Gillespies are another of the market leaders in the UK, they consistently win prestigious competitions and produce award projects, with a specialism in masterplanning, landscape and urban design. I am lucky to have been involved on a range of impressive and interesting projects with them. Working with them I further developed my skills in project management, strategic planning and high quality landscape design.
This project was the ambitious transformation of the main city centre avenue of one of Britain’s largest cities. This project is the 2nd phase of an award winning previous project by the same company, a project that won prestigious design awards, and has become a national emblem of modern Scotland, as the busiest retail street in the country. The improvements, including the continuation of Gillespies’ previous design to pedestrianisation of a large area, have proved to be enormously popular with businesses and visitors. Features of the project include highlighting historically important buildings, street improvements with careful detail design and expert craftsmanship in construction, high quality materials and street furniture. The scheme includes dramatic blue lighting, public art, new street trees, a welcoming meeting area, the entrance to a large shopping centre and an elegant, blue glass entrance to the metro station. A unique opportunity in this project was how best to represent the historical importance of this location: it is the site of the first church in Scotland, built by St Enoch, on his arrival from Ireland in the 6th or 7th century.
On this project I was involved in the technical designs, interpreting survey information to produce accurate detailed technical drawings for construction. I collected arboreal information from the existing site to specify the right trees for the overall scheme. I produced information presentation documents to satisfy planning law, meeting the municipal government’s requirements.
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