FULL DESIGN PACKAGE
At EarthLinks Design Studio, we guide each project from initial consultation through to long-term care, ensuring your garden is thoughtfully designed, expertly built, and maintained to thrive for years to come.
Our landscape design process follows a clear and structured methodology aligned with recognised industry RIBA Work Stages, supporting each project from early briefing through design development, construction, and post-completion care. This approach ensures clarity, consistency, and well-coordinated delivery, while allowing the design to respond sensitively to the site and client brief.
Below is an overview of the Design Stages and what to expect:
Testimonial
“Hi there, Esli!
Many thanks for all your help and guidance! I am absolutely thrilled with my new garden, and I will take very good care of it from now on, I promise!!
You have incredible vision to have imagined all this from what you were given to work with. You are brilliant!! All my neighbours now want to come see what you have done with the inside garden, too, so I’m sure you will get future business from them, too. I will most definitely recommend you and hand out your contact details to everyone I know!!
Please thank Mike, too, for all his contributions and staff management. He was a superstar, too! The dogs will miss him popping in now!
I’m sure I will see you again soon, but in the meantime – thanks again for ALL, and it was an absolute pleasure working with you and your team!!
Jules
xxx”
Julie Scholz
The Design Stages:
STAGE 1
Consultation & Brief Stage
Every successful garden begins with understanding—your vision, lifestyle, and the unique qualities of your site. We start with an initial consultation and site visit to explore your aspirations, assess the space, and identify key opportunities and constraints.
This stage enables us to gather essential information about the garden’s orientation, soil, existing features, and microclimate, as well as how you live and interact with your outdoor spaces. It ensures the design responds to both the environment and your lifestyle.
At this point, we also need to understand your project budget to ensure the design aligns with your financial expectations from the outset, guiding realistic options and solutions.
Following the consultation, we provide a written brief summarising your goals, outlining the design process, detailing the fee structure, and confirming the agreed project scope. This forms the foundation for a bespoke landscape proposal that aims to exceed expectations and bring your dream garden to life
This stage allows us to gather essential information about the garden’s orientation, soil, existing features, and microclimate, as well as the way you live and interact with your outdoor spaces. It ensures that the design we create responds both to the environment and to your individual lifestyle.
It is at this point that we also require an understanding of your project budget to ensure the design aligns with your financial expectations from the outset, helping guide realistic options and solutions.
Following the consultation, we provide a written brief summarising your goals, outlining the design process, detailing the fee structure, and confirming the agreed project scope. This forms the foundation for a bespoke landscape proposal that aims to exceed expectations and bring your dream garden to life.
STAGE 2
Concept Design Stage
Once the brief and project scope are agreed, a topographical survey is carried out to record site dimensions, levels, and existing hard and soft landscape features. With a thorough understanding of the site, we then develop a unique design concept tailored to your garden.
The concept proposal is presented through 2-dimensional drawings, planting palettes, and mood boards that convey the look and feel of the proposed design. Where appropriate, 3-dimensional computer-generated images are also included, giving you a real sense of the space and a visual tour of your future garden and a clear understanding of the design intent.
At this stage, the focus is on the overall layout and vision rather than technical details. The concept is reviewed together with you, and, where relevant, with other professionals involved in the project—such as architects or planning consultants—to ensure all aspects are aligned and considered.
STAGE 3
Developed Design Stage
Once the concept design has been agreed, we develop the chosen layout into a comprehensive masterplan. This stage transforms the overall vision into a fully resolved design, integrating both hard and soft landscape elements while carefully considering spatial arrangements, circulation, and garden functionality.
The developed design includes detailed layout plans showing the arrangement and relationship of all major garden elements, along with recommendations for hard and soft materials such as pathways, terraces, walls, water features, and other structural elements. Planting palettes are proposed, indicating species selection, character, and seasonal interest. Design coordination drawings ensure all elements work in harmony with any architectural or planning requirements, and outline specifications for key materials, furniture, and landscape features are provided.
Throughout this stage, we review the design with you and, where relevant, other project professionals such as architects, planning consultants, and engineers. The aim is to refine the concept into a coherent, buildable design that balances aesthetics, functionality, and sustainability. It provides the level of detail required for planning submissions (if necessary) and sets the stage for technical design and construction documentation.
PHASE 4
Technical Design Stage
Once the masterplan has been approved, we develop detailed technical drawings to guide construction. These include setting out plans, proposed lighting locations, level plans, cross sections, and any necessary construction details for a structural engineer or contractor sign-off. At this stage, all material choices are finalised, specimen plants and trees are selected, and detailed planting plans are agreed and signed off.
We source the finest plant specimens by visiting nurseries across the UK and Europe and collaborate with specialist craftspeople and suppliers to develop bespoke details for features such as water elements, bespoke furniture, and hardscape elements. Technical specifications, schedules, and construction notes are prepared to ensure clarity and precision during the build.
This stage ensures that the design is fully coordinated, buildable, and compliant with any regulatory or planning requirements. It provides contractors with everything they need to execute the design accurately, while maintaining the quality, aesthetics, and character envisioned in the masterplan.
PHASE 5
Build Stage
During the build stage, we work closely with trusted contractors, craftsmen, and artisans to bring your garden design to life. We can recommend contractors we have successfully collaborated with in the past, or work alongside a client’s chosen team. We maintain a regular presence on site to ensure the project is executed to the highest standard, monitoring quality, budget, and programme. Our team sets out all soft landscape elements, including trees, shrubs, perennials, hedges, and topiary planting, and works collaboratively with contractors to address any site challenges or adjustments efficiently.
All materials and suppliers are carefully reviewed and approved to ensure the highest quality, and every detail of the design is delivered with precision and care. Site involvement can be tailored to your preference, ranging from initial and final visits to weekly progress meetings, ensuring the garden is realised exactly as envisioned and to the standards set in the technical and masterplan drawings.
PHASE 6
Aftercare & Maintenance Stage
Landscapes are living, dynamic systems that evolve, and they require specialised management to ensure they thrive, remain sustainable, and retain their designed character. Following the successful completion of your garden, we offer a tailored consultancy and maintenance service to help you enjoy your new space to the fullest.
We visit the site at agreed intervals to monitor plant growth, development, and overall garden health, guiding maintenance and management from both a practical and design perspective. Recommendations may include pruning, seasonal planting adjustments, pest and disease management, irrigation checks, and advice on soil and fertilisation needs.
Detailed meeting notes, maintenance schedules, and management programmes are issued to you and, where relevant, your gardening team or contractor. This ensures that your garden continues to flourish exactly as envisioned, maintaining both its aesthetic appeal and long-term functionality.
“Ready to bring your garden to life? Contact us to start your project today.”
