Rising stars of garden and landscape design celebrated

Rising stars of garden and landscape design celebrated: The Society of Garden & Landscape Designers (SGLD) has announced the winners of the SGLD Student Awards 2026, celebrating the most promising emerging talent in garden and landscape design.

Four exceptional student projects were recognised this year, representing what the judges described as the very finest examples of emerging design talent. Drawn from leading colleges across the UK, the winning schemes demonstrated outstanding creativity, technical skill and a sophisticated understanding of planting, place and people-centred design.

Judges praised the finalists for their creativity, confidence and clarity of thought, as well as their ability to communicate complex ideas with imagination and precision. From visionary public-realm concepts to beautifully resolved domestic gardens and environmentally driven landscapes, the winning projects highlight the depth, originality and ambition of the next generation entering the profession.

SGLD Chair Andrew Duff MSGLD said: “These projects reflect a generation of designers who are confident, thoughtful and deeply engaged with the challenges of our time. It’s incredibly exciting to see such depth of skill emerging. The future of our profession is in very good hands.”

Student Design – Design for the Environment

The Design for the Environment Award was presented to Robbie Avey from the KLC School of Design for Wolves Lane, a community-led growing hub in North London which has been reimagined as a  landscape where food production, education, wellbeing and ecology coexist.

Bound together by a highly innovative rainwater harvesting and reuse network supplying up to 60% of irrigation needs, the design strengthens ecological resilience while enhancing community connection and economic sustainability through biodiverse planting, circular water systems, habitat creation and sensitive material reuse. At its heart, water becomes both a functional system and a poetic driver of space, shaping movement, learning and renewal across the entire site.

The judges praised Robbie for his detailed research into the capture and circulation of water to future-proof the success of the project calling it ‘a mature and sensitive design that successfully brings the site back to life for the community.’

Student Design – Public Realm 

In the Public Realm category, the award was presented to Michael Kieck from the London College of Garden Design for the reimagining of an agricultural site in South Africa’s Eastern Cape as a vibrant, self-sustaining centre for biodiversity, learning and cultural exchange.

Rooted in indigenous knowledge and ecology, the scheme creates a living landscape of public gardens, trails, a specialised nursery and medicinal planting focused on native flora. Key features include a storytelling tree beneath a vast fig canopy, woodland and grassland trails, water habitats, and a visitor centre crafted from local materials and traditional construction techniques. Designed as a ‘living library’ of plants, the project celebrates cultural heritage while promoting sustainability, education and community connection.

Calling it ‘an outstanding scheme with a clear and compelling concept’,   the judges praised its ‘intuitive layout, confident planting, and sensitive material choices making it a thoroughly resolved and highly professional design.’

Student Design – Small Domestic Gem 

Set within a Grade II listed home in Peckham’s Holly Grove Conservation Area, The Lost River Garden designed by Laura Bushnell from The London College of Garden Design, was awarded the Student Design Award for the Best Small Domestic Garden — a newly introduced category created to reflect the growing importance and relevance of small garden design for today’s homeowners.

Transforming a dark, fragmented space into a richly layered family garden inspired by the buried River Peck beneath London, water is used as a narrative device throughout the design — emerging as a bird bath, stream, rill and reflective pool before resurfacing in a symbolic front-garden bog. The scheme carefully reworks levels to improve safety and flow, creates generous spaces for entertaining, play and quiet retreat, and integrates a studio for creative use. Sustainable strategies include the reuse of existing materials, green roofs, rainwater harvesting and wildlife-friendly planting, resulting in a garden that is both poetic and highly functional for modern family life.

The Judges called it ‘a well-resolved and thoughtful scheme that uses water to great effect as a unifying theme and that has clear potential to be taken further.’

Student Design – Large Domestic 

The award for the best Large Domestic garden went to Grace Hugh-Jones from the London College of Garden Design for Damson Cottage – an immersive garden set on a dramatic  sloping site overlooking the Avon Valley.

Seamlessly uniting contemporary architecture with its surrounding landscape, the garden is designed as a sequence of experiential zones, balancing sociable entertaining spaces with quiet, contemplative retreats, all connected by meandering paths that respond sensitively to the site’s natural contours. Dynamic, layered planting combines native grasses, pollinator-friendly perennials and woodland species to enhance biodiversity and seasonal interest, while a pool, pond, terraces and outdoor studio are carefully positioned to frame views and encourage exploration.

The judges praised the project for its ‘confident, bold design that responds beautifully to the architecture and contours of the site creating a scheme that feels generous, cohesive, and impactful.’

Highly Commended Projects 

Two further projects received commendations: North End House by Helen Swan from the KLC School of Design and the Nurture Fertility Clinic by Sally Jane Robinson from Cornwall College.

North End House which reimagines a two-acre West Sussex landscape by reconnecting the house with its ponds and ancient woodland through a carefully layered sequence of terraces, meadows, water and woodland paths was described by judges as ‘a clever and engaging scheme’; while The Nurture Fertility Clinic, a conceptual fertility clinic set within the rural landscape of north Cornwall, was praised for ‘translating its concept with real sensitivity and skill, resulting in a scheme that is both coherent and deeply rooted in its context.’

The 2026 Student Awards were judged by SGLD Fellows David Stevens, Sarah Morgan and Tom Massey, together with new judge Tomoko Kawauchi MSGLD.

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