Curriculum vitae · 2026

Rowan
Adeyemi-Kell

Registered Landscape Architect

Seeking an Associate role leading public realm and planting design within a studio that builds what it draws.

Based in Leeds · available for UK-wide project work · studio@rowanak-landscape.example

Profile

Landscape architect for streets, courtyards and the slow work of planting.

Eleven years designing publicly used landscape, from pocket parks and hospital gardens to the planted courtyards of mid-density housing. Work is led by soil, water and maintenance reality before it is led by plan geometry.

Comfortable carrying a scheme from site survey and planting strategy through to construction information, site inspection and the first two years of establishment. Experienced in consultation where the brief is still being argued over, and in writing the specification that makes a planting idea survive a value-engineering meeting.

Focus — public realm · planting design · courtyard landscape · establishment aftercare

Selected work

Four projects that describe the practice

Weir Lane Pocket Park

2024–2026

Lead landscape architect · 0.4 ha former yard, Leeds

A hard-standing delivery yard converted to a shaded neighbourhood park. Designed the levels strategy to keep the existing gradient and avoid retaining structures, and set out a rain garden that takes roof water from the adjoining terrace.

  • Planting plans and 3-year maintenance schedule
  • Tree pit detailing with structural soil
  • Two resident design sessions

Bramble Court Courtyards

2023–2025

Planting lead · four shared courtyards, 180 homes

Planting strategy for courtyards sitting over podium slab, with varying soil depth and heavy shade from the north block. Specified a shade-tolerant woodland-edge mix and reduced irrigation to a single establishment season.

  • Substrate build-ups agreed with structural engineer
  • Species list reduced from 74 to 38 for upkeep
  • Handover guide written for the managing agent

Arden Ward Therapeutic Garden

2022–2023

Project landscape architect · inpatient courtyard

A walled courtyard for an older-persons ward, designed with clinical staff around sightlines, a continuous circular walking route and seating at 20-metre intervals. Planting chosen for scent and seasonal legibility rather than year-round evergreen cover.

  • Non-toxic, non-thorn species vetting
  • Level-threshold detailing throughout
  • Staff walk-through review at six months

Street Tree Standard, Civic Threads

2021–2022

Co-author · internal practice guidance

Wrote the studio's standard approach to street tree selection, pit construction and establishment watering, so that early-stage drawings carry buildable assumptions. Now used as the default basis for highway-adjacent schemes.

  • Species matrix by street width and service runs
  • Three standard pit details
  • Adopted across the studio's highway work

Experience

Employment history

2021 —
present

Senior Landscape Architect

Hollowfield Studio · Leeds

  • Runs two to four live public realm schemes at a time, from feasibility through to practical completion and defects inspections.
  • Owns planting design across the studio: species selection, substrate specification, maintenance regimes and establishment reviews.
  • Mentors two landscape architects through chartership, and reviews all outgoing construction packages for buildability.

2017 —
2021

Landscape Architect

Thorne & Pike Urbanism · Manchester

  • Produced planning and construction information for town centre streetscape and residential landscape projects.
  • Led consultation sessions with residents, ward officers and school groups, and folded the outcomes into revised layouts.
  • Coordinated drainage, lighting and highways input to resolve conflicts before tender issue.

2015 —
2017

Landscape Designer

Greenhaft Nursery & Design · York

  • Designed and set out private and small institutional gardens, with hands-on involvement in planting days.
  • Learned nursery stock realities — availability, grade, timing — that still shape how specifications are written today.

Earlier: horticultural assistant and seasonal propagation work during study, 2012–2015.

Capabilities

What this covers in practice

Design & delivery

  • Concept to construction packages
  • Levels and drainage coordination
  • Specification and schedules of work
  • Site inspection and defects review

Planting & ecology

  • Planting strategy and species matrices
  • Soil, substrate and tree pit design
  • Rain gardens and SuDS planting
  • Maintenance and establishment regimes

Technical

  • Vectorworks Landmark · AutoCAD
  • QGIS · site and survey analysis
  • SketchUp · hand section drawing
  • InDesign · report and guidance setting

Collaboration

  • Public and stakeholder consultation
  • Contractor and nursery liaison
  • Multidisciplinary design team work
  • Mentoring toward chartership

Education & credentials

Qualifications

2014
MA Landscape Architecture Northgate School of Design · thesis on post-industrial soil repair
2011
BSc Horticulture Caldene University · plant science and nursery production
2018
Chartered Member, Institute of Landscape Practice CMILP · registered landscape architect
2023
Certificate in Urban Tree Establishment Continuing professional development, two-part course