Pillars & process
Our creativity is shaped by a desire to enhance every place for everyone.
Our four pillars
The collective passion we share for creating successful and resilient places is founded on four pillars. They represent the values by which we test decisions and ideas, encouraging fresh and innovative thinking so each project will contribute to the social fabric and health of the planet. We are united in the belief that every story deserves an exceptional setting.
Knowledge
Living legacy
We value our legacy and the growing diversity of our team, having learnt that broad perspectives lead to deeper collective knowledge. Our practice is progressive in its approach, and we are proud of our independence, inclusivity and agility in bringing fresh ideas to every brief.
Context
Human element
The projects we make are shaped by an empathic understanding of context, culture, communities and people. Our global perspective helps us unlock the complex interrelationships of any site, nurturing the evolution of a place and shaping its future.
Environment
Natural networks
We design with intelligence and foresight, harnessing the networks that govern the natural systems of which we are part. By doing so, we help to restore equilibrium in the environment, an essential outcome if we are to coexist with all living things on this planet.
Stories
Places are personal
Everyone has a place that holds a special meaning to them. We create exceptional settings where people can live out their stories. We believe that functional spaces can be extraordinarily joyful, sensuous and immersive for all regardless of ability and background.
Tell us your story.
Design approach
Achieving outstanding, measurable outcomes starts with true alignment between our team and our clients. As we continue to build on our legacy and grow, we know that a strong, collaborative design process is the key to unlocking shared vision, guiding everyone toward clear, meaningful, and impactful goals.
Telling its story
We build powerful narratives around a site that help bring definition to a place, celebrating the context and merging local stories with bigger creative ideas that engage and excite the imagination and form the bedrock of the design.
Through listening
We are attentive, asking the right questions to understand our client’s ambitions and the needs of the community. Our goal is to create places that add value to their wider setting and people while delivering commercial success.
Getting under the skin
A thorough analysis of a site and its community, evaluating topography, local history, and people's needs, desires, and behaviours ensure our designs are contextually appropriate and meaningful.
Creating a clear vision
A single idea can capture the essence of an entire project. We work to define a compelling vision that shapes and guides the design from initial ideas to final delivery.
Communicating our ideas
We explain our concept through vivid conceptual drawings, sketchbooks, storyboards, and skilled verbal communication, bringing the project’s story to life at every stage.
Designing for experiences
We examine the brief to blend landscape with the architecture, history, nature and culture of a place, to create meaningful, enriching and memorable experiences.
Unlocking new patterns of use
We examine how an existing space functions by reviewing usage patterns, customer behaviours, and existing barriers. Then, we introduce new connections, assets, amenities and access, knitting a development into its surroundings and ensuring it is welcoming.
Connecting people to place
We engage early and throughout the design process with new and prospective communities and businesses to understand their desires and needs, allowing us to create spaces that truly meet and exceed their expectations.
Cultural activation
We partner with artists, cultural strategists, and lighting experts to activate spaces with vibrant installations, captivating artwork, and atmospheric illuminations that infuse places with life, joy and purpose, throughout the day and night.
Built-in flexibility
We design public spaces that celebrate a unique story while incorporating degrees of flexibility to adapt to the evolving community needs and the environment.
Clarity and legibility
We specialise in wayfinding and signage design and can develop impactful signage that reinforces your place’s identity, safety and simplifies user journeys.
Harnessing nature's networks
By collaborating with ecologists and engineers, we harness a site's natural systems to develop climate-resilient, biodiverse landscapes through innovative, nature-based infrastructure.
Applying a climate toolkit
We use a comprehensive toolkit to embed climate-conscious strategies at every project stage, focusing on specific implementation tactics to reduce embodied carbon and create regenerative, future-proofed environments.
Designing "stepping stone" landscapes
Our landscapes form part of a wider ecological network. We link new landscapes to existing green spaces, boosting their collective resilience against extreme weather events and temperature fluctuations, enriching the available habitat for wildlife and biodiversity reserves and providing green connections for people to explore.
Promoting active travel
We provide low-carbon travel options that empower users to adopt healthier and more sustainable lifestyles that reduce air pollution and improve wellbeing.
Explain the process
We engage face-to-face with people to understand their needs and desires. By sharing a vision, we aim to excite them and make them part of the journey, fully explaining the process and adapting it where possible to create positive outcomes.
Inclusive engagement
We offer a range of engagement methods designed to fit different ways of communicating, ensuring that every voice has a chance to be heard.
Transparent communication
We establish methods and tools to ensure communication is open and transparent, providing regular updates and opportunities for feedback throughout the process.
Natural enrichment
By assessing a site's natural assets, we identify what's missing, restore what's been lost, and introduce new elements where enrichment and activation are needed.
Protection
We evaluate whether retaining or introducing new infrastructure adds value or adversely impacts the environment. We provide guidance in exploring alternative strategies to safeguard and enhance the natural landscape.
Experience and expertise
We have over 60 years of experience building and delivering projects at every scale and have crafted exceptional technical skills that are applicable to any region, context and situation.
Growing our knowledge
We use continual research and development to extend our technical knowledge, employing the latest thinking and products to ensure fitness, relevance, deliverability and long-term success.
Teamwork
A successful project is a transaction between the client, site, cost consultant, communities, planners, contractors and the design team. We understand how to collaborate fully to turn concepts into viable solutions.
Testing and refining
We use cutting-edge 3D digital technology and BIM to communicate and share ideas, refining and developing them to suit programmes and budgets.
Understanding local ecology
Our specialised planting team use unique software to assess wind, sunlight, shade, soil conditions and existing planting to understand the local ecology, ensuring we select the optimal plants for a project in the most suitable locations.
Guided planting delivery
We collaborate with landscape contractors to oversee planting delivery, ensuring the project planting plans are executed effectively to establish beautiful, resilient plant communities that enhance biodiversity.
Stewardship and knowledge sharing
We remain engaged long after delivery, offering guidance on maintaining green spaces, identifying areas for improvement, and training the maintenance teams in effective landscape care.
Sustainable management plans
We assist in creating management plans for sustainable landscape maintenance and outline strategies to upskill future land managers and encourage community stewardship.