Commercial Landscape Team

 

 

Tony Richards

Tony Richards

Managing Director

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Tony grew up in Southport, Lancashire and then studied Horticulture at Bath University. Since then, he’s enjoyed a diverse horticultural path from house plant importation to fruit farming in America, all of which led him to set up his own business in 1990, when Graduate Landscapes was formed. The company has grown in size and reputation, whilst still remaining a family-run business at heart.  Tony plays a prominent role in all aspects of the business and is very proud of now employing around 60 very capable staff.

Married, with four children, Tony always encourages the best in people with his ‘can-do’ attitude. He is the positive one in the office, always ready to offer his support when needed it.

He plays and coaches at Haslemere Hockey Club and is always seeking a new adventure.

Chris James

Chris James

General Manager/Garden Designer

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Chris joined Graduate Landscapes in 2010?? as a Garden Designer and has since worked his way up to become General Manager and overseeing all areas of the business. Working alongside Tony (managing director) he implements the policies and procedures of the company, keeping a close eye on the private side of the business. From estimating department, supporting the designers through the production teams, Chris makes sure everything is spot on.  

After completing his post graduate diploma at the Oxford College of Garden Design, he then went on to cut his cloth working alongside two very influential garden designers, Charlotte Rowe and Andrew Fisher Tomlin.

Whilst Chris still has a great flair for design, his key strength is being able to understand the client’s needs, and effectively managing all relationships in what can be a complex build, to help achieve a high quality bespoke garden.

Chris is perfectionist and tries to achieve the best out of everyone and everything.   

Chris and his partner have two Australian Labradoodles and enjoy long pub walks, when they are not tackling another DIY project.

 

Anca Julia Ciucur

Anca Julia Ciucur

Marketing & Operations Manager

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Julia graduated in Fine Arts with First-class Honours at West University of Timisoara, Romania. She completed her CIM Certificate in Professional Marketing at London Metropolitan University in 2012 when she joined Graduate Landscapes.

Julia has a good cosmopolitan attitude and has a working background in cultural and educational environment, marketing, fundraising, social media, event planning including art exhibitions, concerts and theatre.

She manages our ISO standards, UKAS accreditations (quality management, environmental and health & safety), all aspects of H&S, HR and works alongside Chris (general manager) and Diana (accounts manager) to implement the policies and procedures within the company.

Julia co-ordinates both our online and offline marketing strategies, from the company website, fleet designs and editorials.

As part of a lively and dynamic office, Julia also works closely with our designers, making sure all the enquires get through and everything runs smoothly.

At Graduate Landscapes, we put the quality before everything else, so Julia perfectly integrates her skills, knowledge, and loyalty into the company.

In her own time she enjoys reading, watching tennis, cooking and waking her perfect dogs Monty and Hugo.

Paul Tomlinson

Paul Tomlinson

Senior Landscape Estimator

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Paul qualified in Landscape Technology and is the magician behind the scenes making sure our clients luxurious projects are very keenly priced. He makes sure every project delivers above budget quality. At Graduate Landscapes we understand we are delivering aspirational garden design, but we also think value for money does not need to get lost in the equation.

In Paul’s words, ‘It is great to be part of the Graduate’s team providing high quality landscapes for our valued clients and meeting the client’s expectations for value and quality.’

Paul winds down from his complex demands at work by enjoying time with his family and gardening.

 

Patrick McTernan

Patrick McTernan

Commercial Estimator

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Patrick has grown his career over the years working in a vast array of industries from the Automotive to financial Industry. Patrick has a vast experience in sales and marketing. He started at Graduate Landscapes working in the marketing department, and since then he worked his way up to become our Commercial Estimator.

Patrick now manages all aspects of commercial estimating and running of the projects, working alongside with James our soft-landscaping manager. He is also involved in implementing our policies and procedures, making sure the commercial department is productive and everyone works in a safer manner.

Patrick is a keen videographer and traveller. He spends his spare time working on new projects or travelling to new places.

James Delstanche

James Delstanche

Soft Landscaping Manager

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James has been a manager in our soft landscaping division for over 10 years. His knowledge and experience are evident in the respect he has generated amongst his expert team and the glowing terms used by our clients to describe their experience working with James. It is in the trifecta of high standards of work, strong relationships with our clients and managing a well-oiled team that James finds his rewards.

