MEMBER SPOTLIGHT ON
NEAL BEASLEY Senior Project Manager Landscape Architect, VA ISA Certified Arborist VA Certified Horticulturist
Timmons Group 1001 Boulders Parkway, Suite 300 Richmond, VA 23225
How many years have you been in this position? 14 years, 3 months at Timmons Group 12 years at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden How did you decide to pursue a career in the green industry?
Lewis Ginter. These consecutive experiences in field jobs inform my daily decisions and communication now and every day. Lewis Ginter was an incredible building block for me to enhance my plant knowledge and understand the rigors of construction. What is the best part of your job?
Quite honestly, everything I’ve ever done in my life for payment has been in the Green Industry. I’ve just been blessed with opportunities to branch out into different sectors that have built my path to who I am today. I’ve lived my passion!
Moving from Lewis Ginter to Timmons Group allowed me to reach a broader range of communities where I can make a difference, improve the lives of others and leave this world a better place. Every project, every day is different with many unexpected needs and outcomes.
What path led you to your current position?
What are some unique challenges of your job?
I started out cutting grass in my neighborhood, worked in a couple retail florists doing just about anything but mostly deliveries and making bows, installed residential irrigation and accent lighting in an affluent neighborhood in Richmond, worked in a retail plant nursery in Raleigh NC, maintained irrigation systems in the Washington D.C. area and started my post-college employment installing commercial landscapes until I landed my long term role at
Showing others what I envision! As designers, we explore the unseen world, creating the built environment in our minds and then making it visible. Fortunately, I have experts on our team that can help me with that. With sketching and computer software, we can do amazing things to show how our designs will look. What’s even more amazing is the evolution of design to a finished product and being able to look back at the visualization and compare the accuracy.
Landscape Architecture is about creating spaces. There are three design options for a street corner. The first pays homage to a former building located in the same location as the shown façade. 14 • VNLA News • Spring 2020
