Architectural practice maber is expanding its landscape team in response to rapidly growing demand.
The team has grown from two to seven people in less than a year, and now provides a variety of landscape design services through the practice’s five offices in the Midlands and London.
The expansion is being driven by increased demand for landscape architecture services on maber’s larger projects in the commercial, build-to-rent and education sectors. The team is now also bidding for standalone projects from external clients.
Associate Director Lee Smith, who heads up the landscape team, said:
“We have a very commercially-aware team who have real-world experience of working on projects with a variety of organisations. The ability to provide landscape services alongside architectural and interior design, as part of a multi-discipline package, is proving attractive to clients, as is our ability to work to BIM Level 2.”
Led by Lee, the team comprises architect and landscape architect Keith Hayday who joined maber in 1995 and has more than 30 years’ experience; landscape architects Fiona Nye, Isabel Butcher and Peter Beeton, landscape assistant Elena Papachristodoulou and a new landscape assistant who joins the team this month (August).
Lee said,
“The team’s mission is to create attractive spaces that are beneficial to health, wellbeing and the environment, including contributing to biodiversity.”
Its work covers four main areas – landscape design, masterplanning, urban design and landscape planning – and it can work on projects ranging from city-wide urban plans to the design of a single courtyard.
Landscape design in itself covers a diverse scope of services with projects in sectors from office parks to schools and colleges, for both private and public sector clients. These include feasibility studies, site and context appraisals, hard landscaping and planting design, alongside design and working drawings, from concept to construction. Maber’s advanced 3D and Building Information Modelling (the practice is one of only a few organisations certified to BIM Level 2) are used to provide advanced visualisations and detailed online information about the project. Other services under the landscape design banner include, contract administration and site inspections as well as managing projects and contracts.
Masterplanning and urban design provide a strategic approach to wider space planning, on projects ranging from science parks to university campuses and urban centres. The team takes an interdisciplinary approach to developing schemes that are both aesthetically pleasing and practical, balancing environmental, social and economic factors.
Landscape planning supports clients in the development process, contributing to the planning process. Services include desktop studies to assess the character and sensitivity of an area. The team carries out site surveys for landscape and visual impact studies as well as producing green infrastructure strategies in line with local and regional policy. It takes part in stakeholder engagement and consultation with associated council departments, and produces landscape design strategies for inclusion with planning applications.