Landscape Institute Awards 2018

The LI Awards 2018 took place on Thursday 22 November 2018 at The Brewery, 52 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SD.

LI Awards 2018: Winners gallery

Maritime Streets - Farrer Huxley Associates

WINNER: Adding Value Through Landscape

Judges said: 'This scheme understands the value of getting high-level professional engagement at an early stage of the project. The process has actively engaged the community and encouraged a sense of local pride. This model could be replicable for many other locations across the UK.

Royal Edinburgh Hospital - erz

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Adding Value Through Landscape

Judges said: 'This scheme could be a game-changer in terms of how acute mental health care is delivered.'

Bluegreen Liverpool - reShaped

WINNER: Communication and Presentation

Judges said: 'Creates opportunity and encourages engagement in meaningful activities. The project is practical, hands-on and fun.'

Landscape Architecture & Environmental Sustainability - Joshua Zeunert

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Communication and Presentation

Judges said: 'A comprehensive reference text book with great graphics. We would all like a copy!'

South Gardens, Elephant Park - Churchman Landscape Architects

WINNER: Design for a Small-Scale Development
WINNER: Landscape Institute's President's Award

Judges said: 'This is an outstanding and innovative project that has fully complied with the project brief to deliver a liveable, engaging playful and residential amenity landscape with intrinsic ecological value.'

The Dunbar Battery - Rankinfraser Landscape Architecture

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Design for a Small-Scale Development

Judges said: 'A strong and considered landscape project, with distinctive contemporary detailing inserted into a historic coastal site.'

Seething Lane Gardens, Ten Trinity Square - Capita Lovejoy

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Design for a Small-Scale Development

Judges said: 'This is an impressive and very high-quality scheme.'

Shadwell Estate - Turkington Martin

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Design for a Small-Scale Development

Judges said: 'This is an excellent piece of design: considered, robust, but with a sense of fun and joy - a scheme which transforms the space and the lives of those who use it.'

Aberfeldy Phases 1 and 2 - Levitt Bernstein

WINNER: Design for a Medium-Scale Development

Judges said: 'The sophistication and continuity of the stakeholder engagement process has clearly paid off with a palpable sense of ownership, care and pride.'

Mill Lane and De Montfort University Public Realm - AECOM

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Design for a Medium-Scale Development

Judges said: 'This project demonstrates how meaningful consultation can improve and add value to the design.'

Learning Forest, Singapore Botanic Gardens - Stephen Caffyn Landscape Design

WINNER: Design for a Large-Scale Development

Judges said: 'Stephen Caffyn has implemented a scheme that is a rich infusion of design inspiration combined with ultimate respect for the natural environment.'

Environmental Improvement Project at Kranji Marshes - Stephen Caffyn Landscape Design

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Design for a Large-Scale Development

Judges said: 'The journey and spaces created have an intimate scale appropriate for the close proximity to nature.'

Bushey New Cemetery - J & L Gibbons

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Design for a Large-Scale Development

Judges said: 'The wild flowers and grasses and the retention of the veteran oak trees all provide a calm juxtaposition for the solid and simple forms of the prayer hall to reside.'

Forest of Imagination - Grant Associates

WINNER: Design for a Temporary Landscape

Judges said: 'It demonstrates the potential of landscape architecture to be a social catalyst and has had a high impact in the city in terms of increasing visitor numbers, collaborators and funding.'

St Helen’s Moorish-Stitch: A Garden on Behalf of McArthurglen Designer Outlet York - Urban Wilderness

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Design for a Temporary Landscape

Judges said: 'This scheme was delivered for a modest budget but demonstrated great value for the client. It received an overwhelmingly positive response from the public, and has demonstrated how the introduction of planting can transform a hard public space into an urban oasis.'

The Restoration of Cassiobury Park - LUC

WINNER: Heritage and Conservation

Judges said: 'The joy of Cassiobury Park and the community’s involvement shone through this excellent and comprehensive £5m project.'

