At the base of every celebrated breakthrough, every lauded innovation, is one person’s ability to dream, and to inspire others to dream with them. We are natural optimists, and we believe that bringing people together to tackle seemingly insurmountable challenges can change the world.
Our approach to the opportunities and challenges that face your project is solution-based. The questions that you ask of us cannot be the only ones we seek to answer. Our challenge is to understand the situation and influences that led to your question, but opportunity lies in the questions beyond the one that you asked. Your challenges will not be overcome, and your priorities will not be achieved by simply taking things at face value. We ask “Why?” not to be belligerent, or out of impertinence. The team at HarrisonStevens is curious. It is in our culture to interrogate, and this curiosity gets the best out of your project, making it not only deliverable, but affordable and resource conscious.
Dreams written down become goals. Goals provide direction, focus and momentum, and help guide projects towards their full potential. This clarity of vision defines our journey together. Asking questions of ourselves, as well as of our project teams and collaborators, shows our commitment to integrity, one of HarrisonStevens’ core values. By stepping outside of our - or your - comfort zone, taking risks, and doing something that was not asked of us, we can deliver each project beyond expectations.
A compelling story, told with sincerity, can evolve into a narrative that reinforces a vision, and fosters a shared sense of mission. This, in turn, can lead to a great legacy: this is the power of stories.
HarrisonStevens’ story begins with our Founding Directors’ common experience in delivery-led Scottish landscape architect practices, and our commitment to storytelling is demonstrated in our award-winning work, which often reflects the site history, and always the context of the Place. Our solution-focused approach is embedded in the communities within which we work. Rational design and landscape planning principles sit at the heart of our story.
Powerful storytelling is a dialogue, not a monologue. We are passionate about writing the story of your project, or your next career move with HarrisonStevens, together. You will form an integral part in the narrative that we will help you to script, retaining ownership of your legacy.
As a client or collaborator of HarrisonStevens, you will be challenged to define your story, both through your briefing, and though a process we refer to as PACT: Priorities, Assurances, Context and Timeframe. These are the critical objectives and priorities not only for the whole project, but also for the role the external environment plays within the wider building or infrastructure briefs.
As a team member, joining our studio, the PACT is replaced with a PIP: Personal Improvement Plan. We work closely with team members to write their story, helping them to set goals, plan and implement their own Personal Improvement Plan. This seeks to reinforce an open-minded approach to learning, with failings corrected through mentoring and collaboration, and then celebrated as a learning opportunity for all.
We believe in a world in which businesses dream big, solve problems and create a story that can inspire others: for their consumers, for their community and for the planet. As landscape architects we have the skills needed to make meaningful impacts on some of the most important global challenges of our age. Your collaboration allows us to turn our mission ‘to make a difference’ into meaningful action.
A good business measures their success by the value they give, by the impact they make, and against a triple bottom line: social, environmental and financial, or what we like to summarise as our three Ps: People, Planet, Profit. We have teamed up with B1G1 to embed giving back into every level of our business, and to create meaningful impact based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
We have taken a deliberate and conscious move away from accepting a commission or team member’s employment as a mere transaction, but to deliver a meaningful interaction. Our objective is to seek out equal partners, who are empowered to achieve their goals and create positive impacts together.
A good business, or a Business for Good, knows that without consistent, growing, scalable income, their goals cannot come to life in a meaningful way, and without creative, collaborative, and fulfilling relationships, we have a greatly reduced capacity to achieve our goals. There is plenty of work for everyone: as we choose to select each other, we rise and thrive together, and can empower greater impact as we go.
Read more in our blog posts and social media channels to review the team’s previous learnings, impacts, and the full reach of our partnership with B1G1.
Our studio is a place to create and experiment, to come up with new ideas and to test and measure innovation. We centre on project delivery, ensuring consistency in approach with a strong vision and an allocated dedicated team, providing appropriate levels of experience throughout the life of a project.
The practice provides a balance of the many disciplines, with specialists in concept design, urban design, masterplanning, construction, art, and architecture; with dedicated individuals, who excel in taking masterplan and design coding through to detailed design and delivery on site.
HarrisonStevens ensure that every one of our team continue to develop professional skills in design, technology and working methods. We encourage all to work towards the professional qualifications through the Pathway, mentored by more experienced affiliated members of the team, and supported by the Landscape Institute.
