About us

We are a design and environmental practice who specialise in landscape architecture, urban design, landscape planning, biodiversity net gain, arboriculture, ecology and GIS.

Our team adopt an innovative, integrated and tailored approach to projects. Working closely with clients and the wider project team to deliver the optimal coordinated solution, from feasibility and planning through to delivery.

Based in Manchester, we work with clients and on projects across the UK.

Diverse teams with a shared vision.

Our teams are driven by a shared vision to make a positive and lasting impact on people, places and the environment. This is supported by 4 core values:

• Be creative, passionate and socially conscientious
• Understand our clients and add value
• Treat everyone with respect and dignity
• Adapt, innovate and continually improve

Meet the team

Martin King Managing Director

Martin is a natural leader and designer with over 25 years' experience of leading a wide range of projects within the built environment.

He seeks to get under the skin of a project and use his commercial acumen to add value.

A keen eye for detail, art and brutalist architecture, Martin's real passion is his beloved VW Campervan.

Martin King

Matt Taylor Director

Matt leads the studio's multidisciplinary projects, drawing on over 20 years' experience as a Chartered Landscape Architect. He also takes an active role in building strong relationships with our clients and consultants.

One of Matt's claims to fame was that he had schoolboy trials for Liverpool Football Club. Obviously he thought Landscape Architecture had better career prospects.

Matt Taylor

Gemma King Director

Gemma has over 15 years' experience of working in business development within the consultancy and construction sectors.

She is responsible for managing the operational function of the business, with particular emphasis on finance, Health and Safety, recruitment and marketing and communications.

Gemma King

Oliver Silver Director of Ecology

Oliver’s (BSc MCIEEM) professional ecological background spans New Zealand, Australia and the UK; conducting surveys from the crocodile infested waters of Darwin to the snowy mountain tops of Northern Ireland. With over 12 years' of industry experience, he is proficient at building teams and leveraging new equipment and technologies to gain the winning edge

Oliver is an amateur chess player with dreams of breaking an Elo rating of one thousand; as for golf, just finishing a round is reason for celebration

Oliver Silver

Mark Evans Associate

As a Chartered Landscape Architect with almost 20 years' experience, Mark leads project delivery and specialises in Landscape Planning.

Marks's experience is vast and includes major education schemes and his planning and assessment work includes towers in Manchester city centre and a new university campus in Worcester. He is currently delivering a major housing scheme in Delamere and a TVIA for a new boathouse in Chiswick, London.

Sporty as a teenager, Mark played county football as a striker for Leicestershire and had ambitions to be a stuntman (The Fall Guy in particular) or a weatherman.

Mark Evans

Ste Allan Associate

A very experienced and proactive Chartered Landscape Architect with a keen eye and passion for innovative design.

Ste has over 15 years' experience, during which time he has successfully delivered a diverse range of projects for a huge variety of clients, briefs and budgets. These include high quality public realm spaces, school projects, residential developments, heritage schemes, playgrounds, major infrastructure works, and award winning flower show gardens.

Not afraid of a challenge when it comes to fun fundraising – Ste has bungee jumped, skydived, abseiled, ran multiple Manchester 10k events, and made a fair few cakes over the years!

Ste Allan

Stuart Walker Principal Landscape Architect

Stuart is Chartered Landscape Architect and draws upon over 10 years' experience in the landscape profession and construction industry. He has acted as project design lead and client/contractor point of contact across a wide range of projects and sectors including residential, leisure and recreation and infrastructure.

In his spare time, Stuart manages a friends football game, is a keen climber and rugby supporter. Having grown up in very rural Wales, he can speak Welsh fluently.

Stuart Walker

Nic Evans-Vasey Principal Landscape Architect

Nic is a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute, with over 17 years’ experience working as a Landscape Architect. She has been responsible for the design of multiple residential schemes, hospitals, educational buildings, public open spaces and private gardens. Nic also has considerable experience writing LVIA’s, LVA’s as well as ES chapters.

Nic loves to be outdoors in the garden with her beloved plants or walking in the Peak District. She is also a keen musician and enjoys singing, playing the guitar and the piano.

Nic Evans-Vasey

Rachel Sherratt Senior Landscape Architect

Rachel returns to Urban Green following a successful year out placement. She has recently achieved become a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute.

In her spare time, Rachel is a keen archer.