It is extremely important to Graduate Landscapes that our customers are included in the garden design and landscaping journey. James is a vital link in the experience for our customers, communicating his or her requirements to the team as a whole. He galvanises his team to deliver outstanding quality time and time again.

James skills at coordinating and galvanizing don’t rest when he is at home. His has a very active family life that ranges from forest walks to exciting trips out to new places.

Ross Donaldson

Ross Donaldson

Assistant Estimator

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Grew up in the North of England where I Graduated from Northumbria University with a degree in Quantity Surveying followed by a masters achieving a First Class in Construction Project Management with BIM.

Ross works in our estimating department alongside Paul (senior estimator). He also helps Julia (operations manager) to manage all aspects off operations within the business, especially the H&S requirements for ISO acrediatation.

Ross is a keen golfer during the summer months and enjoy playing competitive badminton in the winter season.

Fan of football and Newcastle United.

 

Diana Cleminte

Diana Cleminte

Accounts Manager

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Diana graduated with a Bachelors degree in Economics, before beginning her career in accounting. She is working at an impressive speed to gain qualified status, studying for her AAT qualification whilst working full-time at Graduate Landscapes as Accounts Manager.

Having worked within the hospitality and service industries, she holds extensive knowledge of accounting procedures, regulatory requirements, advanced systems capabilities, cost & variance analysis, and accounts preparation. Since joining the company she has transformed the finance function and effectively absorbed tasks from across multiple roles. With a can-do attitude, she faces every obstacle with enthusiasm, finding a solution and keeping staff, suppliers, and clients happy.

As an integral part of the Accounts department, her work not only allows all other functions within the company to operate smoothly but her diligent, attention to detail allows KPI and Management Accounts functions the integrity of data to accommodate the ever-growing business demand.

Diana enjoys an active and social time outside of work. Spending evenings and weekends on active pursuits with her partner and friends, enjoying long walks and gym sessions. A lover of fireworks, sweet things, and new adventures!

Harriet Kingsford

Harriet Kingsford

Garden Designer

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Professionally trained at the prestigious Inchbald School of Design, Harriet obtained a Garden Design diploma with a distinction in 2015. Since then, she has worked for two award winning design-and-build companies in South West London and the Home Counties. Treating every garden as completely unique, Harriet enjoys taking her clients through the garden design process, helping them to better understand the wider benefits of building a garden within our fabulous climate. It’s not only about the aesthetics!

Whilst Harriet has designed a vast number of gardens, for her it’s all about the plants, drawing on her previous experience of her many years gardening professionally. It all started with a career change to Horticulture at Pershore College in 2012 (from event management – also crucial in the build process!). Taking inspiration from the wider environment, she likes to weave plants together to create a tapestry that will better connect each house uniquely with its surroundings. In using plants in this way, she encourages a range of emotions and creates atmospheres in the various rooms within a garden.

With a fond love for the great outdoors, in Harriet’s spare time, she can often be found hiking with her Sproodle, gardening or flower arranging. She has occasionally been found testing out various landscaping techniques in her own garden too!

 

 Landscape Team

Landscape Team

Soft & Hard Landscaping

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Graduate Landscapes employ a qualified team of over 40 landscape gardeners who from an early age have made landscape gardening and design their chosen profession. Many of our staff have been to either Merrist Wood College in Guildford or Spasholt College Winchester. There is a bewildering array of related courses to choose from, but the majority of our staff now possess NVQ level 1 and 2 in both hard and soft landscaping, and various BTech qualifications up to full University degrees. We take great pride in our ongoing apprentice scheme with two of our youngest staff on day release courses from Merrist Wood . It gives them a chance to learn the theory alongside the day to day practical on site work, giving them a solid base to learn the profession. We have also for a number of years taken both French and Austrian students in their final year of horticultural training at their regional universities. 

Ongoing training is a vital part of our companys progress . Each member of staff has a tailor made programme of training  to equip them for the projects they will have to undertake. These include courses for chainsaw works  felling and crosscutting. Training in disc cutting is vital for the hard landscaping teams, and anyone using such a cutter will be qualified with the relevant certificates. A number of our staff also have PA1 and PA6 qualification in use of knapsack sprayers, now a legal requirement, while it takes up to a week to qualify our staff to drive diggers or dumpers.

This level of training allows us to adhere to the strict health and safety criteria laid down by successive administrations, and gives us the confidence to take on projects full in the knowledge we gave the right individuals with the right skills to bring them to a happy conclusion.