Garden Design PackageA structured and tailored process designed to take your particular project from a broad set of ideas to a point where your garden can be brought to life and built
Design Brief
The first step is to ensure that I understand precisely what you want for your new garden. This sets the direction of the project and ensures that the finished garden meets your expectations. After an initial discussion, we fill in a comprehensive questionnaire together, covering a wide range of topics so as to build up a detailed idea of your requirements prior to my commencing work on the design. I then write up a brief using both the responses to this questionnaire and our initial discussions and return it to get your approval. This offers you the opportunity to reflect on and amend the brief if necessary.
Site Survey
An accurate and detailed plan of the existing site is a crucial next stage in the project. This is based on a site survey which involves a number of visits. The survey is vital to the success of the project as it ensures confidence in the feasibility of the design, and allows contractors to accurately quote for projects. It also helps avoid any unexpected and potentially expensive surprises during construction. I use a range of sophisticated measuring equipment and techniques to accurately plot precise dimensions and level changes;this provides a highly accurate framework on which the design can be anchored.
Concept Design
The concept design stage of the design process is where the design brief meets the site plan and the first approximation of a new garden layout comes together. I work initially with hand drawing over an existing site plan as this offers the freedom to experiment with different design styles and shapes. Following this, the design is formalised and worked on on the computer until with the resulting garden concept being a reasonably detailed best fit of the various factors influencing what will work within the space itself. The next stage is to meet with the clients and review this concept design prior to honing and fine tuning the concept design to create the final masterplan.
Client Meeting
The first meeting after taking the design brief, during we go over the concept design at length and discuss the various proposed areas / features of your new garden. At this point we will discuss things such as finishes, planting and any other features in detail.
Masterplan
The Masterplan is the final drawing comprising any amendments from the concept design stage and including all the information necessary to build the garden, along with a mood board and insets for any particular features such as hard landscaping / surfaces etc. It presents in colour the plan for your new garden. It is comprehensive and includes a large amount of detail in order to provide you and any garden contractor with as much information as possible to facilitate implementation.
Planting Plan
The planting plan is essentially a map of both existing and new plants, and where they are positioned in the garden relative to one another. It shows species / cultivars at their mature sizing, showing the location and spread of plants once the garden has matured after a few years. It is also accompanied by a mood board showing all the different species as included, along with a plant schedule which is essentially a shopping list for the new plants, including species and cultivar name along with pot size at planting to easily facilitate sourcin, supplying plants and planting the garden.
Setting Out / Construction Drawing(s)
Once the design is finalised, a setting out drawing comprising precise area quantities and dimensional fixes / level information allows for a contractor to first quote and then construct the garden. Precise measurements from fixed structures using a range of different techniques (3 point fixes / dimensional offsets) allows for client and designer confidence that the contractor knows where and how to successfully build the garden.
Client Meeting
The final stage of the design process is a meeting to present the Masterplan, Planting Plan and Setting Out / Construction Drawings. Your garden is now ready for construction.