Over
80% of teaching at Garden Design School
is undertaken by the college’s
founders and directors, Moira Farnham
and Robin Templar Williams (click on
‘About Us’, left, for more details).
However, several lecture days/sessions
are taken
by leading experts in specialist/allied
aspects of garden design. Here are brief
details of our ‘guest lecturers’: |
Richard Baker, Dip Arch RIBA |
Specialist
Subject: Planning and Gardens
|
Richard Baker is a very experienced chartered architect who has worked for many years in planning and conservation in London and the South East. He has also won a Gold Medal for landscape design at the Chelsea Flower Show.Richard's lecture on how the planning system impacts on garden designers contains lots of useful, practical guidance and advice on Planning Law, Policy and making a Planning Application. Richard says: "If you're advising clients on the development of land, you need to be informed and aware of planning requirements. Many proposals don't actually require planning permission but if you're extending a garden, creating garden structures, altering landform, disturbing wildlife or dealing with historic buildings and landscapes, you will need to engage with the planning process."
|
Kristina
Fitzsimmons MA(Hons) Cantab, MSGD |
Specialist
Subject: Plant Science, Classification
and Nomenclature
|
London-based
Kristina Fitzsimmons studied Natural Sciences
at Cambridge University, specialising in
applied plant sciences and, for a number
of years, taught Biology to ‘A’ level
students. Her love of plants and skill
as a trained botanist gradually evolved
into a professional interest
in garden design: she trained at the
English Gardening
School and now runs her own, highly successful,
garden design consultancy.
She has exhibited a variety
of work at the Chelsea and Hampton Court flower
shows and became a registered Member
of the Society of
Garden Designers (MSGD) in 1992. She
is also part of the schools’ education
team at the Royal Botanic Gardens at
Kew in London.
More information: www.kristinafitzsimmons.co.uk |
Mark Gregory |
Specialist Subject:
Specifications and Contract Management
|
 A professional landscaper
for 30 years, Mark Gregory is an authoritative
and respected figure in the industry. He
currently runs his own contracting and
maintenance business, employing 25 people,
and specialises in complex, high-value
domestic gardens.
Mark believes that the
key to working effectively with a garden
designer is to share their ‘vision’. “You
have to understand the design, plan the
work meticulously, stay flexible and manage
projects
properly.” He obviously
does this with huge success: he’s
built over 60 award-winning gardens at
prestigious shows such as Chelsea and
Hampton Court. |
Ian Humby
MRICS, AMInsc CES |
Specialist Subject:
Surveying
|
 Ian Humby is a self-employed,
chartered land surveyor with over 25 years
experience. He routinely works with architects,
developers and landscape architects but,
since 1997, has specialised in providing
surveying services to garden designers.
He has tackled almost every type of project
imaginable, from small domestic gardens
to 100-acre sites.
His philosophy on teaching
surveying and levelling skills is to keep
things simple: “I just try to de-mystify
the whole process. Surveying
is an important aspect of garden design
but the basics
aren’t difficult to grasp if they
are taught properly.” |
Martin
Kelley |
Specialist
Subject: Water Garden Design & Construction
|
 Martin Kelley has been
involved in the design and creation of
garden water features all his working life.
He trained under Anthony Archer-Wills for
over 10 years and then started his own
company, Fairwater Ltd, in 1993.
Widely
regarded as one of the UK’s leading
water garden experts, he acts as technical
consultant, designer and contractor for
many leading garden designers and landscape
architects. For Martin, water has a unique,
magical
quality which
works well in almost any garden, large
or small. He’s designed and built
everything from a single, bubbling stone
to a project featuring a seven-hectare
lake, fountains, waterfalls, streams,
water sculptures and natural swimming
pools! |
More information: www.fairwater.co.uk
|
Richard Key, FSGD |
Specialist
Subject: Setting Up & Running A Garden Design Business
|
 Writer, broadcaster and award-winning garden designer Richard Key has worked in the landscape and garden design industries for over 25 years and is an experienced and respected lecturer at some of the UK's leading garden design colleges. He is also a Fellow and former Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD). Richard is eminently qualified to lecture on his chosen subject: he set up his own, successful garden design practice fourteen years ago and is also co-director of a thriving garden maintenance company, Key Gardencare. He is fairly uncompromising about what it really takes to set up and run a business effectively: "I have pretty clear and strong views, leaving students with no illusions about the realities of being a professional garden designer." More information: www.richardkey.co.uk |
Tony Lane |
Specialist Subject: Arboriculture (Trees)
|
 Garden designers need to understand how to choose new trees and the implications of integrating existing ones into their designs in an imaginative but responsible, sustainable way. Our latest guest lecturer, Tony Lane, is a highly respected expert on this subject. A chartered forester and professional member of the Arboricultural Association, he is the director and senior consultant of a general practice, A M Lane Ltd.
In his lecture Tony uses case histories and lively anecdotes to explain the most important do's and don'ts concerning tree selection, location, growth, maintenance and safety. He examines the importance of conserving our existing tree stock and being aware of legal issues in the form of Tree Preservation Orders (TPO's), Conservation Areas and Planning Conditions. He also looks at the planning considerations and the implications of the recently revised BS5837 : 2005 (Trees in relation to construction - Recommendations) . |
Michael Shackleton |
Specialist
Subject: Garden Lighting
|
 Having spent over 30 years working in the film industry - much of it as a lighting cameraman - there isn't much you can teach Michael Shackleton about the impact and effect of lighting on mood and atmosphere. He has since used this experience to create one of the UK's most successful garden lighting businesses, Ornamental Garden Lighting. Mike regularly works with landscape and garden designers and emphasises the need to build a rapport: "the key to lighting a garden is working very closely with the designer to complement and enhance their vision so that the client can enjoy their garden at night as much as they do during the day”. Mike’s lecture examines all of the potential benefits of garden lighting, the social and environmental impact, costs, the practicalities of installation and some of the most common pitfalls and problems. |
More information: www.ornamentalgardenlighting.com
|
Lizzie
Taylor and Dawn Isaac |
Specialist
Subject: Promotion
and Marketing
|
 This dynamic
pair of garden designers run their own
successful practice, designinggardens.co.uk,
and this year tackle their first Chelsea
show garden, sponsored by Microsoft. Both
passionate about garden design, Lizzie
and Dawn also have an impressive track
record in the public relations (PR) and
marketing field. Lizzie spent 12 years
in top London advertising agencies, including
Saatchi and Saatchi. Dawn worked for leading
PR firms for 7 years, masterminding publicity
campaigns for companies such as Nokia and
Packard Bell.
All of this marketing expertise means
that Lizzie and Dawn’s lectures
are crammed with useful advice, hints
and tips on telling the world that you’ve
arrived. As Lizzie explains: “You
could be a garden design genius but that
doesn’t necessarily mean customers
will be beating a path to your door.
Like any business, you have to tell prospective
clients who you are and what you can
do for them.”
|
