26.11.07
Falmouth garden designer scoops major industry award

Maren Hallenga, a third-year student on BA(Hons) Garden Design at University College Falmouth, has been awarded first prize in a nationwide search for the Student of the Year by the Society of Garden Designers – the UK’s only professional body dedicated to garden design.

The prestigious award is made annually by the Society of Garden Designers and is open to all of its 400 student members, who are invited to submit detailed plans, a client brief and appropriate visuals.

The Society of Garden Designers’ Student of the Year Award aims to encourage participation in competition participation at an early stage in new careers as well as raise design standards ever higher – a key mission for the Society.

The project brief featured a challenging site, a contemporary house sitting within a disused 19th century quarry, which required students to develop a range of technical and design detailing skills as well as a highly informed understanding of the environmental and visual context which informed their proposal.

Maren’s response was both comprehensive and innovative. Not only did she demonstrate her skills in dealing with a complex site, but she also utilised design software to develop design at a detailed level and to interrogate her ideas through sophisticated analysis during the site planning and design development stages.

Maren’s award comprised a design book of her choice; a year’s free subscription to the Society; features about her winning design in the Society’s influential Garden Design Journal and on its website, as well as free entry to the high-profile SGD Autumn Conference in London where her winning entry was also on display.

The Award was judged by a panel of the Society’s senior Registered Members who represent a wealth of experience in teaching garden design as well as in designing competition gardens.

“Receiving such a commendation from the industry’s main professional body is a great confidence boost – one that will hopefully set me up for a very successful third year and future in garden design,” said Maren of her win. She added: “The course helped me achieve this success through the varied and dynamic content and the support that I received from my lecturers. It was a good experience designing for real life clients on an existing site, especially one as challenging as this. It took some serious design interrogation to make sure the design suited the clients’ needs as well as making sure it works well with the current surrounding. The icing on the cake now would be to see my design being built!”

Chairman of the Society of Garden Designers, Peter Thomas, said: “The standard of entries this year has been incredibly impressive. This can only bode well for the future of this growing industry.”

 “We are all delighted with Maren’s success,” concluded Richard Sneesby, course leader of BA(Hons) Garden Design at University College Falmouth. “She produced an exciting and extremely well resolved project which reflected her thoughtful and detailed approach to the design of a complex garden, which illustrated a range of successful solutions to a wide range of issues facing designers at the start of the 21st century,” he added. “This success is both a significant endorsement of Maren’s own work as well as of the work of Garden Design staff and students at Falmouth. It is especially gratifying to receive such an award from the major professional organisation concerned with garden design in the UK and will encourage us to continue with our own unique approach to the discipline.”

University College Falmouth is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall, a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through higher education. The CUC is funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.

For further information about Garden Design at University College Falmouth, please visit: www.falmouth.ac.uk, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 214382 (full‑time) or 01326 214383 (part-time).

For further information about the Society of Garden Designers, please visit www.sgd.org.uk.

For further information please contact Jilly Easterby, Head of Public Affairs, University College Falmouth, on 01326 213792 or email jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk.

The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has invested in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) project, both Phase 1 and Phase 2, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). University College Falmouth is a partner of the CUC.

Editor's notes:

At Falmouth, good garden design is about great thinking. And what better place to stimulate thinking than the most visually rich college in the country, where you are never short of inspiration – from the rugged landscape and sub-tropical gardens of Cornwall to the stimulation of studying with other artists?
The only Garden Design course in the UK based at a college of art, design and media, Falmouth takes a unique approach; addressing the discipline from a visual perspective but grounding it firmly in design and horticulture. Through our partnership with Duchy College, students learn about organic practice, conservation, soil and plants at the same time as developing their design skills, creativity and fully-rounded knowledge of garden making.

The Society of Garden Designers
The Society of Garden Designers was established in 1981 and is the only professional body in the UK dedicated solely to garden design.  It is active both nationally and internationally, promoting its aims through its journal, workshops, seminars, conferences and links with the construction industry.  All its members are governed by the Society Constitution and Code of Conduct.  Its membership includes leading lights in the garden design world such as John Brookes, Sarah Eberle, Christopher Bradley-Hole, Arabella Lennox-Boyd, Dan Pearson, Julie Toll, Andy Sturgeon and Cleve West.

Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439

cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk

back to top