Andrew Wilson FSGD and Amanda Patton MSGD were granted the two most prestigious awards at the Society of Garden Designers annual awards ceremony this year, receiving the Grand Award and Judges Awards respectively in front of an audience of over 300 guests.
The accolades were presented at a ceremony in London on Friday 24th January 2014 where 18 awards were announced including recognition for community garden projects, international schemes, excellence in public and commercial outdoor space and a special a lifetime achievement award.
Student Award
Sponsored by Haddonstone
Winner: Nicholas Morton
Project: Malmesbury
What the judges said: “The most consistent, methodical and cogent presentation of all the entries. It showed an ability to handle scale and understand space and achieved the brief in a clear and concise way. An accomplished presentation with competent graphics and persuasive images. This simple design offered a sympathetic relationship with the site and a good balance of formal and more natural spaces.”
Paper Landscapes Award
Sponsored by The Modern Garden Company
Winner: Nicola Graves
Project: Cemetery Park
What the judges said:“A fascinating, Intellectually stimulating idea well communicated. It is a wonderful fantasy of a design that does not destroy the history of the site.”
Renovation Aaward
Sponsored by Haddonstone
Winner: Mark Fenton MSGD
Project: Rose Garden
What the judges said: “Mark Fenton’s brief was to renovate part of a tired and unloved Victorian park. The original layout had to be preserved and a new entrance, steps, and paths reconfigured to make the space more inviting. New plants were introduced which maintained the original Victorian aesthetic, but which reduced maintenance and gave the garden a new lease of life. It is a small intervention into a much larger space and will hopefully form the catalyst for a more wholesale re-imagining of the park”.
Hardscape Award
Sponsored by Stockscape
Winner: Andy Sturgeon FSGD
Project: Westminister Terrace, Hong Kong
What the judges said: “A clever design, slickly executed to move you around the space. An excellent exercise in ordered hard landscaping.”
Lighting Award
Sponsored by Paul Nulty Lighting Design
Winner: Charlotte Roww MSGD
Project: Notting Hill, London
What the judges said: “ A very good, well thought out lighting design with carefully considered location of light sources. It provides a well-balanced composition that creates an interesting and playful space for the client.”
Big Design Small Budget Award
Sponsored by Natural Paving
Winner: Christine Whatley MSGD
Project: Kinesis
What the judges said: “The project covered a large, challenging area with a good design and a clever use of budget.”
Designing For Community Space Award
Sponsored by Easigrass
Joint Winner: Montpelier Community Nursery Garden
What the judges said: “The space looks very natural and feels very open for an urban environment. A strong design that is not contrived or trying too hard and doesn’t dictate how the children should play. It has a nice balance of soft and hard landscaping.”
Designing For Community Space Award
Sponsored by Easigrass
Joint Winner: Gibbon's Rent
What the judges said: “An inviting, engaging and flexible space well-used by the local community who have ownership and the freedom to personalise and adopt the site all year round. It has the feel of a revamp of a 1970's community garden that looks sharp in the city.”
Planting Design Award
Sponsored by Sculpture by the Lakes
Winner: Andy Sturgeon FSGD
Project: Welsh Garden
What the judges said: “A wonderfully seasonal planting palette that demonstrates a clever use of colour, form and texture with well-composed planting arrangements that have a range of sizes of deciduous and evergreen structural planting. The scheme showed creativity and innovation in terms of the use of plants to provide drama and experience and to create compositions that repeat rhythmically to lead you through the garden and reveal pathways and entrances to new spaces.”
Future Designers Award
Sponsored by Deepdale Trees
Winner: Jo Thompson
Project: Sea Gem, Camber Sands
What the judges said: “A beautifully simple and confident design that has a natural picturesque quality. A very comfortable space that has a good sense of place and a perfect balance of private and public for location.”
Peoples Choice Award
Sponsored by Home & Gardens
Winner: Andrew Wilson FSGD
Project: Hertfordshire Garden
Awarded by the general public and readers of Homes & Gardens magazine.
Public or Communal Outdoor Space Award
Sponsored by Brickworks Vande Moortel
Winner: John Wyer FSGD
Project: The Collection
What the judges said: “An interesting layout and clever use of a narrow space, which jointly serves to screen the ugliness and clutter of surrounding buildings, and to unify the space into a single composition. Some interesting details and a good technical resolution of roof-garden issues.”
Small Residential Garden Award
Sponsored by StoneMarket
Winner: Andy Sturgeon FSGD
Project: Vermeer Garden
What the judges said: “This is a clever use of long, linear space with excellent design detailing that connects both ends of the garden. He has introduced a journey and sense of discovery into a predictable urban space using delicate and elegant planting and materials to create a sense of harmony.”
Medium Residential Garden Award
Sponsored by Europlants UK Ltd
Winner: Amanda Patton MSGD
Project: Somerset Garden
What the judges said: “A sophisticated piece of design that has transformed the site and made the garden feel much larger. The resulting space has character whilst acknowledging the surrounding landscape. Some sharp design detailing with soft edges.”
Large Residential Garden Award
Sponsored by Provender Nurseries
Winner: Andrew Wilson FSGD
Project: Hertfordshire Garden
What the judges said: “A clever design that integrates with the style of the house and creates a great feeling of space and cohesion. A skillful use of geometric devices and a good variety of spaces has created some fantastic borders and very interesting destination points.”
International Award
Sponsored by Landform
Winner: Sally Court FSGD
Project: Barvikha Gardens
What the judges said: "A very difficult brief successfully implemented to create a sophisticated and accomplished piece of design that is the essence of an English garden. There was a good sequence of spaces and a high standard of execution despite logistical challenges. A strong contender."
The John Brooks Lifetime Achievement Award
Sponsored by Alitex
Winner: Andrew Lawson
Awarded by the Council of the Society of Garden Designers
The SGD Council said: “The Council of the Society of Garden Designers was unanimous in its eagerness to Award the John Brookes Lifetime Achievement Award to Andrew Lawson this year. Through his beautiful work, Andrew has not only highlighted the achievements of many garden designers over the years, but he has also inspired a generation to greatness in their designs. When I see one of Andrew’s photographs, I take a deep breath, and allow my eyes to feast on the colours, light and forms; stresses drain away and I am grateful to be working with landscape and plants. We all felt he was a very worthy recipient of the Award.”
Judges Award
Sponsored by CED Natural Stone
Winner: Amanda Patton MSGD
Project: Somerset Garden
What the judges said: “A simple idea expertly integrated into its surroundings with beautiful planting, the creative use of traditional materials and craftsmanship, and an intelligent judicious nod to the 21st Century which reminds us of where we are now and where we have come from.”
The Grand Award
Sponsored by Barcham
Winner: Andrew Wilson FSGD
Project: Hertfordshire Garden
What the Judges said: “A contemporary design has been layered with the historic landscape to create an exciting and serene composition. The whole garden is beautifully done and gives a feeling of space and cohesion. Introduced, native and naturalised species have been combined to develop exciting and challenging planting combinations which are displayed in a wide variety of contexts from fantastic borders to ecologically-driven wetlands. Architectural elements such as screens, hard landscape terraces and the entrance driveway have been designed with great skill and to be in scale with the house and surrounding landscape. It is a garden full of surprises.