Case studies: Graduate landscape architect: Tom

Tom Green completed a Graduate Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma/MA in Landscape Architecture at Birmingham City University.

The course at Birmingham City University taught me a diverse range of skills and unique design processes, which put me in good stead for my progression into the landscape profession. The tutoring was excellent in helping me recognise my design skills and gave me the confidence to pursue employment in an exciting and influential practice.

As I approached the end of my study I found a local practice to gain work experience at for two days a week. This provided me with the opportunity to start understanding the practicalities of the profession and learning the appropriate software for the job. Using this new knowledge and skills learnt from the course, I invested a lot of time putting together a portfolio, in some cases re-working old projects with a practice in mind, tailoring the visuals to specific practices that I wanted to work for. I found it beneficial to call any potential employers, asking what skills they desired from a candidate and then follow it up with my CV. It was important to be undertaking work experience whilst applying because you are able to relate to employers in regards to live projects and show that you could follow a project through.

The Landscape Institute website is useful for finding advertised jobs, however I would strongly recommend sending your CV to companies who may not appear to be recruiting. Firstly they might be looking for someone without advertising, but also, they keep CVs on record and may just get in touch when a position becomes available.

The job can be very varied and I often found myself moving between different projects both in the UK and abroad, all of which are at different stages. There’s a mix of more practical work involving AutoCAD and the construction side of things, but also concept work, research, drawing up master plans on Photoshop and creating SketchUp models. I personally enjoy the early stage of a project and have been given the opportunity to develop regional and local scale concept work - if this type of work interests you it is important to find a design led practice.

My main piece of advice would be to make the most of the way in which the course teaches you true design methods and gives you the ability to think about a project in a contextual and conceptual way. Then when applying for jobs, highlight these approaches in your work to show you can offer a practice something extra. Also, really utilise the tutors’ fantastic experience and understanding of the industry, they are always highlighting opportunities for competitions, projects, or work, trying to take you as close to live projects as feasibly possible.

I would also recommend becoming familiar with key computer programmes as soon as you can as my employers were keen to see an overall good understanding of how to use Photoshop, AutoCAD, and SketchUp for example, rather than just being able to specialise in one.

AGCAS

Sourced by Jane McAllister, Birmingham City University

Date: 

March 2012

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