Rachel Sherratt

Andrew Lewthwaite Senior Landscape Architect

Originally completing his year out placement at Urban Green, Andrew returned after graduating following his Masters degree. He is now progressing his career further by completing his Pathway to Chartership.

Outside of work Andrew enjoys visiting art galleries, making regular visits to Yorkshire Sculpture Park as well as fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast.

Andrew Lewthwaite

Tina Hsieh Landscape Architect

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Tina Hsieh

Isabel Grandcourt Graduate Landscape Architect

Isabel joins us having graduated from The University in Sheffield with a dual MArch in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Prior to this, Isabel worked at landscape practice OOBE Ltd for 2 years.

Originally from the Isle of Wight, Isabel enjoys climbing, hiking, and travelling.

Isabel Grandcourt

Mohsen Ashouri Graduate Landscape Architect

Mohsen holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture, with a keen interest in designing for both people and the planet. However, he soon realised that architecture alone couldn’t fully satisfy his desire to better understand and design for the natural environment. This led him to explore various sustainable practices, which ultimately inspired his undergraduate thesis project.

After completing his undergraduate studies, Mohsen moved to Manchester to study Landscape Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture. Throughout his studies, he gained a deep understanding of landscape architecture as a discipline and its close relationship with ecology and other environmental practices. What Mohsen particularly enjoyed was the opportunity to design for people while equally considering the natural environment.

Mohsen joined Urban Green because it resonates with his personal values. He's drawn to its multidisciplinary approach, which provides the opportunity to deepen his knowledge in areas he is passionate about while contributing to impactful landscape design.

In Mohsen's spare time, baking brings him joy, and he's love sharing his creations with those he cares about, knowing it brings them happiness too.

Mohsen Ashouri

Tom Royles Associate

Tom is an experienced Urban Designer and Town Planner who has worked on a wide range of projects across the UK, Europe, and the Middle East. He excels at advising clients on difficult sites with challenging constraints and thrives off identifying solutions and utilising his knowledge in both design and planning to bring a unique insight and approach to each project.

In his spare time, Tom is a keen cyclist, runner, Judoka, and footballer. Having grown up in North Wales, he is also a fluent Welsh speaker

Tom Royles

Elliot Joddrell Principal Urban Designer

Elliot is an experienced Urban Designer who has worked on wide range of projects across the UK and the Middle East. He has a keen eye for detail and thrives off engaging with clients and communities to provide sustainable design solutions. Elliot has a wealth of experience working on design codes as well as site and town centre masterplanning projects.

In his spare time Elliot is a keen cyclist and enjoys camping and bikepacking trips around the UK.

Elliot Joddrell

Adam Hodgins Arboricultural Consultant

Adam started at Urban Green after seeking a career change, following completion of a FdSc and BSc in Arboriculture and Tree Management/Urban Forestry at Myerscough College.

In his spare time, Adam has a keen interest in music, having played the drums for almost 20 years. Adam also enjoys fitness, cooking, reading and football.

Adam Hodgins

Helen Lord Arboruicultural Consultant

Previously working in animation, Helen decided to change careers and went back to university, graduating last year with a BSc in Arboriculture and Urban Forest Management at Myerscough College and winning the ICF Student Award.

In her spare time, Helen enjoys running, climbing and tall-ship sailing, along with managing her very own woodland.

Helen Lord

Max Robertson Arboricultural Surveyor

Max discovered a passion for the arboricultural industry by volunteering for various National Trust sites, were he developed a broad foundational skill set on many aspects of conservation and countryside management. He worked for the Trust as as a community engagement practitioner where he delivered interactive and enriching woodland walks, teaching people of all ages about trees, plants and mushrooms. In Max's previous role he was a horticulture lecturer for Reaseheath College.

Before pursuing a career in Arboriculture, Max was a guitar teacher and still practices as often as he can.

Max Robertson

Jake Healy Ecologist

Jake joined Urban Green having completed a successful survey season in 2020 and has a MSc Ecology and Environmental Management from the Liverpool Hope University and a BSc (Hons) Zoology at Liverpool John Moores University. He has a great crested newt level 1 survey class licence.

Jake is an avid supporter of Blackburn Rovers Football Club, and enjoys visiting the cinema, hiking and travelling.

Jake Healy

Barnaby Gardner Assistant Ecologist

Barnaby is a seasoned ecologist with academic and professional experience, having earned a MEnv and BSc in Environmental Science from the University of Leeds. He enjoyed the research element of ecology and continued to study towards a PGCert in ecology from the University of Oxford in his free time.

