Our Difference... is our Dedication, Designing Landscapes for Future Generations

ELD at 'Looking Back to Look Forward' event 10th November 2011

ELD have a stand at ‘Looking Back to Look Forward’ this year’s Suffolk Agricultural Association Gardening Conference. This event takes place on Thursday 10^th November 2011 at Trinity Park, Ipswich, sponsored by Alitex, NFU Mutual – Ipswich and the Suffolk Gardens Trust.

The British love affair with gardens has been enhanced over time leaving so much to be learnt from the past that sometimes the most influential lessons may not be obvious at first sight.  By "Looking Back to Look Forward" the conference speakers will guide delegates through the historical maze to lessons that can be learnt for the future designs of our gardens.

The conference will feature a SAA Gardeners’ Question time session when delegates will have the opportunity to pose questions to the panel of expert speakers.

The conference will appeal to all gardening enthusiasts, budding garden designers and those that appreciate and enjoy visiting open and public gardens.  Designed as a relaxed, sociable and informative day, the event starts at 9.30am with coffee, breaks at midday for a two course hot lunch and rounds off at 3pm with tea, cake and shopping time.

For further information on this event see the website at www.suffolkshow.co.uk/gardeningconference or call Hannah Woods on 01473-707118.

ELD at SALTEX

ELD are exhibiting in collaboration with the Landscape Institute to promote Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Urban Drainage systems (SUDs). 

Visit us at Stand U1 at the IOG SALTEX 2011 exhibition at Windsor Racecourse, 6th - 8th September.

ELD SALTEX OFFER

Quote your details and the reference 'ELD SALTEX' via email to ELD to be eligible for a 10% discount off your next ELD design and planning consultancy commission.

ELD can provide a full commercial design service as well as domestic design and build service, for projects with construction costs of £5,000 to £250,000. Why not have a look through our web site for examples of completed ELD schemes.

ELD Prize Draw!!!

When we exhibit at events like the SUFFOLK SHOW, we always hold a PRIZE DRAW with the winning prize worth £100 of FREE, ELD consultancy time, (equivalent to 1.5 hours), if you are located within a 15 mile radius of the IP14 post code* (Terms apply).  Email us now quoting ‘IP14’, with your contact details, to be ENTERED INTO OUR SPRING NEWSLETTER DRAW and you too could be a lucky winner!!

ELD can provide a full commercial design service as well as domestic design and build service, for projects with construction costs of £5,000 to £250,000. Why not have a look through our web site for examples of completed ELD schemes.

* Terms - 45p per mile is charged to cover additional mileage beyond the first 15 miles and an hourly rate is applied for consultation time over 1.5 hours, plus VAT. 

The Suffolk Show - 1st & 2nd June 2011

ELD will be exhibiting again at the Suffolk County Show on the 1^st and 2nd June, located  in the Floral Marquee, at the end of the Floral Avenue,  Trinity Park, Ipswich.  This is the 3^rd year in succession that ELD has exhibited at the event, which we found to be a great success allowing us to meet so many interesting people and make several new business contacts.

Do you remember the Award Winning, ELD ‘Celebration Garden’, built to acknowledge our 10^th year of business success in 2009? We have not entered another competition garden since, but if you would like to sponsor ELD next year for a 2012 Olympic garden, then do get in touch,  on 01449 768828, or visit us at the Show, as we need to start planning it NOW.

ELD is Expanding - In More Ways Than One!!

I have to offer my personal CONGRATULATIONS to Abby Stallwood (and husband Wayne) - Abby has been my 2^nd in Command at ELD HQ this past 20 months and is now just over 6 months through her 1^st pregnancy and is due to go on maternity leave in July…. Well of course, this is FANTASTIC news for Abby, but can you imagine the predicament we both faced during such an incredibly busy start to the year!!! Contrary to the economic climate, we were in desperate need of some new recruits to take on some of this incredible workload, but now we also needed to secure a ‘red hot’ senior, to cover for Abby’s impending maternity leave!!!!

Let’s start with our first new recruit!!! We are very pleased to belatedly announce the arrival of ANDI ELSTONE, our new PRACTICE MANAGER.  Andi worked for BT for 13 years, before becoming a Director of her own Telecoms company. Consequently, she knows everything about running a business, along with the pressures it can bring!!  Having joined us in January, we love her ‘no nonsense’ attitude, taking no prisoners; whipping us all into shape, whilst bringing huge strengths to the Practice. We have already seen how her initiatives are making ELD run as an ever smoother machine!! 

