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Hello all.  I'm Graham, working for Bracknell Forest Council, but have previously worked for architects, been a sole trader for 18 years, and tutored/lectured on garden design courses, mainly drawing techniques and hard landscape construction.  I studied at Manchester Polytechnic way back in 1977 to 1982 with a year-out job working for British Rail in their architects department, and then after completing the post-grad diploma I worked for a landscape contractor for 4 years.  Career high so far?  Designing the planting for Gorilla Kingdom at ZSL London Zoo.

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Hello, I am Annie Coombs, FLI, working mainly on design review panels and as an examining inspector for major infrastructure. 

I am a member of the policy and communications committee and I have sat on Advisory Council and College of Fellows steering committee in the past. Recently I acted as convenor for one of the working groups for the implementation of the Independent Review. The action plan preparation ended up being much more than we all expected, but there was a really positive team spirit in my group comprising members and staff. A big thank you to all those who contributed. Annie

 

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G'day from the world's first garden city.

I'm a mid career CMLI with a background in languages, landscape gardening and web publishing (including a stint at the LI).

I am a freelancer specialising in townscape appraisals in the SE.

Really interested in education, mentoring and aiming to become p2c supervisor or examiner.

When I'm not working you can usually find me chasing after my young children in the garden, teaching Latin names for the plants that get trashed.

IMG-20210825-WA0006.jpg

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Hello all current and future members of LI Connect.

My name is Marc van Grieken.  I am a landscape architect/planner, chair of the Technical Committee and member of the Board of Trustees.  I am a Fellow of the Landscape Institute and  Fellow of EUPATI, the European Patient Academy for Therapeutic Innovation. 

Please read on if you are interested in a tiny bit more background about me. If not, I am sure you know how to skip!

After 6 years of study, I graduated in March 1983 from the Agricultural University in Wagenigen, the Netherlands, acquiring the, arguably coveted, title of 'ingenieur'.  My reward for graduation was the 21 months unemployment that followed  in this 1980s period of dire recession.  When I signed up for unemployment benefit in April 1983, the very cheery man at the desk said:  "no need to come back monthly to prove your attempts to find work:  "there's no work for you, good luck with your future."  My study had been funded by a full student grant and an, interest free, student loan of 27,000 guilders in 1983 (equivalent to approximately £70K in todays money. I finally paid of this loan 16 years ago). 

Between 1980 and 1983 I had become good friends with Peter Daniel, undoubtedly one of the best landscape architects since establishment of the Institute.  Peter persuaded me to try my luck in Scotland. (I would encourage you to read the obituary I wrote: https://www.landscapeinstitute.org/news/obituary-peter-geoffrey-daniel/ )

I finally started my first ever, paid,  job on the 5th of January 1985 with Land Use Consultants (now LUC).  My first project consisted of 'designing' and specifying some grass and some trees as part of a land reclamation project aimed at 'greening and reclaiming' wasteland in the Gorbals, Glasgow.  Apart from not having a clue what a specification should look like, I did not understand the meaning of the word 'wasteland'.  From a Dutch perspective no land can or should ever be wasted.  Shortly thereafter I was 'flown to London' with one of the directors with the sole(?) purpose of having a look at the White Cliffs of Dover. Why? Because Land Use Consultants had been appointed to look at environmental effects of a 'potential tunnel to France' and their approach to in-house training meant involving young graduates, partly by throwing us into the deep end but actually gently guiding us even though in my case I barely spoke English.  A few months later I played a very small part in considering the implications of disposing the vast quantities of soil, rocks and mud that would be generated if the tunnel would be built.  We also ‘had a bet’ and I was the only person of the project team who believed the tunnel would eventually be built. More importantly however, I became aware that my qualifications were much more suited to landscape planning type work.

I left LUC in December 2014,  some 10 years after  I was diagnosed with ‘early onset Parkinson’s disease’, and set up MVGLA which started trading on 5th January 2015 exactly 30 years since my start with LUC.

I am passionate about landscape and also a passionate advocate for patient involvement.  I hope to contribute to constructive discussion on this Connect platform. In  my case, I will participate in the LVIA debate elsewhere on Connect which is very close to my hart. 

I believe that Connect provides a very good platform to share our knowledge and views.

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Welcome, @Marc van Grieken, and thank you for sharing this introduction to yourself - it sounds like you've had a fascinating journey thus far! And thank you also for that moving obituary for Peter, and condolences for your loss. This line particularly resonated: "His simple but most enduring message was that you cannot do anything to improve the landscape if you do not understand how it got to be the way it is." 

I look forward to your contributions to the discussions on LVIA and elsewhere on Connect. 

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@Marc van Grieken, thank you for posting. Your words were so evocative, I had no trouble imagining you staring at the White Cliffs and wondering what certain things were in the English language. It reminds me of myself in the first year of studying Dutch (snap!) at university and being given an assignment to read De Telegraaf from top to bottom and memorising 'useful' words such as ontwapeninsgonderhandlingen (bad spelling perhaps but it was something around talks about disarmaments) and 'de witwassen van der smeergeld' (money laundering). Never used those words in all the years I spent travelling to The Netherlands but 30 years on I still remember them. And all the little bricks in my education and professional life have led me here to the LI, and for this I am grateful. I am also grateful to have the chance to work and learn from you, because you are a role model (and we have fun working together).

 

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Hi everyone, 

I am recently retired having spent most of my career at Sunderland City Council. Also had two spells in private practice and one in a Community Technical Aid Centre back in the day. Past North East Branch rep.

All for aspirational, conscientious and realistic landscape design.

Probably need to update my profile picture!

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Hey @Billy Ng welcome to Connect. Check out the International forum (if you scroll down the Forum lists you will find it easily), where you can meet other members based abroad. In the time I've been at the LI that specific group of people have provided me with answers to lots of questions I had (e.g. about landscape architecture in Italy, where I am from) and I have made some wonderful connections. Let us know if you need any help, and happy Connecting!

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On 8/25/2021 at 5:29 PM, Andrew Cox said:

G'day from the world's first garden city.

I'm a mid career CMLI with a background in languages, landscape gardening and web publishing (including a stint at the LI).

I am a freelancer specialising in townscape appraisals in the SE.

Really interested in education, mentoring and aiming to become p2c supervisor or examiner.

When I'm not working you can usually find me chasing after my young children in the garden, teaching Latin names for the plants that get trashed.

IMG-20210825-WA0006.jpg

Love it...keep teaching the names!  Our children thought we were totally mad taking photos of all sorts of things - grass reinforcement, street sign systems, paving... The list goes on - they both absorbed more than they ever realised!

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Hi, what's her problem?  A green roof has so much going for it!  Out is a wonderful habitat and the roof will insulate the shed making it a bit cooler in summer and warmer in winter.  You will need to make sure you support the roof properly but done right it can be a lovely addition.  I have included a couple of photos of two of our roofs one is the office roof and the other is a little shed that used to house our rabbits and is now a conventional shed!

20210822_185219.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello all,

My name is Ben and I currently work for the Royal Horticultural Society in the communities team as Greenspace Projects Manager. I'm leading the delivery of a network of 'Healing Gardens' within the grounds of various NHS hospitals and other sites as respite for staff and a way to welcome the local community into these spaces.

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