Environmental causes have long been important to Barnaby, and he was a founding member in Extinction Rebellion Leeds in 2018. He is passionate in supporting education to tackle societal issues and have volunteered with Incredible Oceans as part of the cause. With a keen interest in ecology globally, Barnaby studied Environmental Science for a year in Canada to broaden his horizons.

Barnaby Gardner

Toby Mills Assistant Ecologist

Toby started at Urban Green as an Assistant Ecologist following a year of seasonal work. He graduated from Nottingham Trent University, having studied BSc Ecology and Conservation.

One of his favourite hobbies is wildlife photography, of which he specialises in invertebrate macro photography. He is also involved in local wildlife conservation efforts, mainly having volunteered at a bird of prey conservation sanctuary in Warrington for the past year and a half.

Toby Mills

Olivia Jones Assistant Ecologist

Olivia has a MSc Wildlife Conservation and BSc (Hons) Zoology, both from Salford University. Her dissertations focussed on
'Head Orientation and Trunk Reaches: A New Approach to Identifying Social Learning Between African Elephant Calves and (Allo) Mothers' and 'Behavioural Ecology in Marine Biology'.

Olivia previously worked as a laboratory technician at the University of Manchester and as a part-time assistant ecologist, primarily surveying bats on prospective development sites.

In her spare time, Olivia is an avid gamer, loves road trips and enjoys visiting animal sanctuaries.

Olivia Jones

Siobhan Gandee Assistant Ecologist

Siobhan started out as a seasonal ecologist with Urban Green and is now a full-time assistant ecologist.

She recently graduated with a degree in Animal Behaviour from Manchester Metropolitan Univerisity, with her final year project focusing on the effects of anthropogenic exploitation on wildlife in Kenya.

A keen nature and animal lover, Siobhan enjoys hiking in her spare time, along with supporting Watford Football Club.

Siobhan Gandee

Shannon Brady Senior Biodiversity Net Gain Consultant

Shannon joined Urban Green from City of Trees. She completed a BSc Marine Biology at Newcastle University and a MSc in Ecological Management and Conservation Biology at Queen’s University Belfast.

She spent 5 months travelling with her best friend around Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America and Asia, and in her spare time she likes to run and enjoys knitting.

Shannon Brady

Sarah Pendle Senior Biodiversity Net Gain Consultant

Sarah completed a MSc in Wildlife Conservation at the University of Salford, where she completed an interesting dissertation project looking into the calls of the female common cuckoo, using data collected from Chernobyl!

Before beginning her Masters degree, Sarah was a Medical Writer. Sarah is an avid runner, having taken part in Manchester half marathon, and hopes to do more! She also loves horsing riding, and has recently adopted a hamster from a rescue centre.

Sarah Pendle

Tafara Musonza Assistant Biodiversity Net Gain Consultant

Tafara has recently completed a BSc in Zoology at Manchester Metropolitan University, with her biggest achievement being her dissertation researching ‘heavy metal loads found in honeybees and how they could be used as environmental bioindicators in Manchester and London’. At university Tafara also volunteered as the Equestrian Sports Club treasurer.

Tafara has always been fascinated with the natural world, melittology, ecology, and biodiversity.

In her spare time, Tafara enjoys knitting, singing, horse riding, and reading. She is also a keen runner and is looking to Run the Manchester half!

Tafara Musonza

Will Gillis Assistant Biodiversity Net Gain Consultant

Will graduated from Newcastle University with a Master of Biology Degree in 2023 where he received a first-class dissertation looking at finding novel treatments for honeybee pathogens.

In his spare time Will enjoys running and has signed up to the Great North Run next year. He also enjoys occasional yoga, attending gigs and spending time with my friends.

Will Gillis

Charlie Lawler GIS Consultant

Charlie graduated with a BSc Physical Geography from Salford University in 2021. He has always had a fascination with the natural world and wanting to know how natural processes take place.

During his university modules he enjoyed how data manipulation can produce extremely informative maps for a variety of uses.

In his spare time, Charlie enjoys travelling and being outdoors and has a few different types of pets to look after at home.

Charlie Lawler

Thomas Hardman Project Coordinator

Thomas joined Urban Green following completion of a BSc Business and Management at Edge Hill University. He has always had a fascination in how businesses operate.

As a child, Thomas was a part of the Euxton Villa Blacks U9s winning the La Liga Division Champions 2009-2010.

Thomas Hardman

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