We started advertising in October last year for our ‘red hot’ Senior…  and they say patience is a virtue?!  Having advertised and interviewed many people over the past six months, we wondered if we would ever find the perfect candidate!!  So, we are VERY pleased to announce that our new, ‘red hot’, SENIOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT is DAWN PURVES.  Dawn joined us in April and is to enjoy a three month overlap learning the business whilst attacking the expanding workload, before Abby goes on maternity.  She has 13 years of experience working in private practice, covering a wide range of responsibilities such as: strategic assessments; heritage projects; urban design projects with hard and soft landscape and technical construction elements.

We are also pleased to announce the appointment of MERVYN DENNY, who will be joining our team in July 2011, as a GRADUATE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. Mervyn gained Distinctions across the board throughout his Degree and Post Graduate Diploma in Landscape Architecture and will be bringing a wealth of business experience with him, from his 20 years as a graphics and packaging designer. He also has a passion for plants and landscape and we cannot wait for him to join the team!!  

Now, we need to continue to build on the volume of work to feed the expanding ELD machine, so if you have a new, up and coming project that needs our detailed attention, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH on:  01449 768828.

Continuing Success at St Nicholas Hospice, Bury St Edmunds

This past year has seen the St Nicholas Hospice site at Bury St Edmunds grow from strength to strength…. The story so far…. You may recall that Terry Ball, of Kester Cunningham Ball Solicitors, donated his £1,000 ELD consultancy prize from 2009, to the Hospice.

Since then, the Hospice announced in Jan 2010 that they had been awarded funding to permit refurbishment of the interior communal spaces as well as their woodland garden.  ELD was soon appointed to continue with the redesign and specify works to renovate the grounds and following the tender period in November last year, the landscape contractor was appointed to start on site.

The garden was tired and overgrown as well as suffering from deep shade associated with the mature woodland, combined with a north facing aspect, making the garden relatively dark and damp.  

Paths traversed steep gradients making access with patient beds and wheelchairs difficult, whilst also being slippery and moss covered;

Some trees were over mature and needed felling; there were no raised beds for vegetable growing and aside from the open terrace near the building, there was no where for solitude or contemplation that the Chaplin so desired for his patients.

The rockery style water feature was tired and in need of renovation and smokers were forced to endure the weather in beds and wheelchairs, by hovering outside, as there was no covered outdoor ‘smoking room’. 

All of this made for an interesting and challenging brief to be met within a limited construction budget; the works have since been implemented with great care and attention to detail by the contractor, Fordham Landscapes, who managed to complete it within the agreed contract sum, despite the dreadful winter weather. 

All paths were renovated and cleaned to improve the visual finish and reduce the slip risk from a build up of moss. Three mature larch and a beech tree were felled to create a small clearing in the woods; the small shed reversed to face into the clearing to provide an open and covered area for contemplation, linked by a new path across a redefined lawn to the main terrace, to give full access around the garden.

Completed view - Secluded Garden of Tranquility.

Soil was pulled away from the building and regraded, with the introduction of a sleeper retaining wall, manholes were lifted and a paved path access provided to allow patients to grow vegetables.

Existing view

Completed view - Regraded bank and retaining wall for vegetable growing and new woodland path access.

Paving has been extended from the main terrace and a new pergola with climbers has been erected along with an outdoor ‘smoking room’, creating a covered space for those who need to take shelter from the weather.

Completed view - panorama of garden with water feature on terrace, smoking room and pergola with new path link to tranquility garden.

The old rockery water feature has been replaced with a stainless steel sphere, that acts as a focus and sculptured feature, raised up within planted borders to permit patients to see it from within the building and surroundings.

5^th May saw the icing added to the cake, as plants from Fordham Nursery were planted by a host of volunteers, under the watchful guidance of ELD staff.

Click here to read the archived news article.

ELD Successful in Bid for Gateway Development at South Norfolk District Council

South Norfolk District Council issued expressions of Interest late last summer, for the redevelopment of their offices as part of a commercial and residential ‘gateway’ development, at Long Stratton.  Being local to Long Stratton, ELD prepared an introduction and sent in our expression of interest and hoped for the best!!  A month or so later, we opened our post late one Friday afternoon, to discover to our delight and astonishment, that we had been shortlisted for interview, but for the following Monday morning at 10.00am, leaving next to no time to prepare!!

The ELD team set to work over the weekend, to put together a presentation and design strategy for the forthcoming interview! Monday morning came and we headed off to South Norfolk District Council offices with our proposals.

Coming out of the interview we felt happy that we were able to demonstrate our initial thoughts for the site, as well as our passion for the scheme, but as with all these interviews, you never can tell!!

