Best First Time Entrant

Special Awards are discretionary and are selected by the adjudication panel from amongst the category Award Winners and can vary from year to year.

Jilayne rickards mbali

special AWard WINNER 2020

the urban retreat - london

This well-judged design has captured the essence of what the client wanted to achieve – a quiet and restful haven in which to relax. Trust between the designer, the clients and the contractor was key to the success of the scheme, the ethos of which was to creatively reuse and recycle as much as possible to reduce the carbon footprint of the build, whilst using original and unique items. This small urban plot is awkwardly triangular in shape with the garden narrowing at the end and although SW facing, it is predominantly shady with an occasional sunny spot; it has typical North London clay soil.

The seemingly simple design connects the seating areas and arbour with a curving slate path, forming the strong structure that anchors the garden. The simplicity was hard to achieve in such a confined space. The many additional elements such as furniture, pots and ornaments were mainly sourced from markets, eBay and reclaim yards. The immediate graceful impact of three silver birches provide the base for a restful purple, blue, light pink, white and green planting palette. Year round interest is gained from shrubs and bulbs, with seasonal interest from a variety of perennials coming and going throughout the year.