John MacCleary, Course Director

John MacCleary

Course Director

John started at Leeds Beckett as Course Director for Landscape Architecture in 2018. He joined after over almost 30 years practice experience, most recently with Gillespies in Leeds and before that in private practice in Glasgow. He brings his experience in practice and passion for design to the Landscape courses at Leeds Beckett.

John's work has ranged from urban design strategy work to the implementation of large public realm projects and urban forestry. In 2008 he joined Gillespies to deliver the multi-award winning City Park in Bradford. This £17million regeneration project was a highly collaborative piece of work between the disciplines of landscape, engineering, architecture and art. As well his practice based work, he completed a Masters in Design at Glasgow School of Art specialising in landscape design and outdoor furniture and has been visiting lecturer to a number of universities over the last 20 years.

John's key interests are the implementation of sustainable design solutions in contemporary landscape architecture practice.

Current Teaching

  • BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture and Design
  • MA Landscape Architecture

Research Interests

Sustainable landscape design practice with a focus on retrofitting, nature based solutions, nature recovery and re-wilding.

John MacCleary, Course Director

Ask Me About

  1. Design
  2. Landscape architecture
  3. Sustainability
  4. Urban