A few weeks passed and we wondered if we had missed some vital correspondence. Suddenly, an email arrived from the Council Board containing some amazing words of surprise:

‘Dear Ruth

Thanks to you and Abby for attending the interview on Monday.  The quality of candidates and presentations was high and it has been a difficult decision for the Council to make.  We felt that your vision for the site and enthusiasm you had for the project exceeded the other candidates and we would like to offer you the contract of Landscape Architect.  We will invite you to our next design meeting with the Princes Foundation to enable you to assess the project more fully’.

We were over the moon that we had been appointed over 3 other well known practices, plus, with such positive feedback and since then, our fee proposal has been accepted and we are on the team!!

ELD is working with the Prince’s Trust Foundation Architects, developing the overall site strategy and development masterplan. This is currently on hold due to the local elections, but, soon to progress to concept landscape proposals to take forward the public open space and other civic spaces, once the elections have passed. 

At least now we have a fabulous team to dedicate to the project when the green light is eventually given!!!  Watch this space for more updates and we shall update our website!

Braintree Day Hospital - Another Swift Planning Approval for ELD!

You would never credit that millions of pounds could be spent on a new hospital building in Braintree; yet the interface between the existing Day Hospital and new infrastructure could have been so ignored; left untouched and unfinished.  ELD was invited to review this area of interface, as the main contractor had long since gone and the client was concerned by the lack of integration and serious hazards that remained. 

This problem, I have to say, is sadly TYPICAL of ‘a red line on a drawing’; such that, a developer rarely wants to step over the red line and spend a penny beyond their immediate boundaries. What is left is often a shambolic mess between the old and new site. 

Images of the interface between new and existing, to demonstrate incompete surfaces, trip hazards and poorly considered level changes.

View - The new hospital pedestrian link and fastigiated tree planting.

ELD was invited to review the situation and come up with a number of solutions to improve the many areas around St Michael’s Day Hospital, which we did and duly submitted the proposals for approval to the Local Authority on behalf of the client.

We are pleased to report that permission was granted without any complication and our client at Mid Essex PCT was very pleased with the results, such that his testimonial is as follows:

‘I was pleased to have selected ELD to undertake the preparation of our landscape architecture plans. The work was undertaken efficiently and expediently and the proposals discussed with the local planning authority to ensure a smooth passage through the planning process. Other companies I can think of would not have been so proactive in their approach. It’s a pleasure, working with you. Good news re. planning approval - Well done ELD and thanks for a great job.’

An 'Adults Only' Touring Caravan Park in Suffolk

What seemed like a straight forward LVIA for a touring caravan site in Suffolk has turned into a marathon, with ELD project managing the entire planning submission and associated consultants, which is currently being verified by the local authority.  The site was a former gravel extraction site and now contains a large, deep lake, hence the application is for ‘adults only’ for future visitors.

Aside from the LVIA report, ELD has spent considerable time designing the site layout, detailed contours and planting proposals, as well as flood risk assessments, organising ecological and tree surveys, contamination reports and architectural design for built units.   Our client is very pleased with the work completed to date, despite not yet having any formal notice over the application and has commented as follows:

‘I recommend Elwood Landscape Design as an extremely professional team of Landscape Architects.

Due to my own intense work schedule I was unable to devote sufficient personal time that my landscape project required. No problem, Elwood took what was a complex requirement and broke it into manageable pieces engaging specialists in associated fields as required, completing the project with the highest level of professionalism.

Regular updates were provided, but the service I find most reassuring is the way they deal with the other specialists and the government agencies, clearing defining and managing the project from start to finish, keeping a close watch on the costs incurred and adhering to the legislation required.

I consider myself fortunate that I found ELD; a personal; customer focused; professional team that I can’t fault and will certainly reuse in the future for other projects.’

ELD LVIA secures Planning Approval for Luxury Log Cabins in Foxton, Leicestershire

ELD was commissioned through Berrys Property & Busniess Consultants of Kettering, as part of the consultant team to undertake a full Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) for a luxury log cabin development in Leicestershire. This was part of an agricultural diversification project, for a site located within attractive countryside near the highly popular Foxton Locks and Grand Union Canal. To support the LVIA, ELD also prepared a design concept, with detailed hard and soft landscape proposals, including a pond design and accommodation of access for an existing Bridleway route through the site. All the proposals were to retain the character of the area whilst promoting the intimate landscape around the individual luxury log cabins.

Feedback from the Local Planning Authority was all very quick and positive with only a minor review of materials for the Bridleway route needed; which was quickly resolved, resulting in a speedy discharge of conditions and receipt of formal planning approval.

Our client at Berrys has responded with the following comment:

‘A very thorough, well presented and professional job that led to a positive outcome for our client.  What more could I ask for?!’

