Former Almshouses developed into modern residential apartments for the Uxbridge Welfare Trust, located on the edge of the town of Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. terra firma, working closely with Jeremy Rye Studios, took the gardenesque landscape design from conception through to construction.

Terra firma has completed many landscape sensitivity and capacity studies over the past 10 years using a methodology developed in collaboration with Kirkham Landscape Planning Limited. These studies are carried out on behalf of local planning authorities to form part of their evidence base informing their local plans and we have defended our findings as expert witness at Examination in Public. Studies have included assessing the capacity for a range of development types including housing, horticultural development, gypsy and traveller sites, and minerals and waste sites and councils have included Chichester District, Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire District, South Oxfordshire, South Buckinghamshire / Chilterns, Vale of White Horse, West Berkshire, and South Downs.

terra firma worked with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and IBI Architects (now Arcadis) to develop proposals for a replacement 64 bed mental health unit with ward gardens at ground and roof level, therapy gardens, sports area and staff garden. Early design work was carried out as direct appointment with SBP and involved extensive consultation with clinical, therapy and FM teams as well as Lived Experience Groups. Currently nearing completion of construction terra firma has worked with Galliford Try to deliver the project. The high degree of security and robust design required is a challenge and terra firma’s experience designing for secure children’s homes is invaluable. In addition, terra firma’s inputs have been invaluable in maximising the retention and protection of an important mature tree belt on the tight urban site. Planting will provide sensory interest and will attract wildlife to give the service users direct contact with the natural world with every ward having access to an outdoor space in addition to views from bedrooms and communal spaces.

terra firma worked with Willmott Dixon to carry out detailed design development and support the delivery of the hard and soft landscape for a prestigious new members facility next to the famous grass court tennis venue. Much of the landscape was constructed on the roof slab and required intricate detailing and meticulous co-ordination with the mechanical / electrical engineers, architects, structural and civil engineers and the club’s development and gardening maintenance team.  The landscape provides a high quality setting for members who use the indoor and outdoor courts throughout the year and for the high profile and widely televised periods during the annual Wimbledon Championships.  Photos kindly provided by Coblands Landscapes who were responsible for installation of the extensive planting.

Cumberland Street
Portsmouth

Harwich Navyard
Essex

Ossulton Court
Uxbridge

Award-winning retrofit project developed for Portsmouth City Council with extensive stakeholder and resident consultation and highways design. The project won the Local Government News Street Design Award for homezones and was one of three projects looking at the regeneration of the wider Portsea area.

New residential quarter adjacent to the historic naval yard and current ferry port at Harwich, Essex. terra firma worked on the masterplan, vision and landscape assessments, currently awaiting planning permission for this large scale intervention with Gaunt Francis architects.

I360
Brighton

Lion Square, University of Portsmouth
Portsmouth

White City
London

Design of new building in the university’s central Anglesea campus, that included reconfiguration of public realm and re-siting of a sculpture ensuring better accessibility and providing much need student social space and informal seating.

terra firma worked with Ramboll UK and SISK contractors to create a contemporary new public plaza and pedestrian and vehicular bridged access routes at the entrance to a major St James housing development in the heart of West London.

Developed from the original concept, terra firma took on the detailed landscape design for the public realm surrounding the i360 vertical pier on Brighton seafront, which incorporated heritage assets from the derelict West Pier, bespoke seating and coordination of design for new metalwork by a local artist. The project won the Local Government News Street Design Award for Lighting in 2019 and is used year-round for festivals and events.

Falklands Memorial, 
Pangbourne College, Berkshire

Leonard Cheshire Memorial Garden,
Le Court, Hampshire

Peace Garden
Woking

National Memorial Garden designed as a place of intense reflection, combining elements of the traditional Islamic Garden with the natural context of Horsell Common Heathland.

Terra firma developed designs and oversaw the construction of this award-winning garden developed on the site of the very first Leonard Cheshire home. The original home at Le Court was set up by Group Captain Lord Leonard Cheshire VC who after the war, in which he became the most highly decorated bomber pilot, nursed a dying friend himself in his home at Le Court in Hampshire. This act of kindness led to the development of a specialised charity supporting people with disabilities. When the original home became outdated residents were moved to new, purpose-built homes and the garden retained in perpetuity in memory of the people who had spent their lives there. The garden is a peaceful and contemplative haven for families of former residents to visit whenever they choose. The garden comprises a reflective pool with memorial stone and a flower garden with quiet seating spaces overlooking a specially made sculpture developed by a local artist reflecting the wartime flying career of Leonard Cheshire.

A garden setting to the Falklands Memorial Chapel at Pangbourne College, Berkshire. Symbolism within layout and elements evoking the southern cross, geology of the islands and blending the English churchyard with southern hemisphere planting.

Enviropark
Portsmouth

Houghton Regis Strategic Masterplan
Houghton Regis

East Beach
Selsey

Chichester District Council engaged terra firma to lead on the preparation of a vision to regenerate the East Beach neighbourhood of Selsey, Working with Marks Barfield Architects (designers of the London Eye) and Planning Solutions (tourism consultants), and involving a process of public and stakeholder consultation, terra firma created a Masterplan that encourages a range of marine-related activities and aims to crystalise the identity of Selsey by reconnecting it with the sea.

Millennium project with the Portsmouth Partnership, this plan was to make far more of the Paulsgrove landfill restoration, with ambitions for a multi-functional , exempla park showcasing landscape restoration, harnessed off grid energy and sustainable technology.

With planners and urban designers PlaceMake, the project looked at a strategic development framework and infrastructure opportunities for an imminent doubling in residential housing, with focus on town centre studies and regeneration options for 1960’s housing estates.

All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC)
Wimbledon

Forbury Hotel
Reading

Winchester Leisure Centre
Winchester

terra firma were involved in the implementation of scheme as a design and build project; designs involved the design of an extensive SUDS scheme and planting around the approach to the centre and the car park on the western edge of the city.

A Business Park in Chandlers Ford created with HGP architects in the late 1980’s on the North American model. Nearly 40 years later, it still stands as a successful exemplar of its typology as well as a testament to some of the earliest terra firma designs.

Designed and implemented for Toby Hunter’s Waterbridge in the late 1990’s, this very successful office and residential refurbishment in Mayfair, centred around a lushly landscaped courtyard designed by terra firma. All built on a car park roof, it re-utlised elements of existing paving within a new patterned surface, introducing planting, water and lighting.

terra firma have been involved in no less than 3 masterplans, first conceiving and then updating the commercial opportunities of this Basingstoke office environment within a strongly developing green infrastructure.