Services

Our landscape designs are creative, innovative, and realistic, fulfilling our mission to deliver better landscapes for less build-cost but with greater sustainability, and easier, lower-cost long-term maintenance too.

James Blake Associates has an excellent reputation for innovative, practical designs that work for their users. It is a reputation founded on the team’s extensive training and experience in delivering ‘wow-factor’ landscape designs to budget, designs that are sustainable, but which can be adapted over time to reflect a changing world and needs, without loss of function or appeal.

A key difference with James Blake Associates is that we consistently ‘value innovate’. This means creating exemplary schemes, but for lower build and ongoing maintenance costs. Another key strength of the practice is reliable hard and soft landscape detailing, that delivers the design promise, is practical to build and easy to maintain. We’re also completely aware of the developers’ commercial imperatives and of our role in helping to achieve these objectives by providing expert solutions that add value and raise development profits.

James Blake Associates actively promotes greener, more sustainable, natural design solutions, as this approach saves the client huge sums of money without costing the earth. We have achieved savings of over £10 per metre square and when we are involved with sites that have between 1 and 2 hectares of green infrastructure, we are able to create GI savings of between 1 to 2 million pounds.

By introducing very natural wildlife focused concepts, we reduced build costs by £1.848 million over more typical and traditional open space layouts. Going green can make a dramatic difference to the client’s bottom line for a result that benefits both the environment and the community. This approach creates a place for life.

Our implementation experience allows us to assist clients in creating verdant, impactful results within comfortable spending limits. The key is in the specification. James Blake Associates has developed a specific, practical and assured sequence of works to deliver differentiating and notable results. All our drawings are created with clear instructions. Our in-house developed landscape design software (LandmARC) allows a high level of detail in the tight spaces available on many development plans delivering clarity, certainty and curb appeal. LandmARC uniquely prompts the designer to optimise impact by contrasting key features in an exciting way to secure a dynamic final design.

JBA is highly experienced in preparing developer guides on optimising value and impact. We also understand the many levels of causation behind poor results on the ground and provide implementation process advice to ensure contractor procurement without allowing compromise on the quality of the work.

Through our weekly internal CPD training, we remain at the forefront with our designs. Our drawings and specifications consistently reflect and accommodate current design standards and guidance.

Planting distances for shrubs and trees (in terms of their respective influence zones on building foundations) are entirely coded within our software to guarantee compliance. This information is also given in the planting schedule, so project engineers (and all the design team), can be sure of compliance to guidance and freedom from design risk.

Our Senior Landscape Architects check all works before issue to ensure compliance with building regulations, access, and security standards.

*James Blake Associates run CPD seminars on how to save money with green infrastructure, and how to achieve great landscapes. We provide certificates of attendance and lunch.

Recent Projects 

For further information, please contact us today: enquiries@jba-landmarc.com / 01284 335 797