The Piece Hall Transformation Project - Gillespies

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Heritage and Conservation

Judges said: 'An excellent repurposing of the space with great sensitivity to a nationally significant building.'

Brompton Cemetery Conservation Project - LDA Design

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Heritage and Conservation

Judges said: 'We were very impressed with the revitalisation of a special historic site achieved through close work with communities and sensitive interventions.'

Gunnersbury Park ‘Parks for People’ Project - Ealing Council

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Heritage and Conservation

Judges said: 'Excellent work to restore historic views and structural tree-lines.'

Thamesmead - Land Management Services

WINNER: Science, Management and Stewardship

Judges said: 'Plan ownership and delivery content, including details on management structure, was excellent.'

Met Office Science Park - Stride Treglown

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Science, Management and Stewardship

Judges said: 'This scheme demonstrates a high level of interest and research into pollinating planting at the Met Office complex.'

Wandle Vistas - Untitled Practice and Fiona Fyfe Associates

WINNER: Landscape Policy and Research

Judges said: 'Lovely, well-designed range of documentation with a wide variety of uses - in education, interpretation, policy, best practice.'

Exmoor's Ambition - Rural Focus

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Landscape Policy and Research

Judges said: 'It creates understanding and aspirations within society but framed from a farming perspective.'

Connecting Burton and the Trent Washlands: A New Vision - Black and Veatch Ltd

WINNER: Local Landscape Planning

Judges said: 'It is clear to see how the public has been engaged and how their responses have been integrated into the solutions.'

Northstowe Phase 2 Healthy Living and Youth & Play Strategy - Chris Blandford Associates

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Local Landscape Planning

Judges said: 'Delivered in three phases, the town will eventually provide 10,000 new homes for around 25,000 people.'

Neighbourhood Planning Support Services: Heritage and Character Assessment - AECOM

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Local Landscape Planning

Judges said: 'Good-quality analysis and research distilled for an audience who may not be from technical planning or planning-related backgrounds.'

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Parks and Open Spaces Strategy and Corporate Natural Capital Accounts - Jon Sheaff and Associates

WINNER: Strategic Landscape Planning

Judges said: 'An excellent example of a holistic evidence-based project, and of how natural capital accounting can be approached and implemented to properly inform long-term decision-making and resource allocation.'

Landscape Sensitivity and Green Infrastructure Study for Leicester and Leicestershire - LUC

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Strategic Landscape Planning

Judges said: 'The project is comprehensive, thorough and well put together. It will no doubt be of great value to the client group in assisting their decision-making.'

Residential Regeneration at Poole Park Road, Barne Barton, Plymouth - Clifton Emery Design

WINNER: Urban Design and Masterplanning

Judges said: 'The site and context analysis was comprehensive and the approach to stakeholder engagement and resident involvement was exemplary.'

Eastfields - Levitt Bernstein

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Urban Design and Masterplanning

Judges said: 'The approach to stakeholder engagement and resident involvement was excellent.'

Beech Gardens and The High Walk, Barbican Estate - Nigel Dunnett and the Landscape Agency

WINNER: Planting Design, Horticulture and Strategic Ecology
WINNER: Landscape Institute's Fellows' Award for Creating Healthy Places

Judges said: 'This represents a new benchmark for the future of urban planting.'

Le Jardin Secret, Marrakech - Tom Stuart-Smith Ltd

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Planting Design, Horticulture and Strategic Ecology

Judges said: 'The exotic garden is a masterclass in plant placement; a living artwork of texture, colour, rhythm and scale.'

Displaced Ecosystems: Can Implementing an Ecosystems Services Approach Improve the Quality and Sustainability of Refugee Settlements? - Joelle Darby, Birmingham City University

WINNER: Student Dissertation

Judges said: 'For a current topic, the candidate has been able to deliver a practical set of solutions worthy of detailed consideration by the engaged in working with refugees.'

