As built environment professionals, our summers are rarely spent sitting back. Instead, we’re out on-site, navigating unpredictable heat spikes, analysing changing soil chemistry, and trying to cram in crucial CPD hours before the autumn rush.
A recent multidisciplinary tech-tour through commercial nurseries and award-winning private gardens – sponsored by BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) highlighted exactly what makes working in this sector so challenging, yet incredibly rewarding. Whether you are an architect detailing a tricky retrofitted roof, a surveyor assessing rural boundaries, a garden designer rewriting planting palettes, or a lawyer drafting consultant collaboration agreements, there is immense value in sharing our day-to-day expertise.
Here’s some things that I got up to this week!
Transforming a Nissen Hut
Currently, we are conducting a site survey at a brilliant waterfront marina for a residential conversion: turning a historic, curved corrugated steel Nissen hut into a contemporary home.
For the architects, technologists, and surveyors among us, this kind of structural skeleton introduces a unique set of constraints:
- Integrating curved rooflights to flood the barrel-vaulted space with natural light without compromising structural integrity.
- Designing a significant overhanging roof and an elevated balcony to provide natural solar shading, which is crucial given the lightweight nature of the original steel structure.
I’ve never worked on a Nissen Hut before, but it’s very similar to a barn conversion – albeit with a curved roof (!) so I’m very excited about getting stuck in.
Future Proofing – The Shift to Resilient Species
The commercial reality of landscape specification is undergoing a massive shift. A day spent on the Norfolk/Suffolk border exploring Rymer Trees nursery brought a stark truth to light: the East Anglian ground is becoming too dry for traditional bare-root nurseries.
To survive, the supply chain is adapting, and specifiers must follow suit:
- The Rise of Plug Trees: Production is moving toward machine-sown plug trees (cell-grown). For designers and surveyors, the benefit is clear – working with plugs allows growers to inspect stock health much closer to the plant, catching biosecurity and structural defects early, rather than from a field away.
- The Peat-Free Commercial Dilemma: Transitioning to 100% peat-free growing mediums is an absolute environmental necessity, but it remains incredibly difficult for commercial nurseries to compete on price with traditional imports.
- Embracing Non-Natives: Trees rely on cross-pollination and genetic diversity to adapt. With parts of East Anglia already recording conditions drier than Provence and Jerusalem, relying solely on traditional native planting palettes is a recipe for failure.
To ensure long-term canopy survival and meet strict, legally binding 30-year Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) targets, we must look south. For example, sourcing Quercus Robur (Oak) from Portuguese provenance yields trees with vastly superior water retention capabilities. Similarly, we are seeing the rise of dedicated plantations growing fire-resistant timber species like Paulownia (native to Japan), alongside disease-resistant Elms discovered naturally diversifying in wild ditches—such as a new variety of Tall Elm currently undergoing rigorous testing at Kew.
Tom Hoblyn’s Living Lab
The tour also took us inside the private garden of multi-Chelsea-medal-winning landscape designer Tom Hoblyn. Seeing how a master of planting design curates his own space was fascinating. It was stunning but also full of experiments, which I absolutely loved!
Key design and specification takeaways from the garden visit include:
Borrowing from hotter climates
Inspired by the rewilding principles at Knepp, visits to Greece and advice from Mediterranean gravel-garden guru Olivier Filippi, Tom was experimenting with a dry garden – aiming to reach up to 28 plants per m².
The trick? Sow directly into the substrate. Specifying mature, container-grown specimens in dry environments often backfires because large rootballs tend to “sulk” from transplant shock.
Overcoming High Fertility
Highly fertile soils will completely sabotage traditional wildflower mixes, causing an aggressive takeover of just yarrow and knapweed. To counter this, Tom filled the gaps with self-seeding annuals (Orlaya grandiflora, Ammi, Dill, Fennel, Larkspur, and poppies) which should self-seed, lots of yellow rattle to keep the grass down and successional layers of early bulbs (from snowdrops to Camassia).
Material Realities & Medieval Wisdom
Finally, the visit reminded us to respect regional environmental indexes and historical precedents.
- Soil Chemistry: Always run comprehensive soil tests; certain regions suffer from distinct trace element issues, such as severe manganese deficiencies, which will stall a scheme.
- NVC Index Mapping: I had not heard of this! It apparently needs updating, but is nonetheless quite useful indicator of dominent species in an area. For example the dominent species in Tom Hoblyn’s garden are Crack Willow, Alder, and nettles, these will always do well here.
- The Box Alternative: With Box Blight and Box Tree Moth decimating traditional parterres and structural edging, look to medieval wisdom. Use Teucrium (Germander) as a clipped border instead. It is incredibly hardy, drought-tolerant, and (according to Tom) historically favoured because medieval gardeners complained that traditional Buxus smelled far too much like cat urine!
The Reward
We spend our professional lives designing microclimates, structural shading, and sustainable drainage systems for others. But at the end of a tough day on-site, the ultimate validation is experiencing our designs firsthand.
Ending a long site tour with a plunge into a naturally filtered, swimming pool (no chlorine!) during an incredible visit to a project by Kate Miller of Natural Swimming Pools Ltd. Not only was it an outstanding educational opportunity to learn about the biological filtration and mechanics behind chlorine-free design, but getting to plunge into the naturally filtered water was so refreshing in a heatwave!
To top off a brilliant day of learning, Kate even hosted a fantastic BBQ for the whole group. It was a wonderful reminder that the built environment isn’t just about assets, concrete, and regulatory compliance – it’s about community, collaboration, and creating resilient spaces that offer genuine human sanctuary.