THE CITYIST

My BATH

Peter Chmiel, a director at Grant Associates, is a Landscape Architect with over 30 years’ experience. He is interested in the promotion of design quality and technical innovation through the synergy of landscape, architecture, nature, community and place. His Guangzou show garden for Chelsea Flower Show this year, co-designed with Chin-Jung Chen, won Best Show Garden

I’ve worked in Bath for 25 years but I live in Bratton, just below the White Horse. I love the journey into the city each day; the arrival landscape is simply stunning and the seasonal changes never fail to move me. My wife and I had our honeymoon in Bath many years ago; it made such an impression on us that we moved to live close to Bath shortly after.

I love the water landscapes and green walks

along the River Avon; equally enjoyable are the spectacular views from Prior Park –they certainly lift the spirit.

If I could meet someone from Bath’s history, it’s a close call between Sir William Parry and Mary Berry. I’d like to meet Sir William for his pioneering exploration and botanical records, while meeting Mary Berry would be a chance to explore my love of lemon drizzle cake. On balance, Sir William wins, just to save the calories and have in-depth conversation about the wild and extreme places.

I started out in an architectural practice but soon moved to landscape architecture. Growing up on the edge of Dartmoor nurtured my deep interest and connection with the natural world; this has steered my direction in life from hobbies (hill-walking, fishing and gardening), where to live (on the edge of Salisbury Plain) and ultimately my choice of career.

In my profession I am fortunate to collaborate

with like-minded individuals across many disciplines who all care about environmental topics. As landscape architects, we have the opportunity to truly inform and help shape such a diverse range of spaces and places: one week I might be helping to inform the green infrastructure and urban masterplan for a new city quarter, the next it could be a country park and the following a show garden for an international expo or flower show. Whatever the project, a couple of core values underpin our work at Grant Associates: the drive to make sure we enhance biodiversity and mitigate climate change whilst creating beautiful places which people love and cherish.

I have been with Grant Associates for 25

years –and that has flown by. It’s been fantastic to see the business grow from just three of us to over 45 staff now in Bath with another 25 working in our Singapore office. I love the energy and determination within our practice; across all staff there’s the desire and passion to champion environmental causes and drive forward creative and meaningful design that lasts the test of time. I also love the diversity within, and the dynamics of our office.

Our Chelsea Flower Show which was

co-designed with Chin-Jung Chen (senior associate at Grant Associates) was inspired by a study tour of Guangzhou, the City between Mountain and Water, in 2019: Creativersal, a Guangzhou-based project management company, invited us to meet the Guangzhou government and pitch our case to design a garden for Chelsea. Although it’s known as the flower city, it was Guangzhou’s environmental planning and stewardship projects that really caught our attention. The Baiyun Mountain in the north, the Haizhu wetland in the south and Flower City square all inspired the concept of the Green Lung, Blue Kidney and Social Heart in our show garden –so it was fitting that the RHS judges felt it was a garden with real heart and soul! The woodland dell, social garden and wetland are all underpinned by a strong sustainability agenda while being visually subtle. The garden’s green serene beauty captured the public’s attention, and many were keen to find out more about the technical aspects of the garden such as the prototype green active air wall, the 3D printed wildlife feature and laminated shelters for use by wildlife and people.

Bath is in a great position to take on

Guangzhou’s philosophy of equal consideration to the needs of people and wildlife through sustainable city planning strategies, particularly given its wider context and support and love for the surrounding landscape. There is much more opportunity along the River Avon and canalside network to bring wildlife into the city and even introduce rewilding into areas of the more formal parks. Any future development parcels or pockets of land in Bath, whether it be residential or commercial, should ideally also be supported by wider and integrated city wildlife biodiversity strategies.

We explored the three-dimensionality of the

garden to make sure we maximised the experience and spatial composition. We needed to have lots of mature trees, vertical greens, extensive planting cover, accessible routes, places for people to sit and snugs for wildlife –plus the 20,000 litres of water! That was a big challenge on such a small plot. Through careful laying and interweaving of elements such as distinctive tree forms and shapes, the use of topography, visually elegant light structures and maximising the reflective qualities of water, we managed to fit it all in without compromising the spatial qualities. We also had an excellent team and our water specialist Bamber Wallis managed to get the clear water promised just one day before judging took place. Water adds another dimension to space; I knew if we could make it work then we would be in a strong position for a good result –but I was simply ecstatic to win Best Show Garden!

We all need to champion Bath’s transition

from a World Heritage City to becoming a Landscape City through creative dialogues and supporting well-considered environmental strategies as and when future opportunities for such landscape interventions arise. There’s already a great network within the city discussing key topics on sustainable cities; momentum is building.

Tenacious, curious and crepuscular are three words that describe my approach to life...

I’ve been very fortunate that my job has

taken meto a few dream destinations that are biodiverse-rich and on the edge including Madagascar and Borneo. The Artic Circle would be equally interesting –and a slight climate contrast would be nice too! ■