Sep 8, 2020
GUARDA are delighted to welcome James Honey to the team as landscape assistant. He has excellent softworks design skills and he aims to create a stronger connection between people and biodiversity as well as providing high quality design, drawing inspiration from...Sep 8, 2020
We are delighted to welcome Samantha Laws to the GUARDA team. She graduated with a First-Class Honours degree in Landscape Architecture at Writtle College. She has excellent design skills, especially in relation to sustainable development and nature-led, ecological...James is a creative and enthusiastic landscape architect with a passion for the natural world and bringing new ideas into the industry. James’ ethos and overall design philosophy aims to create a stronger connection between people and biodiversity as well as providing high quality design. His dissertation focused on softening the active edge between the urban and rural landscape as well as promoting a greater species richness primarily in bird populations. This was achieved through the designing, restoring and embellishing of existing and new habitats within the context of an existing brownfield site that would also educate the community about the importance of the design.
He finds great inspiration in theories such as biophilia, messy ecosystems and ecosystem services. These heavily contribute to his design decisions. James’ overall goal within the industry is to create sustainable environments that will impact both current and future generations as well as promoting more recognition for the industry and how important it is to the world.
In his spare time James enjoys birdwatching and exploring the landscape of his home county, Norfolk as well as leaving time to socialise with friends.
Samantha joins GUARDA as an Assistant Landscape Architect after achieving a First Class degree in Landscape Architecture. Her undergraduate dissertation focused on the ecologically sensitive Bradwell Shell Bank on the Essex coastline near Maldon. Inspired by the landscape the design utilised sensitive interventions such as the use of local native flora and transient art installations in response to site phenomena. The result was a landscape-led design solution to the issues facing the site including sea-level rise driven by Climate Change. She is passionate about sustainable development and ecological design and is looking forward to a career which allows her to champion nature-led design solutions and develop her creativity.
Samantha is a keen birdwatcher and photographer and enjoys engaging with her hobbies both in the UK and abroad.
Rebecca is an experienced landscape architect, previously focusing on leisure, therapeutic and a wide variety of residential projects. She initially studied for a fine art degree at Winchester School of Art and she brings to the team design flair and attention to detail. She is passionate about horticulture and has accumulated a wealth of planting knowledge and practical experience while working in the sector.
Rebecca has been developing the landscape design on the Horizon public realm scheme in St Helier, where construction has recently commenced. She is also working with a number of smaller developers in London on a variety of residential schemes and she is assisting with the design on a larger residential scheme near Cambridge for HILL. She was also instrumental in producing the landscape package for the planning application for student accommodation at Avon Way in Colchester.
Rebecca loves getting out into the East Anglian countryside for rambles followed by cooking (eating) and dancing salsa
Jacqueline is a key member of the Landscape Planning and Development team at GUARDA and is involved in a range of projects specialising in landscape planning, landscape character assessment and masterplanning.
As an experienced Landscape Architect / Planner, Jacqueline has significant experience in preparing landscape and visual appraisals, LVIAs and ES chapters, in accordance with GLVIA3, for a broad range of developments across the UK. These are often developed in conjunction with a landscape strategy plan or a masterplan (depending on the type of application) as part of a landscape-led, iterative design process. Sustainable design principles, including SuDS and green infrastructure, are at the core of these plans and form the basis for the location of strategic planting for landscape and visual mitigation; the siting, nature and scale of development; and habitat enhancement opportunities.
With a background in Landscape Character Assessment, she also has an in-depth understanding of the landscape and planning issues associated with development, especially in sensitive areas, such as and AONBs and Green Belt and has also been involved in a number of Appeals.
Jacqueline is passionate about the landscapeand is a keen walker and climber which has taken her to many different areas of East Anglia, the UK and abroad where her appreciation and understanding of the landscape is always being enhanced.
Manon is a talented landscape architect with six years post graduate experience in Spain, France and the UK.
She brings technical and site experience, previously graduating as a landscape engineer in Angers, France. She has worked in design and build teams to implement projects on the ground and she engaged in stakeholder liaison and technical detailing for the Rive-de-Gier Park near Lyon and hard and soft landscape proposals for the Myosotis Street in Nantes. She also co-designed and implemented a show garden for the International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire.
Manon is currently working on the International Finance Centre in Jersey, where the first phase of Trenton Square has just successfully reached practical completion. She is also a member of the St Helier Esplanade Masterplan team, which aims to link the town centre with the magnificent seafront.
Manon is a keen dancer and she also expresses her creativity in designing and making clothes and silver jewellery.
Catherine is a chartered landscape architect and has previously worked in the public and private sector for over 20 years. She has experience of all forms of landscape architecture, including feasibility, assessment, master planning, design and implementation.
Her passion lies in taking a project from inception through to construction and then completion. She has carried out landscape impact assessments at all scales and has advised on development in sensitive landscapes, including Green Belt. She wrote the Townscape and Visual Amenity chapters for the Leith Docksdevelopment, one of the largest planning applications in Scottish history and close to Edinburgh UNESCO World Heritage Site.
She has also led design teams in small to multi-million pound schemes, including the design and NEC contract administration of a pedestrianisation scheme throughout Darlington town centre and a competition winning scheme on Redcar Seafront. She employs an innovative and collaborative approach and this is demonstrated as she represents the Landscape Institute on the British Standards panel for Green Roof Substrates.