The Final Design Package - What to Expect
The second stage of the design process involves putting together all the additional plans and written documentation required to provide full quotations and successfully build and plant your new garden.
A fully dimensioned plan of the design including all measurements and levels within the garden will be produced to enable the landscaper to set out the garden correctly and realise the plans on the ground. These are simply called the setting out plans as they quite literally set out the design on the ground. This is often carried out using spray paint (that wears away) so we can see where each element of the design is to be installed and sign it off before the build commences.
If the design of your garden includes any particularly complex hard landscaping features it may be necessary to design them in greater detail, and at a greater scale, before they can be built. We will produce any technical drawings that the landscape team need.
We also complete a written specification and scope of work, which is an essentia document for the landscape team to quote with. All materials and items needed to build the garden are set out with supplier details and instructions on how they are to be used or installed.
Lighting Plans
We design any systems that are required including lighting. We don't intend to bring in the 'planes from Manchester airport, so aim to provide you with a subtle scheme that brings your garden to life at night. Care will be taken over safety, such as ensuring safe movement down steps. We will also use lighting to dramatic effect, lighting key elements to act as night time focal points. A simple spotlight under a tree can look spectacular in the dark.
Planting Plans
Another essential element of our design service is to produce detailed decorative planting plans and schedules to accompany the spatial design. We take the palette of plants that we have developed during the design development stage and reduce this to the final short list of plants that we will use in your garden. They have been selected according to their colour, fragrance, texture, growth habit and size best suited to the specific conditions in the garden and, most importantly, to you required style and maintenance levels.
We then create a plan based on this list. This plan will show you which plants are to be used, their location, spacing and how many are required. The plants are counted and the final plant schedule created to be sent to the nursery for prices. When the plants are delivered the plants are set out with the guidance of the planting plan.
The finished garden exceeded all our expectations, we cannot thank Louise enough; she is professional, creative and above all friendly. We have enjoyed every aspect from the initial design through to the build, it has been a seamless process.
Sue & Geoff Mitchell, Merseyside