Top 3 things to Begin the Design Process with
The design process has a number of preparation tasks we undertake to ensure we are designing armed with the right information and site knowledge. These might not apply to all projects but generally they will be key components of an initial site study and preparing a design breif and fee proposal.
Site Feature and Levels Survey
Every design we do requires a level and feature survey from a surveyor or engineering firm and it is worth every cent. This provides us with an accurate digital map of site boundaries*, structures, levels, services and existing conditions. Simpler sites and designs might allow us to use a drone survey and more complicated sites with canopy cover requires the help of a specialist consultant. If there will be requirements for a permit to build structures in the landscape a recent site survey will be required for this process too.
Often new build projects mean the client has a survey from before the build but this unfortunately doesn’t capture the changes that house excavations and vegetation clearing have made, meaning their contours and levels are no longer useful. An accurate digital site survey means we can also produce accurate estimations for your design at conceptual and detailed level through the use of calculations of quantities and areas from the millimetre perfect survey data.
*Site boundaries are the expertise of a registered surveyor, engineering surveyors can only provide us with levels and features. Your specific requirements will determine which option we take.
Tree Inspection
Any landscape with significant trees should have a tree inspection done at the outset of a design process. This is to ensure the health and vigour of existing trees is taken into account in the design but also ensure client safety if its a property new to them and they have no past knowledge of tree health and changes. A trained consulting arborist is a must for this process as they ahave specialist training and knowledge of aboriculture and also specific tree species tendancies for genetic traits, common problems and local problems.
Site Walk Through Notes
The design process always starts with our initial consultation service. This is our opportunity to walk through the site and inspect it from tree canopy cover and tree health, existing vegetation and its function for the landscape, inspect existing structures and their integrity and see where problems might exist in terms of drainage issues, irrigation problems and soil health. We will usually do a follow up visit just before the design process begins to refresh our memory before we begin and also allow for an additional chance to inspect the site at a slightly different time of year with different conditions.
