Neil Mattinson
Director
I have over 37 years’ experience in the landscape profession, spanning local government, Government agency and the private sector.
I am a director at LDA Design, passionate about design for social good and improving places. I lead the London office.
My professional interests lie chiefly in the leisure, recreational, commercial and residential sectors, especially in new build and renewal projects in the urban/rural fringe and public realm.
Over the years, I have led multi-disciplinary design and technical teams through planning, design development and contract stages of projects. I am also an experienced expert witness, having given landscape evidence at a number of public enquiries, covering both Local Plan and Section 78 Appeals.
I lead two market teams within the business: our public realm work and our international portfolio, working across projects in the Middle East, India, China and Russia. I am one of the directors responsible for leading our London office, and major projects in the city including Battersea Power Station.
I am particularly proud to have been joint managing partner of the team working on for the masterplanning, detailed design and delivery for the London 2012 Olympic Parklands and Public Realm, Europe’s most significant new landscape for a generation.
Q&A
The isle of Colonsay, a small island in the inner Hebrides with 135 inhabitants. An outstanding landscape of ‘mountains’, sublime beaches, fertile interior and ancient woodland. Caravans and camping are forbidden: there is just honest and basic croft accommodation. It is the smallest island in the world with its own brewery, which makes it the perfect place to unwind, forget, dream and recharge.
Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, Brenda Colvin and Dame Sylvia Crowe. Three giants who took ground-breaking roles in defining the 20th century profession of landscape architecture. I would add Brian Clouston too. Initially specialising in large scale reclamation of open cast coal sites, he went on to play a pivotal role in the UK’s first International Garden Festival, in Liverpool.
The north rim of the Grand Canyon at Bright Angel Point, at dawn. At 8,000ft above sea level, the beauty is beyond words.
