Claire Studley completed the BSc Geography with Applied GIS degree at The University of Exeter and the Landscape Architecture Conversion Year at The University of Gloucestershire. She is working towards becoming a Chartered Landscape Architect.
Claire understands the impacts of climate change on a variety of landscape processes, insights gained from her physical geography training. She considers how landscapes will evolve in the future and how good design and maintenance can create sustainable landscapes. She achieves this with careful plant selection, producing details tailored to the site conditions, and carrying out diligent landscape construction inspections.
Claire is also adept at utilising GIS to conduct strategic spatial and visual assessments for development proposals. Her knowledge of adaptive landscapes and her GIS competency ensures that Claire is proactive in her design approach. This adds value to the clients that she works with.
Claire’s heritage sector experiences include the preparation of planting proposals for the National Trust’s award-winning historic dam and landscape restoration project at Prior Park, Bath. She undertook site construction and environmental inspections to check progress and highlight outstanding tasks.
Another notable design proposal in a sensitive setting, includes the multi-phase re-development at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford, within a Conservation Area. For a planning application, Claire collaborated with the wider team to develop a cohesive Landscape Design for the arrival to the college and circulation around the gardens. The proposal aimed to enhance the setting of the entrance and gardens, whilst addressing accessibility and Biodiversity Net Gain.
Her residential sector experiences include a large-scale residential development at Stevenage. Claire worked with the design team to produce planting plans that complement the architectural style and the surrounding landscape setting. She selected a range of plant species providing biodiversity benefits. Her coordinated tree planting scheme and tree pit details ensure that all trees can grow to their mature size.
Claire Studley was appointed as an Assistant Landscape Clerk of Works for the award-winning Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area (ASEA) Ecological Mitigation and Flood Defence scheme. Extensive new habitats were created to improve biodiversity, which included wetlands, native tree planting, and species-rich meadows. She attended construction and maintenance site visits to check and report on the contractors work and liaised with the wider team to discuss resolutions for arising issues and defects. This ensured that the grass seeding, and tree planting reached establishment and can mature.
She has provided support for the National Trust car parking study at Studland Peninsula, Dorset. The current infrastructure is at risk due to sea level rise and coastal retreat. She created figures for the existing facilities audit and used GIS to conduct a spatial analysis of future options.
Her other roles include following GLVIA3 guidelines to write Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments and create associated figures for development projects at the planning stage. Using GIS, she creates maps that display the Zones of Theoretical Visibility of proposed developments and can map local landscape designations.
Oxford City Council has given planning consent for the redevelopment and refurbishment of the...
