Tom Stuart Smith OBE FSGLD honoured

Tom Stuart Smith OBE FSGLD honoured: The Society of Garden + Landscape Designers (SGLD) has announced that Tom Stuart Smith OBE FSGLD has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award 2026, recognising his outstanding and lasting contribution to garden and landscape design.

The prestigious accolade was presented at the SGLD Awards ceremony last night, celebrating a career that has helped shape contemporary British garden design and influenced a generation of designers worldwide. Renowned for his naturalistic planting style, deep understanding of place, and thoughtful integration of architecture, ecology and landscape, Tom Stuart-Smith is regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern garden design.

With a career spanning more than four decades, Tom Stuart-Smith continues to shape gardens and landscapes both in the UK and internationally. Among his many notable projects are Le Jardin Secret in Marrakech; the garden at Windsor Castle created to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee; several projects in the grounds of Chatsworth House; RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford; the Hepworth Wakefield Garden in West Yorkshire; and his own garden at Serge Hill, Hertfordshire.  He is currently working with Tate Britain on the transformation of the front gardens at Millbank into the new Clore Garden.

He has also designed nine Gold Medal-winning gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, three of which received the coveted Best in Show award.

Serge Hill, where Tom and his wife Dr Sue Stuart-Smith have lived together since 1987, and where Tom was born,  is now also home to The Serge Hill Project – a not-for-profit initiative founded by Tom and Sue, grounded in the belief that nature can transform health and wellbeing and create stronger, more inclusive communities through gardening and creativity.

Drawing on Tom’s horticultural expertise, alongside Sue’s work as a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind, the community garden offers resources to local schools and charities as well as local residents who want to get involved in gardening.  It also includes The Plant Library, a unique and extensive educational resource for anyone interested in planting design, from professional designers and horticulturists to gardeners and schoolchildren.

Presenting the Award at the SGLD Awards ceremony at London’s Landmark Hotel, SGLD Chair, Andrew Duff MSGLD, said:

“The SGLD is delighted to present this Lifetime Achievement Award to Tom Stuart‑Smith in recognition of a career that has redefined garden and landscape design through extraordinary vision, artistry and lasting influence.

“Over decades, Tom has created gardens of rare beauty and intelligence, blending naturalism and modernity, re‑imagining historic landscapes, and transforming both private estates and public spaces.

“His work, from intimate walled gardens to large‑scale projects for institutions such as the Royal Horticultural Society, has inspired generations of designers and gardeners alike. Through his commitment to planting elegance, ecological sensitivity and a timeless design philosophy, Tom has helped to elevate garden design as a vital art form. In doing so, he has significantly enriched both the national and international garden design and championed the highest standards of creativity and professionalism in our field.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award is an annual award gifted by the Council of the Society of Garden + Landscape Designers to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the garden and landscape design profession.

Previous recipients have included Penelope Hobhouse, Piet Oudolf, Beth Chatto, Christopher Bradley-Hole FSGLD, Andrew Lawson, Fernando Caruncho, Robin Williams FSGLD, David Stevens FSGLD, Charles Jencks, Sarah Eberle FSGLD and James Hitchmough. Last year’s award went to Dan Pearson OBE FSGLD.

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