Council

President
Jo Watkins PLI, CMLI,

President Elect

Sue Illman CMLI

Having trained in Cheltenham, Sue worked in Africa before returning and setting up Illman Young in partnership with Yvonne Young in 1987, and has been Managing Director since Yvonne’s retirement. Sue has been actively involved with the Institute since the early 1990’s, working extensively on the education side, particularly in developing the Pathway to Chartership. In her role as President Elect, she continues to promote the profession and the role of landscape architects within the built environment.

Vice-president

Brian Clouston PPLI, FLI

Brian trained in Edinburgh and Durham, and holds a degree in Fine art. He led the Landscape Section at Durham County Council before founding the company which carried his name. It went on to become the largest in Europe, working extensively overseas. Brian served on Council for 24 years, becoming LI President in 1983, and returned to Institute politics in 2009. He is currently a volunteer land manager for an orphan village in Kenya working towards self-sufficiency.

Honorary Secretary
Helen Tranter CMLI

Helen trained in recreational land management at Reading, joining the LI in 1995 as a landscape manager. Her early work in local government was focussed on research, development, planning and land management and she later became Head of Culture, with responsibility for green infrastructure, arts, heritage, community development and climate change. She will be reviewing the governance of the Institute as well as dealing with standards, the code of conduct and disciplinary matters.

Honorary Treasurer

Penny Beckett CMLI

Since qualifying as a landscape architect in 1982 Penny has worked in private practice and local authorities in London and the North West, and as a sole practitioner. She has been a professional practice examiner and more recently, served as the Chair and Branch Representative of the LI North West Branch. Penny is now chairing a new LI Heritage Assets Working Group, which will be developing a strategy for the future of the library and archive.

Corporate member

Helen Brown CMLI

Corporate member

Annie Coombs FLI

Annie was managing director of an environmental and landscape consultancy and is now a consultant and enabler for green infrastructure and environmental regeneration. She sits on two design review panels, is an accredited BfL assessor and an IPC registered commissioner. She sits on the LI’s Appointments and Selection Committee, Policy Committee and the Fellowship Admissions Board. Annie represented the LI for learning legacy on Olympic Parklands. 

Corporate member
Merrick Denton-Thompson OBE, CMLI

Merrick was County Landscape Architect and Assistant Director of Environment for Hampshire County Council for thirty years until retiring in 2006, when he joined the Board of Natural England. He is also a trustee of the Learning Through Landscapes Trust, the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom and Marwell Wildlife. Merrick is on the LI journal’s Editorial Advisory Panel and has sat on Council and other committees over the years.

Corporate member

Peter Hutchinson CMLI

Corporate member

Edward Hutchison CMLI

Corporate member

Ian Phillips CMLI

Ian is a landscape architect and planner working as an independent consultant, with particular interests in green infrastructure, strategic planning, community engagement and trees. He is an enabler for Design Council CABE and The Glass-House, a Spaceshaper facilitator, and represents the LI on external bodies working on tree issues. Ian chairs the Appointments and Selection Committee, is a current member of Policy Committee and and also presents P2C seminars. He has also been Chair of Technical Committee.

Corporate Member

Adrian Wikeley CMLI

Adrian is a Principal at Land Use Consultants, having joined in 1986. His 28 years’ professional experience has encompassed landscape design and urban design projects from historic landscapes to major residential / commercial projects. He is particularly interested in the restoration of 18th and 19th century public parks, and their contemporary relevance. Adrian’s work on new parks includes Central Park, Pudong in Shanghai and Heartlands Park in Redruth, Cornwall, both won in major design competitions.

Licentiate member

Lindsey Abbott

Lindsey works for HOK in London, and has been undertaking commissions worldwide for the last four years. Her design experience is diverse in scale, climate, and cultural context, ranging from embassy landscapes in Milan to healing gardens in Las Vegas. She contributed to a planning document for the National Mall in Washington, DC and also gained extensive horticultural knowledge whilst a gardener at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks. Lindsey’s MLA degree is from Edinburgh College of Art.

Licentiate member

Gethin Owens CMLI

Gethin works as a Senior Landscape Architect at Groundwork Lancashire West and Wigan, managing and delivering regeneration based projects. Gethin trained at Gloucester University and completed a PhD at Durham University. He currently sits on the Landscape Institute Awards judging panel and has also acted as an Ambassador for the UK Landscape Award and Future Vision Awards.

