A focused approach to garden design

The Garden Design Intensive

Bespoke Garden Design - Experience, Concentrated

The Garden Design Intensive is a focused, collaborative approach to bespoke garden design, created particularly for smaller gardens and projects where making the most of the available budget matters.

Traditional garden design can involve weeks of concept development, presentations, 3D visualisation and revisions. For larger or more complex gardens, that investment can be entirely appropriate. But on projects with more modest construction budgets, a full design service can consume a disproportionate amount of the money available to actually build the garden.

The Garden Design Intensive was developed to solve that problem.

By working collaboratively and making the key design decisions together, we reduce the cost of the design process without compromising the expertise behind it.

There are no templates or predetermined palettes. Every garden is designed from scratch around the site, architecture, budget and how you want to live outside. Nearly twenty years of experience allows me to recognise opportunities quickly, understand what will work technically and concentrate our time where it has the greatest value.

Less spent on the design process means more of your overall project budget can be spent where you'll ultimately see it — in the garden itself.

Spend less on process. More on the garden.

How The Garden Design Intensive Works

The process begins with a full day together at your home.

We walk the garden, discuss how you want to use it, establish priorities and budget, explore materials and planting, and develop the layout together through a fast but iterative design process.

Working collaboratively means ideas can be discussed, tested and refined as the design develops — rather than through weeks of presentations, feedback and revisions.

By the end of the day, we aim to have the concept plan resolved.

Following the consultation, we return to the studio to refine the design and prepare the final plans and Build + Tender Pack — translating the concept into the practical information landscape contractors need to accurately price and build the garden.

What’s Included in the Garden Design Intensive

Neatly laid paving slabs surrounding a border with grasses and other small plants.

The Garden Design Intensive takes you from initial ideas through to a resolved design that's ready to be priced and built.

  • A completely bespoke concept plan and garden layout.

  • Material and planting direction appropriate to your home, site and budget.

  • Guidance on likely build costs and where your budget is best spent.

  • A detailed Build + Tender Pack.

  • Professional garden design drawings ready to issue to landscape contractors for competitive tender.

The same design expertise as our Full Garden Design service — without paying for an extended concept process your project may not need.

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Garden Design Intensive Cost

Prices start from £1,250

The Garden Design Intensive starts from £1,250, with the final fee depending on the size and complexity of the garden.

This includes the collaborative design consultation, development of the agreed concept, final design plans and Build + Tender Pack — taking the project from initial ideas through to a design that is ready to be accurately priced by landscape contractors.

By concentrating the concept design process, we can keep professional design fees proportionate to the scale of the project — leaving more of your overall budget available to build and plant the garden.

Additional services, including planting design and management of the competitive tender process, can be added where required.

Spend less on process. More on the garden.

A 2D garden design plan.

Garden Design, Build Plans and Competitive Tendering

Designed independently. Priced competitively.

We don't undertake the hard landscaping ourselves — and that separation is deliberate.

Once your design and Build + Tender Pack are complete, they can be issued to a selection of independent landscape contractors, each pricing the same design and information.

We can manage the tender process, answer contractors' questions, compare quotations and help you select the right team to build the garden.

This gives you greater transparency over construction costs and, importantly, means you're not tied to the build price of the company that designed your garden.

Less spent on the design process. More available for the build. Competitive tendering to help that budget go further.

Independent design. Competitive construction.

Garden Design Intensive or Full Garden Design?

Two approaches. The same design expertise.

Not every garden needs the same design process.

The Garden Design Intensive is particularly suited to smaller gardens, tighter project budgets and clients who enjoy a collaborative and decisive way of working.

We concentrate the concept design into an intensive working session, removing much of the time and cost associated with multiple concept options, 3D modelling, rendered visualisations, presentations and rounds of revisions.

Our Full Garden Design service provides more time for exploration and visualisation. Designs are developed in the studio using 2D plans, 3D modelling and rendered visuals, allowing ideas, materials and spatial relationships to be explored and refined over several stages.

This is particularly valuable for larger or more complex projects, or for clients who want to explore and visualise their garden in greater detail before committing to the design.

Both services are completely bespoke. The difference is how much design exploration and visualisation your project needs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Garden Design Intensive is particularly suited to small and medium-sized gardens and projects where making the most of the available construction budget is important.

    It isn't limited by garden size, however. If the concept can be confidently developed through a focused, collaborative design process, the Intensive can work extremely well for larger gardens too.

    For more complex projects, or where extensive 3D visualisation and design exploration would be beneficial, our Full Garden Design service may be more appropriate.

  • Yes. Completely.

    There are no templates, standard layouts or restricted material palettes. Your garden is designed specifically around your home, site, budget and how you want to use the space.

    What we've reduced is the length of the design process — not the individuality or quality of the design.

  • Both services draw on the same design experience and both result in a completely bespoke garden.

    The Intensive develops the concept collaboratively through a focused design session. Full Garden Design allows more time for alternative ideas, 3D modelling, rendered visualisations and several stages of refinement.

    The right approach depends on the complexity of the project, your overall budget and how much exploration you would like before committing to the design.

  • It helps to gather inspiration — photographs of gardens, materials or planting you like — and to think about how you'd like to use the space and your overall project budget.

    We'll also talk before the consultation so I can understand the brief and make sure we get as much as possible from our day together.

  • Yes. Following the design day, we develop the agreed concept into a detailed Build + Tender Pack.

    This provides landscape contractors with the information they need to accurately price and construct the garden and allows multiple contractors to quote against the same design.

  • We don't undertake hard landscaping ourselves. Instead, the completed design can be competitively tendered to independent landscape contractors.

    We can manage that process, compare quotations and help you appoint the right contractor.

    We do, however, specialise in planting design, plant supply and planting installation, allowing us to remain involved in the horticultural side of bringing the garden to life.

  • Yes. Innes Design Studio is based in Bristol, but we work on garden design projects throughout the UK.

    For projects further afield, additional travel costs may apply but I keep these as low as possible as I love working outside of Bristol

    Get in touch and we can discuss whether the Garden Design Intensive is the right approach for your project.

  • Yes. I've been developing and delivering this approach for over two years and have now used the process on more than 100 garden design projects.

    The feedback has been extremely positive and I now deliver the process with complete confidence.

    It isn't the right approach for every garden or every brief, however. If I think your project would benefit from our Full Garden Design service instead, I'll tell you before providing a quote.

Be inspired

Testimonials

“When adding a garden room to our small city garden we used Jamie to transform the outdoor space left - somehow it feels bigger and looks great! Jamie's creativity and knowledge of plants is impressive and he is a real pleasure to work with - I would recommend highly.”

— Alec J

“Jamie designed and oversaw the landscaping of our front and rear gardens. Both are quite small and had a few interesting plants that we wanted to keep, as well as some old paving slabs we wanted to recycle. With great skill and professionalism, he has created two wonderful gardens…combining the best of modern landscaping with traditional planting. He also went to tender on our behalf, and we were delighted with the choice of landscaper with whom he worked extremely well. We cannot speak highly enough of Jamie and his tremendous skill.”

— Brian H

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