Diluting professional standards can only lead to a race to the bottom, says Luke Mills
The term architect is respected and legally protected. Full qualifications and being on the architect’s register is required for someone to call themselves an architect.
This keeps the professional standard high and stops individuals using the term architect who aren’t entitled to do so. However, the term garden designer can be adopted by anyone who deems themselves capable.
There is no legal protection, no qualifications required, and no governing body within the industry can dictate who can and can’t use the term garden designer. But is the term garden designer respected in the same way?
A lot of people may call them designers, but should only those with full length degree qualifications from reputable providers be worthy of calling themselves garden designers?
Is buying a few pencils and calling yourself a designer really comparable to someone investing serious time, money, and dedication into becoming one – not through courses lasting a few months, or even just weeks in some cases, but through years of study?
Being a competent well-rounded designer is not just knowing your plants, it’s a creative education on proportion, scale, spatial awareness, form, balance, height, colour, and contrast, to name a few. The same can be said for any profession in the industry.
“No one should have to explain the benefits of using a computer versus hand drawings in 2026, but there is no comparison when delivering a professional service.”
A qualified designer, skilled landscaper, gardener, or plants person should not be expected to price against a lesser alternative. This can create a drive to the bottom, devalue the industry, and give a false representation of a profession.
We have all heard of the skills gap within the industry, this all starts with the correct training. There is more to design than just drawing a simple idea down on paper. An in-depth design process thoroughly explores a site’s potential.
We study everything from the existing site features, opportunities, relationship with architecture, materials, wider landscape, aspect, habitats, views and focal points. It’s a creative journey where you learn about the site, and deeply understand and interpret the client’s brief.
Big plans, marker pens, books, talking with the team, and discussing planting schemes is what forms part of our creative process and the building blocks of a design.
Once the concept is nailed, we move into a digital format to present and graphically portray the design. We use Vectorworks and Lumion to create a multitude of plans, 3D visuals, elevations, ideas, and imagery.
These are printed into a physical booklet and PDF format, and are presented in person in our studio.
No one should have to explain the benefits of using a computer versus hand drawings in 2026, but there is no comparison when delivering a professional service.
Imagine a solicitor telling you they don’t use Microsoft Word because they prefer the “personal touch” of handwriting, and the document – which can’t be shared digitally with other consultants – will be in the post, and if you need any changes they will have to rewrite everything again from scratch.
Sharing a file in DWG format is standard within our industry when working with related professionals. There is also the detailed phase of works. A garden designed poorly, or a hard landscaping element detailed incorrectly without the correct training or knowledge could easily fall over, injure someone, or worse.
A tender package should also include everything required to allow a landscape contractor to confidently provide a fixed price. Construction drawings detailing each landscape element, detailed planting plans, lighting plans, as well as a full bill of quantities itemising every landscape element.
All the contactor has to do is fill in the blanks. It allows us to easily review comparative quotes and request revised tenders if required. A landscape contractor should never be expected to scale from hand drawn plans and work out all the quantities themselves.
Digital plans and a full bill of quantities can be easily created, updated, shared, and printed. It’s efficient; it’s professional. Industry leading software like Vectorworks and/or Lumion will come at some expense, but the benefits for the designer and value for-money for the client are huge.
Formal training will also include CDM Regulations, Building Regulations, British Standards, and business and professional practice, and should all form part of a designer’s workflow and feed into their fee structure.
Everything mentioned here is standard practice for most designers and is nothing new. But the difficulty for many is educating the client on the levels within the industry, and that spending more on design fees, doing your research and using a fully qualified designer, will actually cost you less in the long run.
The value of a new garden is priceless. It will mature, develop and grow alongside the user’s life. Nature is nurtured, lives are cherished, and memorises are created, all within the spaces we have the joy of crafting.
Gardens will continue to transform and enhance lives – so why should the industry settle for less.
Luke Mills
Luke Mills is director of The Landscape Service. An award-winning landscape and garden design practice based on the south coast. The practice works on private, public and commercial landscapes and gardens.
@thelandscapeservic
“There is more to design than just rendering in Vectorworks a simple idea”
Agree with a lot of what you say on professional standards, but I disagree with the benefits of computer versus hand drawing per se. I see many designers masking their poor and lazy designs with flashy renderings.