developer to carry out the detailed design of Phase 1.

  51º26’24.741”N 0º20’57.591”E

• St Gregory’s Church, Kent

  2004 - ongoing

  The existing practice and concert facilities within the Grade II listed St Gregory’s Church were not felt accurately to reflect the international reputation and status of the Music Department of Christ Church Canterbury University. We were initially appointed to prepare a Landscape Constraints and Opportunities Plan to guide the architects when developing their ideas for a new auditorium on this sensitive site. Full detailed landscape proposals followed, including the creation of a new forecourt in front of the auditorium, which also doubled as a delivery access and disabled drop off area. The scheme design achieved BREEAM Excellent and has been awarded planning consent.

  51º16’54.902”N 1º5’20.935”E

• Eastfield Urban Quarter, Northamptonshire

  2007 - 2009

  This residential expansion scheme aims to transform a derelict industrial site in Wellingborough. Our landscape masterplan includes the conversion a disused quarry in the centre of the site into a public park for residents. A lake that floods is both a functional stormwater management system and a dynamic feature of the central parkland. Contemporary apartment buildings proposed around the top edge of the quarry emphasise the dramatic change in level and allow a high degree of overlook across the changing park landscape below. Outline planning consent is granted.

  52º18’28.337”N 0º40’51.074”W