Award-winning landscape architects make four appointments to spearhead growth in Asia

Aug 18, 2014 -- Grant Associates, the UK landscape architecture firm behind Singapore’s acclaimed Gardens by the Bay, is expanding its presence in Singapore to meet growing demand for its services across Asia and Australia.

Four new members of staff have joined Grant Associates’ Singapore office adding international expertise and experience to the existing team led by Carly Lamb, Senior Associate and Aymara Izquiel-Langley, Senior Landscape Architect – both key players in the creation of Gardens by the Bay.

The new strategic appointments include:

• Mike Wood, who joins as Senior Associate following 15 years leading high profile projects in Australia, Asia, Middle East and the UK.
  
  
• Stefaan Lambreghts, who joins as Associate after 15 years working on some of the highest profile landscape projects in the Middle East.
  
  
• Local Landscape Architects Yvonne Yung and Mayura Patil.

In addition to masterplanning and designing Gardens by the Bay, Grant Associates has a significant portfolio of work in Asia including landscape and public realm design for the Capitol Development and Institute of Technical Education in Singapore, the Tun Razak Exchange and Bukit Jelutong in Kuala Lumpur and more strategic planning for the Endau Rompin National Park in Malaysia. The company is also currently working on the newVietnamese-German University in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam; and the master plan for the Royal Botanic Gardens and Public Domain in Sydney, Australia in addition to a number of projects in China, India and Indonesia.

With these new strategic appointments, Grant Associates is keen to build on its success in the region, whilst helping redefine the role of Landscape Architecture in Asia into a discipline that fundamentally influences the form, character and life of cities and places.

Andrew Grant, Director at Grant Associates said: “Singapore is an exciting place where design and environment are high on the agenda of new thinking. It is at the heart of one of the busiest and most ambitious development regions in the world and is leading the way in environmentally innovative planning and design. We’re keen to be an influential part of this journey and believe Singapore offers the perfect location and business environment to allow us to grow as a company.”

Grant believes landscape architecture will be increasingly important to Singapore and the wider region:

“The pressure will grow to protect and enhance areas of high natural quality and biodiversity, whilst the pressure from urbanisation and high density living will require even more innovative ways to deliver the necessary open space and green environment so essential for a tropical city. Landscape architects will play a crucial role in helping public and private sector clients meet these challenges.”

Carly Lamb, Senior Associate at Grant Associates in Singapore, said: “We would like to see our Singapore Office branching out across the whole of South East Asia and be an award winning design practice delivering unique and innovative landscapes in both urban and natural environments.”

Mike Wood, Senior Associate at Grant Associates in Singapore, said: “I’m thrilled to join Grant Associates Singapore to help drive expansion and business throughout Asia and Australia. We are looking forward to working with a variety of new clients who set us unique design challenges and help us to find the best ideas and innovative solutions for each project. In particular, we are looking for opportunities to develop ideas that promote a distinctive identity and that display intelligent environmental planning and design.”