Susan Irwine
Associate
I started with LDA Design in 2021 as an associate. I have 30 years’ landscape design experience working in the public and private sectors as well as four years as a freelance landscape architect. I enjoy working on all scales and aspects of projects, but in particular the detail design and on-site stages. I cut my ‘design’ teeth on the North West Water HQ at Warrington (now Lingley Mere). Another public utility project was for Scottish Water and the challenge of setting the Milngavie Water Treatment works into the landscape such that it was barely visible. More recently, I oversaw the implementation of the landscape design for the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow and both the Inpatient Ward Block and Acute Service Block, Ulster Hospital, Belfast. I contributed to the updates to the Third Edition of the Landscape Architects Pocket Book.
When I’m not working, I enjoy ballroom and Latin dancing (although at times it’s more like arguing to music), sailing and trying to learn Spanish (he leído muchos libros en español, incluido todas las novelas de Harry Potter y tambien La Sombra del Viento escrito por Carlos Ruiz Zafón).
Q&A
Edinburgh Botanical Gardens. This was my back garden when I was very young and growing up in a flat. I was taken every day and particularly loved the rockery. Maybe this influenced my decision to become a landscape architect.
‘The Shipping News’ by Annie Proulx. I was particularly struck by how the style of language from stilted to expansive mirrored the ‘growth’ and change of circumstances of the main character.
The Streets Beach, South Bank, Brisbane. A man-made lagoon and white sandy beach in the middle of the city. A fabulous public resource with amazing city and riverside views.
