A Day in the Life of a Senior Landscape Consultant

Senior Landscape Consultant - Almudena Quiralte

The day begins early, coffee in hand and walking boots in the car by 7:30am. I’m heading to the open countryside, armed with maps, camera, and iPad. Today’s mission? Assess the landscape and visual impact of a proposed housing development. Luckily, the sun is out; the crisp morning air is invigorating.

I scan the horizon for key viewpoints - where will that new row of houses peek through? What can I see out from the site? Any landmarks? I take notes, scribbles and arrows on a plan, marking hedgerows, tree lines, and the land’s topography. A curious robin hops nearby, as if offering its own opinion on the scheme.

After a few hours walking the site and surrounding public footpaths, it’s time to head back to the car and sip some coffee to warm up. Back at the home office by late morning, it’s time to upload photos, and draft my comments, while they are still fresh in my mind. The goal? Ensure the site’s landscape value and key features of the site have been considered and assess if the proposals and mitigation strategy respond to these. I make some recommendations for buffer planting, green corridors and key views, imagining how future residents might enjoy key views framed by vegetation.

After lunch, the inbox beckons - queries to answer, invoicing to complete, and chasing unresolved requests from the previous week. A catch-up meeting with the team follows to discuss an ongoing project and its final steps. This one has been a milestone - full of challenges, but those are the projects that make you grow and gain new skills.

By late afternoon, I review draft recommendations for another planning application, ready to send to the planning officer. It’s satisfying work—shaping places where people and nature coexist. Before logging off, I glance at tomorrow’s schedule: a quiet desk day to catch up on consultations.

Being a landscape architect in a local authority isn’t just about planting, it’s about shaping the proposals to optimise its benefits to residents and the wider landscape, protecting important features and character. It’s about guiding where and how development will fit into the landscape.

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