SGD Grand Award Winners

Grand Award 2024

In Partnership with The Royal Horticultural Society

Winner: Andy Sturgeon FSGD

Project: Battersea Power Station Roof Gardens

Image: John Sturrock

Contractor: Willerby Landscapes

What the Judges said: "A quite extraordinary piece of work. The endeavour, scale of work and creativity are fantastic and the execution is beautiful."

The Grand Award 2022

In Partnership with The Royal Horticultural Society

Winner: Tommaso Del Buono FSGD

Project: Davines Village, Parma, Italy

What the Judges said: "A serious piece of high quality landscape design that cleverly combines commercial landscaping with garden design to create a generosity of space while maintaining a sense of intimacy. Beautifully planted with exquisite detailing demonstrating the clever use of simple geometric design. A gorgeous scheme in every respect. An ambitious and stylish project demonstrating exceptional design and implementation."

The Grand Award 2021

Winner: Sara Jane Rothwell MSGD

Project: Cholmeley Crescent

What the judges said: "Beautiful, accomplished and very exciting, the garden is well considered and confidently executed. The selection and assembly of materials and finishes, as well as the range of plants and their association, are well conceived and appropriate for both the house and its surroundings. Here hard and soft landscape work seamlessly together creating an elegant and visually exciting composition."

The Grand Award 2020

Winner: John Davies

Project: Stylus, 116 Old Street

What the judges said: "A hugely creative design that has been brilliantly executed demonstrating environmental responsibilities that we should all be embracing. An interesting and unusual mix of plants and textures offers structure and all-round interest and a wonderful link to various landscapes within the building. The hard landscaping arrangement is fresh and original. Good spatial awareness throughout and a nice balance of scale. It was also a pleasure to see that such a design had been successfully maintained with relative ease in a corporate environment. A refreshing use of planting and hard landscaping for a roof garden. A really lovely scheme."

The Grand Award 2019

Sponsored by Marshalls

Winner: Marian Boswall FSGD

Project: Reighton Wood

Image: Jason Ingram

Contractor: Donovan Landscapes

What the judges said: “A beautiful garden that makes an important, and long lasting, change to the landscape within which it sits. Demonstrating exquisite planting with texture, atmosphere and a great synergy of materials, it fits perfectly into its setting and looks wonderful all year round."

The Grand Award 2017

Sponsored by CED Stone Group

Winner: Robert Myers MSGD

Project: The Magic Garden

Image: Alex Ramsay

Contractor: Frosts Landscapes

What the judges said: “A really exciting, generous and inspirational project that stood out in the category. The design is striving, innovative and cohesive, handling an intimidating setting extremely well with good references to its history. The garden is full of surprises and fun. It really is magical."

The Grand Award 2016

Sponsored by Gabriel ash

Winner: Tommaso del Buono FSGD

Project: Château in Provence

What the judges said: “Clearly presented, self confident piece of landscape architecture. Outstanding organisation of space that works well in the setting. Handled with great competence on all levels. Very useable garden on a human scale. Very accomplished."

The Grand Award 2015

Sponsored by Harrrod Horticultural

Winner: James Basson MSGD

Project: Les Canebiers

What the judges said: “Subtle use of topography, ‘Bastides’ influence shows. Good constructional detail. dramatic patterns. Good design for a difficult site. Interesting ideas executed in a grand style. Great affinity with the space and a particularly difficult site. Sophisticated and harmonious planting. Wonderful swaths of linear planting offers great rhythm and flow. Very sophisticated and well-executed. Give the garden a good vantage point. A clear winner."

The Grand Award 2014

Sponsored by Europlants Ltd

Winner: Ian Smith FSGD

Project: Millwater, Surrey

What the judges said: “This scheme achieves one of the most difficult goals in garden design; it really feels as if it has been in situ for several decades. This is a transformational project. Devised as a journey through spaces, it feels composed and perfectly linked. The garden has a period ambience, exhibiting confidence of scale. It is a well executed, integrated design with sharp edges softened by sophisticated planting."

The Grand Award 2013

Sponsored by Barcham

Winner: Andrew Wilson FSGD

Project: Hertfordshire Garden

Image: Clive Nichols

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."