Graduate News: Alex van der Nelson

My name is Alex van der Nelson and I am a Consultant Landscape Architect at LDA Design. I joined the practice in  July 2012 after finishing my Postgraduate Diploma in Landscape Architecture at the University of Gloucestershire. Since joining LDA Design I have gained experience working on a broad range of projects from Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment to detailed design and implementation.

Much of my work has been based within the renewable energy sector and I am currently involved on a project to develop the World’s first man-made energy-generating tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay. The project has received significant coverage in the national press and I am relishing the opportunity to work on such an exciting and groundbreaking proposal. My ongoing responsibilities within the project include the design of the public realm masterplan, preparation of public consultation materials and the production of planning application drawings and reports. I have also gained experience working on a variety of landscape appraisal and assessment projects within the energy sector. I am currently undertaking my first solar farm LVIA and have previously worked on proposals for an offshore wind farm, a nuclear power station and an anaerobic digestion facility. Other projects that I have worked on include landscape design for Trinity College (Oxford), Broadmoor Hospital, Brunel University and a vision and sustainable development study for Banbury.

I am thoroughly enjoying my life as a landscape architect and am pleased with the decision to switch from my previous career as a secondary school geography teacher. My conversion route into Landscape Architecture was via the Landscape Architecture course at the University of Gloucestershire, studying on a full time basis over a period of two years. I was supported at all times by a dedicated team of tutors and emerged from the course equipped with all the necessary skills to enter professional practice together with a strong project portfolio. I am now taking the next step in my professional development by studying towards the Pathway to Chartership with the support of LDA Design.