A New Approach to an Inclusive Urban Park for All People: Specially Designed for Visually-Impaired People - Ibin Yoon, Writtle University College

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Student Dissertation

Judges said: 'A well-structured and clearly set out dissertation, focusing on an important topic that can easily be ignored: the consideration of the needs of people with visual impairment within the landscape design process.'

Brexit: In Search of the Picturesque? Re-framing Landscape for the Twenty-First Century - Bethan Walke, University of Gloucestershire

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Student Dissertation

Judges said: 'The panel were encouraged to see the student being bold enough to identify current, politically and ethically challenging topics such as Brexit.'

The Skyline Parliament Manifesto - Luke Whittaker, University of Greenwich

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Student Dissertation

Judges said: 'We were particularly impressed with the graphic representations within this entry.'

'Indulge me' by Michael Ekers, Writtle University College

WINNER: Student Portfolio

Judges said: 'Proposals included in the portfolio demonstrate a great degree of creativity both in the topics developed and in the way of communicating ideas.'

Emma Thompson, University of Edinburgh

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Student portfolio

Judges said: 'Lots of creativity and innovation combined with a good understanding of context and theory.'

'Philolutes and Psychrolutes - Lovers of Bathing and Lovers of Cold Water' by Liz Stark, University of Greenwich

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Student portfolio

Judges said: 'The portfolio is harmonious in its presentation with an unique visual style.'

Emily Cropton, University of Edinburgh

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Student portfolio

Judges said: 'The different textures and feel are exciting and engaging.'

Quarry Garden in Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden - Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning and Design Institute

WINNER: Dame Sylvia Crowe Award

Judges said: 'An excellent example of a fresh approach to quarry restoration. It is an approach which could be applied to quarries elsewhere in China and around the world.'

Rice Garden in Shanghai, China - Department of Landscape Architecture, Tongji University

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Dame Sylvia Crowe Award

Judges said: 'An admirable aspect of the project was that it provided a meeting place for different social groups, thereby enriching the project and creating learning opportunities for members of the local community and for professionals.'

Wangjing SOHO Parks: Creating a New Green Urban Hub - Ecoland Planning and Design Corporate

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Dame Sylvia Crowe Award

Judges said: 'The materials and finish are of an extremely high quality, which could serve to raise the professional and construction standards of other projects globally.'

The Block - desert INK/Desert Group

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Dame Sylvia Crowe Award

Judges said: 'It is commendable that the design put an emphasis on the reuse and recycling of concrete material, thereby reducing the park’s environmental footprint.'

HUB (in collaboration with B|D Landscape Architects)

WINNER: Client of the Year

The forward-thinking developer was nominated by B|D Landscape Architects for its progressive approach to delivering thoughtfully designed homes and places. The two companies have been collaborating on numerous projects for the past decade.

Annelise Walker, Tyler Grange LLP

WINNER: New Landscape Professional of the Year

Judges said: 'Committed to both the profession and society, Anneliese is a worthy winner.'

James Penney, Allen Scott

HIGHLY COMMENDED: New Landscape Professional of the Year

Judges said: 'James has been recognised as a leader by his employer Allen Scott, having risen to the position of associate director.'

Mike Browell

WINNER: Volunteer of the Year

Mike was nominated by the Yorkshire and Humberside LI branch for over 30 years of volunteering. Judges said: 'Mike Browell has made a significant contribution to the success of our pathway to chartered membership candidates.'

Read more about the winning projects.

The ceremony

BBC Radio London presenter Ebs Akintade joined us as compère for the 2018 Awards ceremony. Our keynote speaker was New York Times best-selling author and journalist Florence Williams.

Florence is a Fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature and a visiting scholar at George Washington University. A journalist, author and public speaker, Florence’s work explores environmental, health and science issues.

Her most recent book, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative is an investigation into nature’s restorative benefits and the science behind its positive effects on the brain.

Celebrating people, place and nature

See the full list and details of the winning schemes in our special commemorative Landscape Institute Awards 2018 book:

LI Awards 2018 sponsors