Rosie Place is a Chartered Landscape Architect with over 12 years varied experience in landscape design and assessment. She grew up in Cumbria on the edge of the Lake District, studied at Leeds Beckett and worked in London before returning to her home county to continue her career.

In this blog, she explains what her job involves and reflects on her university experience, which included a year-long placement.

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you've been doing since you graduated?

I graduated from PG Dip Landscape Architecture in 2013, when I was lucky enough to join LUC (Land Use Consultants) in their London office, which was a brilliant opportunity to work with a highly experienced, multidisciplinary team on a range of interesting and diverse projects. This included the Camden Active Spaces project, which focused on three schools in Camden where the brief was to design outdoor spaces to encourage children to become more physically active.

The project was such an enjoyable experience, especially being involved from consultation with the teachers and children, to concept design right through to site supervision during construction. Being able to see children enjoying the spaces once completed was fantastic. After two years in London, I spotted an advert for a landscape architecture role in Cumbria, which at the time was very rare. It felt like the perfect time to return north and I joined Capita RE&I (now WSP) in 2015.

What have been the highlights and challenges of your career so far?

During my time at WSP, I have been able to follow projects from inception, through planning, produce technical details and oversee the construction. Many of these projects have been in the English Lake District World Heritage Site in some of the top 10 visited areas in the UK. I have loved being able to improve the quality of the public spaces using contemporary design that compliments the natural and managed landscapes of the Lake District.

I’ve been able to visit slate quarries in the Langdales to source paving and walling materials to be used only a few minutes’ drive away, to create wider, more accessible areas of footway for large groups of visitors to enjoy. 

Tell us about your experience of taking a year out whilst studying at Leeds Beckett?

When I saw play space designers and suppliers Timberplay were advertising a year out placement, I jumped at the opportunity! During my third year I wrote my dissertation on the role of landscape architecture in improving mental health and wellbeing and I was inspired by one of the external speakers that came to visit. The lead landscape architect from Timberplay spoke about how landscape is an essential part of any successful design for play by creating a varied range of play value for different ages, abilities and needs.

I was so impressed with their understanding of play and focus on children’s development and was excited to learn more about how good quality landscape design could create unique spaces for all ages to enjoy and develop. I loved my time working at Timberplay, and was lucky enough to be invited to their factory in the Bavarian Alps a few years later, to see the care that goes into making the amazing play equipment from a 3rd generation family business made in a traditional factory in Frasdorf.

How has your course experience helped you in your career so far?

The landscape architecture courses at Leeds provided an amazing start to my career, through developing key skills in presentation and undertaking regular design critique, sketching and creative design, understanding opportunities and constraints of a range of environments and appreciating the potential good quality landscape design has.

One of the highlights of the course was the various study trips we went on, from visiting construction sites in Bradford to quality public realm schemes in Malmo, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. However, one of the most beneficial skills I developed during my time at Leeds was an interest in planting design. The Landscape Resource Centre at Headingley was invaluable for learning about plants and seeing a range of planting species and styles of planting on a weekly basis.

Having started the undergraduate course straight from school and not having a horticultural background, the plant idents and learning latin plant names were some of the most challenging aspects of the course. However, it was here that my passion for plants evolved and now planting design is my favourite aspect of any scheme I work on.

What's next for you?

In the last few months I have been working on several public realm schemes in the centre of Carlisle just a minute’s walk from my office. For one of these I have been doing the technical design ready for work to start on site in the summer. On the others, I have been undertaking a Technical Advisor role for Cumberland Council, supporting the council in trying to ensure the designs are as ambitious as possible to provide multiple benefits for local people and the environment.

Within the next few years, I would like to continue progressing my design skills for both urban and rural projects and expand my knowledge and experience in various aspects of Sustainable Drainage Systems.

I’m also looking to build a team of landscape architects, for WSP, in Cumbria to support the numerous exciting projects both locally and nationally.