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Process Top Image V2

Design Process

Initial Consultation, Survey & Site Analysis

With many years of experience, Doug believes the initial consultation is a crucial part of the design process, where as designer, he learns about you and the kind of place you wish to create; the places you have loved since your childhood and new places you have visited.

Doug meets clients personally to get a sense about the space he will be working in, by walking around and talking about everything from design concepts, space functionality and ‘flow’, to what feels awkward or a detraction from the place, and our intuitive senses about the space. He then delivers a quotation for design. 

Once agreed, he begins the process of creating a brief and an analysis of the site. A survey is completed by outside surveyors or using our own specialist equipment. 

02.2 Process Page Garden Topographical Survey And Initial Consultation
Process Page 03 Concept Plan Left Garden Concept Sketches

Concept Design Stage

The design process is flexible and intuitive and will be modelled to the desires and needs of each individual client. The suggested process begins with hand drawn concept plans and sketches. 

Doug believes hand drawing is an immediate way to communicate central design ideas for a project, and more importantly, sketches enable clients to get a feeling sense for the scale and proportion of the living landscape (plants and trees) to hard landscape within a proposed scheme. Doug will often design several options for a space, this gives his clients a chance to become fully involved and enjoy the process.

04 Concept Plan Sketches Right Garden Concept Illustrations
05.1 Masterplan Garden Design Cad Detailed Drawing

Masterplan

Doug takes your choices made during the concept stage and creates a detailed Masterplan – in Autocad (computer aided design). 

The masterplan is the most important stage of the construction design process, acting as a new centre point for all drawings to follow. This stage allows Doug, and design team to make many of the detailed design decisions required to fully imagine the new space. At this this stage it also becomes possible to create a specification so the project can be cost estimated.

Process Page 06 Garden Design Masterplan Full Scale Oxfordshire
07.1 Garden Design Excellant Construction Detailing Uk

Construction Drawings

Construction drawings are required to finally understand every detail about a new space and communicate that to the landscape contractor. The first type of construction drawings are used to mark out a project on the ground; foundations, walls, paving plans, utilities etc. These are often referred to as ‘setting out’ plans. All projects need these.

The second group of drawings are needed when complex structures are required to be built such as steps, water features, and buildings. We refer to these drawings as ‘construction details.’ These include cross sections and side elevations, and they allow the designer to cross reference with the masterplan, detailing how certain elements will be constructed. 

Planting Plans

Bespoke and detailed planting plans are in many ways the most important document a garden designer creates. They bring the living elements in balance with the hard landscape, so the original concept can now be fully realised. We tend to put emphasis on summer in our planting schemes but with consideration paid to have considerable numbers of plants grouped for flowering in spring and others for autumn (September through to November and even December). The majority of the time all the plants and trees will be sourced by the studio and hand placed by Doug. We also offer additional documents which present the plants as images, ordered into seasonal flowering time. Doug continues to consult with his clients as the years pass offering maintenance advise or schedules, and working in new previously undeveloped areas of a garden. A retained consultancy agreement can also be arranged on larger projects once complete if desired.

08.1 Garden Design Bespoke Detailed Planting Plans Uk

3D Visualisation

09 3d

Tendering & Construction

We operate competitive tendering and project monitoring services, whether national or international projects.

For locations within Oxfordshire, surrounding counties and west London, we also offer a highly detailed and bespoke construction service by our in-house landscaping team.