Student member

Amanda McDermott

Amanda is serving a second term as the Advisory Council student representative. Her BA (Hons) in Architecture and Landscape and MLA are both from the University of Sheffield, where she held a number of student representation roles including SLIC rep. She spent her year in practice at Dally Henderson, and is now freelancing. Amanda was an Ambassador for the UK Landscape Awards, and is a member of the LI’s Appointments and Selection committee, Editorial Advisory Panel and LIYHB.

East of England branch

Rachel Bodiam CMLI

Rachel has been involved in the Landscape Institute East of England Branch for the last six years, and moved from her role as Chair, which she held for two years, to represent the Branch on Advisory Council. She is Head of Landscape at James Blake Associates and has been with the practice since graduating from Sheffield University in 2000. The majority of her work involves strategic landscape and landscape planning. 

East Midlands branch

Chris Frost FLI

London branch

Claire Symons CMLI

Claire's academic background includes both architecture and landscape architecture, and she has worked in Wales, Sheffield and Wakefield. Claire is a Senior Landscape Architect. at Outerspace, a design and masterplanning practice based at Teddington Lock. Her particular expertise is design, planning and community consultation. She is also a RNLI crew member for Teddington Lifeboat Station.

Midlands branch

Ian Lanchbury CMLI

Ian's professional work has included a wide variety of schemes from the design and assessment of new infrastructure projects including, road, rail and energy through to public realm design, streetscape strategies and district-wide open space analysis. He currently works for Arup. He was a member of LI Council between 2007 and 2008, and has also held roles on the Education and Membership Committee, North West Branch and has been Chair of the Student Landscape Institute Council.

North East branch

Kirstie Mawhinney CMLI

North West branch

Krishanthi Gill CMLI

Northern Ireland branch

Emily Smyth CMLI (interm)

Emily is a lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the University of Ulster, having previously worked as a Landscape Architect in private practice, and lectured in Ireland and the USA. Emily has trained in art and design, architecture and planning, and is a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group for Architecture and the Built Environment in Northern Ireland. She is Chair of the LI Northern Ireland branch and has previously sat on the LI Policy Committee.

South East branch

Martin Hird CMLI

Martin studied Landscape Architecture at Manchester Metropolitan University, and as a postgraduate at Leeds Metropolitan University. His career in local authorities and as an Associate at Terra Firma has encompassed a wide array of design, masterplanning and LVIA projects in the UK and abroad. Martin has sat on the Education and Membership Committee since 2008, and is also sits on the Appointments & Selection Committee. He became South East Branch chair in 2009.

Wales branch

Candida Diamond

Yorkshire & Humberside branch

Nick Allin CMLI

Nick is Senior Landscape Architect for Maslen Environmental (part of JBA Consulting) in Saltaire, where he also reviews landscape schemes for the Environment Agency. He has a diploma in Landscape Design from the University of Sheffield where he is an associate tutor in Planting Design and worked for Dally Henderson in the same city for six years. Nick holds two earth science degrees and previously worked in geology and scientific publishing.

South West branch

Jane Thomas

Scotland branch

James Spence Watson CMLI

James is a chartered architect, landscape architect and town planner. His career has included private practice, commission in the RAF, teaching, and senior design and development posts in large cities, including Chief Development Planning Officer with responsibility for planning a large town expansion. James worked in urban design and economic development in Scotland, and environmental research for a Development Agency, His involvement in various organisations including the LI Scotland Executive has continued since his retirement.

Policy Committee

Clare Brockhurst FLI

Clare is the Policy Committee's representative on Advisory Council, and was a co-author of the LI's Housing Policy Position Statement. Clare also sits on the LI's Awards Committee. She specialises in landscape planning advice and expert witness services to clients primarily in the private housing and renewable energy sectors and now runs her own practice, Tyler Grange LLP, in Gloucestershire.

Technical Committee

Colin Moore CMLI

Colin has worked in the landscape industry for 40 years, from contractor to Clerk of Works to Landscape Architect. He established Moore Piet + Brookes and was senior partner for 20 years. Colin is now a consultant advising other practices, undertaking projects and providing seminars and teaching, particularly on contracts. He represented the LI on JCLI from 1993 to 2010, and now chairs the JCLI Contracts Forum. Colin has been a member of Technical Committee since 1993.

Education & Membership Committee

Michelle Bolger CMLI