Children & Young Adult's Mental Health Unit (CAMHS) in Colchester

ELD has spent this past year working up the detailed hard and soft landscape design with KLH Architects of Ipswich, for a state of the art CAMHS Unit in Colchester, set within the beautiful, mature grounds of Severall’s Hospital, surrounded by mature trees.  This has been a very interesting project with very specific requirements, as every aspect of design has to be considered in relation to the young people who will occupy the space and the potential risks to their health.  As such, internal courtyards have been designed as secure, yet robust and colourful spaces for them to enjoy, with a strong strategic framework of landscape infrastructure outside the building and across the new grounds.  

View of Existing Site Area

ELD has met with the CAMHS committees and some of the young people to discuss the proposals and needs of the children.  The application is currently with Colchester Borough Council for consideration, so we now wait to receive feedback on the scheme, which has had to comply with the strict and detailed requirements of the Council’s Landscape Officer!!!

Extra Care Unit at Cromwell House in Huntingdon

Working up layout options with architects at RDT Design, ELD has recently submitted details for 2 applications: a refurbishment proposal and new build extension proposal, for the listed building and birthplace of Oliver Cromwell, in Huntingdon town centre.

View of the existing garden space with Japanese Knotweed contamination

The site is not without its challenges, with Japanese Knotweed growing in the grounds and a listed wall currently undermined by mature conifer trees, thus the design and phasing of works has to be well considered.  ELD is managing the Knotweed with the help of specialist consultants at TCM; known to have a one season HIT treatment to eradicate the plant in one year. Herbicide treatment is about to commence over forthcoming weeks and if the new build construction is programmed to start before satisfactory Knotweed eradication, all contaminated spoil is to be removed to a licensed tip under a watching brief.

We are awaiting feedback on both applications from Huntingdon District Council.

West Suffolk College Redevelopment, Bury St Edmunds

Working with Pick Everard in Bury, ELD has contributed to the new masterplan for part of the site and detailed hard and soft landscape design for the new FE Building, as part of West Suffolk College regeneration works. 

Designing around mature TPO London Plane trees; retaining part of the former Barracks’ listed wall, whilst combating considerable level changes have been part of the ongoing challenges.

Proposals are currently with St Edmundsbury Borough Council for consideration.

ELD Steps Out of Suffolk into the Kew Conservation Area, London

ELD was very excited to have been appointed for a private open space design project, located near Kew Bridge, 300m from the famous Kew Gardens in London!   Working alongside MGL Architects, ELD was appointed to design a private garden and play area, for a new apartment block, located in the Kew Conservation Area.

The overall street scene was well vegetated with a number of mature TPO trees to be retained. The proposed courtyard garden was to contain a double layer of bespoke security fence details, with prickly planting along the street side; shade tolerant and children friendly planting within. No-dig construction over tree roots dictated the style of paving, with seating and 3 separate pieces of toddler play equipment.  The presence of Japanese Knotweed amongst trees will make planting establishment more of a challenge, but ELD always rises to the challenge even in the city environment!

The drawings have been submitted to the LPA and ELD now wait with baited breath to receive their feedback!!!

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) - Appointment

Ruth Elwood has recently been invited to join the GWCT Suffolk Committee, (formerly The Game Conservancy Trust), elected as part of a restructured, dynamic group of local business and farming personalities, all with a passion for the environment. 

The Committee has set its target over the next 2 years to raise the profile of the Trust across the County; whilst also organising a number of fundraising events to raise a top level £50,000 or so, to contribute towards the £2.5 million needed for new research into wildlife and countryside conservation and £4.5 million spent on national conservation projects.

If you are interested in the rural environment, have you considered becoming a member of the Trust? If you are keen to support this worthy cause, it’s very reasonable at approximately £36 for individuals, £60 for families and £96 for trade/businesses CLICK HERE for more membership details.

The Trust is ever more reliant on charitable donations and Ruth would welcome any support from our clients, friends and colleagues – if you are able to help with a fund raising event through sponsorship or have any interesting ideas on how to raise money or get involved PLEASE get in touch on 01449 768828 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Did you hear ELD's Director, Ruth Elwood on BBC Radio Suffolk?!

Aside from ELD attending the B2B events in Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds in the past few months, ELD has also exhibited at the recent ISSBA event, held at Trinity Park, Ipswich.

As it was our first time ever exhibiting at the event, Ruth Elwood was invited to be speak on the radio in an interview with Rachel Sloane, as part of BBC Radio Suffolk’s Drive Time!!!  This is the second time Ruth has been on Radio Suffolk – the first was when she was interviewed by Leslie Dolphin as her ‘Sofa Guest’ in late 2009!

ELD Part of RIBA Award Winning Team

A new stud development site near Newmarket, has won a prestigious RIBA Award for both the Workplace Award and Building of the Year 2010.

Click here for the RIBA East Spirit of Ingenuity Award