“Landscape Architecture is central to our quality of life”. A short film of terra firma’s work in landscape architecture – UK & Internationally. Produced by terra firma with animation & film production by Tom Barnett. Find on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WouKnvPEioI
Arriving in Dubai was always going to be a bit of a cultural shock for a South London boy, glass, steel, concrete and swooping 6 lane highways darting in and out of sky scrapers, it reminded me of a 1950’s Expo I saw as a child from the USA, all super highways and shimmering monuments to the modernist dream of utopia. A book from school with all the images of post war modernism was the start of my interest in Architecture and Urban Design…
After almost 4 months in Dubai I felt it is a good time to document some of my experiences as a Landscape Architect in the United Arab Emirates. Having received an email from my now colleague, Henry Duck, in which he intimated that it would be great to get me on board the Alshamsi Terra Firma team, I thought it would be an ideal opportunity for pastures new and a time for change. I graduated from the University of Gloucestershire with Henry and stayed in…
A message from Headquarters By Lionel Fanshawe, Director, The Terra Firma Consultancy (our parent company). It has had a long and eventful haul from its founding in Portsmouth in 1985 but in that 30 years, the firm’s work in landscape architecture has only just fallen short of working in 30 countries (29 to be precise) but we have carried out something in the region of 2000 projects and have a current personnel of 30 spread between 4 offices in Petersfield, London, Vilnius and Dubai. …
I thought I would share some experiences approaching my first year in Dubai! It’s been eventful. After 8 fantastic years in Manchester, from starting out at Manchester Metropolitan University, to finalising my last job for Green Sheep (my own landscape design practice) I needed a change- career and climate! The career part has been the easier, adapting from Design and Build in Manchester’s notorious heavy rain and mud, to an air conditioned office in a searing desert city where the only natural water you find…
2015 arrived with spectacular fireworks on the Burj Khalifa and along the Palm Jumeirah during some unusually cool weather which has seen balaclavas and ear mufflers being worn in Dubai to the amazement of anyone used to temperate climes still walking around in shorts and polo shirts. The range of work is still varied, from single villas, to residential towers and mid-rise with podium landscapes to a number of hotels, schools and institutions, a data centre, a waterfront masterplan and a shopping mall from Dubai,…
Alshamsi terra firma Dubai Welcome to our newly updated website and new blog! It has been done in tandem with the updating of the UK site and creation of a one for a new terra firma enterprise in the Baltic States. Its exciting times for the company and good to view the vast range of work both completed and underway. The world in Dubai I have recently joined the Dubai office after gaining my Masters from the University of Sheffield and am really enjoying working…