Member Article

Midlands landscape architect begins the year on a (green) high

Nottinghamshire and London-based landscape architect Influence is starting the year on a high following a record year in 2020 - which saw a 50% increase in projects compared to 2019.

The practice recently hit the headlines with its bold and ambitious green vision for Nottingham’s now redundant Broadmarsh, on behalf of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

The plans showed a transformed and reimagined Nottingham city centre, with a proposed 100% greenspace in place of the shopping centre. Put forward to Nottingham City Council, the plans have attracted hundreds of comments from members of the public backing the scheme.

Despite the challenging conditions of 2020, the chartered landscape architect – which delivers landscape architecture, urban design, environment planning and expert witness services - has had a record 12 months in business during that time and plans for further team expansion this year.

Last year, the company worked on major developments across the country. In the midlands, projects included; Special Educational Needs schools in Lincolnshire, the county’s major flood defence scheme the university’s medical school. In Northamptonshire, the team worked on the recently designated High-Street Heritage Action Zones.

The team are also delivering residential developments in Manchester and are the go-to practice for specialist tall building assessments in London - protecting the capital’s famous skyline.

Sara Boland, managing director of Influence, said: “While 2020 was a year of uncertainty, it was also a year that I saw the very best from our team - who worked together to achieve our record year in business.

“Due to a number of challenges last year - the pandemic, social distancing measures and mental wellbeing - green space has been catapulted to the forefront of people’s minds, and we have seized the opportunity to respond. Green, open space plays an incredibly important role in our wellbeing and more of a balance needs to be found within commercial schemes to accommodate this.

“2020 was a real journey of highs and lows but we are so pleased to be able to share such positive business news going forward into 2021. There is still plenty of opportunity and movement in the property and construction sector and we are seeing this across all areas of our business.”

Shona Hatton, director of the practice, added: “It goes without saying that we are proud of our team’s achievements in delivering brilliant work over the past 12 months, and to work on such an incredibly important and high-profile project with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, is really the icing on the cake.

“We have worked hard to provide the best possible training for our team and further build our portfolio and this strategy is reflected in our results this year. We have lots of exciting plans for 2021, and wish to thank our clients who choose to work with us.”

Influence supported a number of charitable causes throughout 2020 including mental health charity Mind and will be choosing its charity of year in early 2021.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tamara Samuel .