COLUMNIST: LYNN HILL
As a garden designer, I am often brought in at the start of projects alongside the architect, so that building and landscape architecture are approached in a cohesive manner.
A house does not sit in isolation, it forms part of the environment in which it is placed. When undertaking work to your property, there are many benefits to thinking through this connection right at the start: it can save you money, help to avoid critical mistakes, and create a beautifully unified space for you to enjoy.
The most obvious benefit relates to connection and flow. The journey through the garden to the house should be comfortable and welcoming. The way we move about a space is so important to our relationship with it. It is a crucial part of what makes good design.
Working with the architect at the planning stage allows for the placing of doors and features to maximise the connection between home and garden. To give an example, when we identified the ideal spot for an alfresco dining patio and turned a big window into a door leading out to it, this allowed for a super indoor/outdoor space. How easily it would have been to miss this opportunity, had we not engaged in some joined-up thinking so early on.
It can also make a big difference to more mundane tasks, such as taking out the bins. By identifying the best spot in the garden for the bin store, the route to be taken through the house can be considered. In one instance, had I not been brought in early, the journey to the bins would have been through the lounge and dining area. Again, by turning a window into a door on the architect’s plans, it became easy to pop out of the kitchen.
It seems simple, yet this demonstrates how a small change at the drawings stage can make a big difference to how the space is experienced when it is built.
Joined-up thinking not only creates better living spaces, it can also save you money. When planning permission is required, a combined application for both house and landscape saves duplication of fees and saves time going through the application process.
Many elements in garden design and layout fall outwith the scope of Permitted Development and require planning consent, especially if you live in a conservation area or have a listed building. I often work through this with my clients to make the process as easy and seamless as possible.
Access to the site is always a key element in any design. Can machinery be easily brought in? What about the delivery of materials? Tricky access impacts on the amount of labour required (for example, by having to wheelbarrow or manually bring in supplies), which has a corresponding cost implication to you.
Sometimes we bring in materials and use machinery before the fences go up, so it is easy to get them in and out. It all comes down to consideration of what is the best ‘order of play’. Deciding on timelines and order, is the essence of good organisation to ensure a successful project.
Depending on where you live, the access to your garden may even be through your house, as with many of the beautiful period properties in Edinburgh. I often work with my clients, house and landscape contractors to choreograph the timeline of works so that access becomes a breeze.
It can be so tempting to wait until the work on the house is complete before thinking about the garden. After all, there are so many decisions to be made and decision fatigue is such a common feature of any build project. Imagine a team with landscaping equipment and supplies coming through your newly renovated and decorated house - it would be a travesty!
Another of the primary considerations in house and landscape/garden design is how changes of level in the ground are managed as few of us live on a perfectly flat piece of land.
There is the digging out for foundations to be considered for one, including what happens to the stuff that is dug out - groundworks are crucial and underpin everything, literally!
Groundworks can be expensive and ideally, should be done only once. This is the beauty of a joined-up approach as it allows for what could easily become two tasks, to be one. I have seen work added to projects where the landscape has been an afterthought, effectively undoing some of the work of the initial builders in order to allow for the landscape design which can result in compromised spaces which do not flow well together.
A simple example would be the relocation of manhole covers on the plans so that they did not fall in the middle of the lawn and be impossible to disguise (no, please do not put a pot on it!). By relocating them to form part of the patio and by using recess covers, they blend in wonderfully with the stone paving. Such a simple thing to alter on the drawings, but a lot more complicated and expensive, or outright impossible, to rectify once the house is built.
By helping you to navigate through the options and priorities, engaging with a good garden designer can be a valuable way of lessening the decision fatigue you experience during a build project by employing some joined-up thinking, as well as helping to manage your budget, and avoiding critical mistakes. This process is a key role of professional garden design.
So, when thinking about your garden design and questioning, ‘where do we start?’... the answer is most definitely ‘at the beginning’!
Designer and Director of Lynn Hill Garden Design, Lynn loves creating wonderful green spaces. She has been honoured with many awards, and has contributed to Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Flower Show, and worked with the BBC as design consultant for Beechgrove Garden.
Green spaces can be sanctuaries that nourish us, inspire us and even heal us. Lynn encourages us to view our gardens as an extension of our home and embrace the benefits they bring to our health and wellbeing.
A member of the Scottish Ecological Design Association and the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, Lynn has a 1st Class Honours Degree in Community Education from Edinburgh University, and an HNC with Distinction in Garden Design.
You can follow Lynn on Instagram for more chat or find lots of professional garden design inspiration on her website.