Reckless Gardener - The Guild of Landscape Designers

The Guild of Landscape Designers (GoLD)

By Beverley Knight B. A Hons (Garden Design), MGLD

If you have decided to have your garden redesigned your first question should be – where do I find a reputable designer or landscaper who will do a professional job? Unfortunately due to the rapid increase in people entering the garden design profession in the last few years it is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure that you choose someone who has the relevant training or experience to give you a well designed and constructed garden.

Speaking as a garden designer, I think that it is unfortunate that at present there is no regulation in our industry which means that anyone can describe themselves as a designer but have little or no formal training or experience. Basically it is still up to the client to check qualifications and look at portfolios and previous work before commissioning a designer.

In order to help ease the problem of who to employ the Guild of Landscape Designers was formed three years ago by a group of garden and landscape designers. All our members are qualified professionally to degree level with at least three years training and relevant design experience also. We have all been instructed by other leading professionals in the design world and you are therefore assured of a high standard of work. We aim to raise standards within the industry by providing a quality service to the public.

As well as helping our clients we also provide a valuable network for designers so they can share information with other professionals and get advice and contacts if needed. All members are listed on our website at www.guildoflandscapedesigners.com with links to their own sites and information about their services. We are mainly in the South east and London at present but looking to expand throughout the UK so please do contact us if you are interested in joining the guild.

So if you are looking for a garden designer or if you are a designer who would like to join us please look at our site for more information and we hope to hear from you.