Creating a garden combines a wealth of specialised skills, many of which must be provided by trusted third-party professionals. How can garden and landscape designers, especially the newly qualified and sole traders among them, find and establish their network of such specialists, and which roles are most vital?
Garden design and creation is collaborative, and the designer is one of the cogs in the creative machine. Landscapers, surveyors, structural engineers, and ecologists are some of the professionals alongside whom designers will work and having an address book filled with the names of such contacts means having project solutions at one’s fingertips. While these professionals may be appointed by the client, the project manager, or a contractor, often it will be a designer’s responsibility to recommend individuals.
Contacts are usually made peer-to-peer, through working alongside new people, or in new places.
‘We use landscapers we met years ago; they were recommended to us by the builders working on a project for which we’d submitted the garden design,’ says Dan Bower MSGLD, Director of garden designers Fisher Tomlin & Bowyer. ‘They did a great job and now build around seventy-five per cent of our gardens.’
HOW TO MAKE NEW CONTACTS
Design a show garden
Duncan Cargill, of landscape and garden designers Cargill Sykes, explains: ‘The first job we worked on was at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. We learned that if you ask, people will help. When we were looking for roses, experts helped us locate specific varieties. The same goes for stone masons and other artisans who still work with us today. The industry is full of people “in the know” who are generous with their knowledge’.
Seek out commercial clients
By working for commercial clients, you can tap into a wealth of established expertise. Garden designer Eliza Gray MSGLD is based in Somerset. ‘I did a job for a client who is a commercial developer, with links in the building trade, which has proved very useful.’
Try voluntary work or attend or give talks and presentations
‘The world of garden design can be a bubble but put yourself out there; you never know who you might meet,’ says Eliza. ‘Through a volunteer role for the charity Inspiring the Future, I’ve made loads of useful contacts including an architect and a National Trust head gardener.’
Dan also recommends joining one of the Society of Garden + Landscape Designers’ (SGLD) regional cluster groups, which are not only an excellent way to meet fellow designers working in the same area, or in areas where you want to work, and to share ideas and experiences with them, they also provide opportunities to network with valuable third-party professionals. At the same time, Dan advises contacting professional bodies such as the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) to locate accredited individuals.
Matthew Wilson MSGLD believes it is also important to attend relevant workshops and industry events. ‘At trade shows such as FutureScape, I’ve met lots of useful people and businesses, including a plant-sourcing service that I regularly use for my projects. It’s too easy to get stuck in a rut, using the same materials and ideas and ways of doing things,’ he continues. ‘You need exposure to new things and people.’ So, go to that re-wilding conference or lecture on urban tree planting, and make that extra effort to visit out-of-the-way nurseries to find a wealth of useful contacts.
Ensuring the right fit
At the heart of it, creating and building a garden is not a tick-box exercise; any truly creative enterprise involves the heart as well as the brain, emotion as well as the physical body, and as has been stated by so many in this very magazine over the years, every garden project is a team effort and to be successful, that team needs to gel. Finding third-party professionals whom you not only trust but with whom you can work closely and honestly is as important as knowing that they have the necessary qualifications to do the job required of them.
Start with a conversation. ‘You can tell a lot by simply talking with the individual,’ says Dan. ‘Make sure they’re the right sort of character, that you feel comfortable with them and that they seem to know exactly what they are doing and talking about.’ Check their websites too; they can help you gauge the scale of projects the individual or business is used to working on and should show any professional bodies they belong to, as well as examples of their work. Consider visiting past projects and ask for referrals and qualifications.
Recommendations from fellow designers can provide assurance but pre-registered SGLD member Kate Hillock offers a word of caution. ‘Make sure the person trying to be helpful shares your standards; they may unwittingly suggest individuals without being experienced enough to make a reliable judgement call; they can also be reinforcing their own choices. I find it useful to check out a professional through their associations. I’d expect landscapers to be accredited by the Association of Professional Landscapers and/or BALI. If I were looking for a gardener, I might expect them to be a member of the Professional Gardeners Guild,’ she says.
WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
Landscapers – role: building and planting. What to look for: APL or BALI accreditation; examples of work.
Arboriculturists – role: tree surgeons and consultants for services such as tree management and tree reports. What to look for: Level 5 qualification (degree) or higher in arboriculture; Professional Tree Inspector qualification; Quantified Tree Risk Assessment User status; Arboricultural Association membership; accreditation by the Arborist Society; active professional indemnity and public liability insurance. Tree surgeons need certificates of competence in climbing and chainsaw use.
Ecologists – role: ecology surveys, ensuring biodiversity net gain. What to look for: degree in environmental or biological science; fieldwork experience; chartered ecologist status (CEcol).
Planning consultants – role: needed for building work, especially in Conservation Areas. What to look for: degree in urban planning; chartered status.
Structural engineers – role: essential for gardens featuring, for example, retaining walls measuring more than a metre in height. What to look for: degree in structural or civil engineering; chartered status (MIStructE) and membership of The Institution of Structural Engineers.
Surveyors – role: topographical surveys. What to look for: chartered status (MRICS et al) and membership of an organisation such as The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
M&E consultants – role: includes plumbers, electricians, lighting, irrigation and water feature experts, swimming pool/pond installation. What to look for: qualifications; examples of previous work.
Drainage consultant – role: expertise in sustainable drainage systems. What to look for: degree in civil engineering; knowledge of flood estimation methods; past projects.
Gardener – role: ongoing maintenance. What to look for: membership of the Professional Gardeners’ Guild; Royal Horticultural Society training; relevant qualifications in horticulture; references.
Project manager – role: managing complex larger projects. What to look for: experience is vital; ask for details of previous projects. Ideally, chartered status from the Association for Project Management.
Other roles: civil engineer; quantity surveyor; specialist weed control; pest control; soil experts; metal workers; cost consultant (involved in the financial management and cost efficiency of a project); heritage consultant. What to look for: it will vary, depending on the role, but in all cases, always do rigorous due diligence; degrees; qualifications; chartered status; professional memberships; experience and previous projects; references, and referrals; certificates to handle controlled materials; licences to operate heavy machinery et al.
Next stages
The simplest way to avoid financial and legal risk is to recommend third-party professionals to the client, and for contracts to be made directly between them, with perhaps an agreement that the garden designer can supervise work. The clients pay the bills.
Knowing exactly when to engage third parties will depend on the job and the role. In many cases it is best to consult early on; getting an ecologist on site may reveal issues that have not been considered but which could shape design decisions, while working with an architect during a house build will ensure the garden design is well integrated.
Matthew Wilson offers a final piece of advice. ‘Know your limitations; you don’t have to be a structural engineer, water feature designer, or an electrician; it’s important to realise garden design is a team effort and that you don’t need to know all the answers.’
USEFUL ADDRESSES
Association for Project Management, apm.org.uk
British Society of Soil Science, soils.org.uk
British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI), bali.org.uk
Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), cieem.net
Institution of Civil Engineers, ice.org.uk
Professional Gardeners Guild (PGG), pgg.org.uk
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), surveyors and quantity surveyors, rics.org
Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), rtpi.org.uk
The Association of Professional Landscapers (APL), landscaper.org.uk
The Institution of Structural Engineers, istructe.org
Words, Philip Clayton; photographs, Getty Images/sturti/Don Wu/Iryna Melnyk/Rawpixel
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