About us - Design With Nature

‘Look! Look! Look deep into nature and you will understand everything’
(Albert Einstein)

From its green roofed office in Shropshire Design with Nature delivers ecologically informed landscape solutions to local authorities, public bodies, architects, construction companies, private individuals and businesses

We work at a variety of scales ranging from a large linear park to a small hospital courtyard, in both urban and rural settings. Key to our approach is the creation of innovative, robust, cost-effective and sustainable landscapes that contribute to people’s health and well-being as well as being rich in wildlife. This is done by working with natural processes and using, wherever possible, only locally sourced natural materials to create places that have a strong local identity.

At Design with Nature our specialities include:

environmental site appraisal / feasibility, green infrastructure masterplanning, landscape and environmental impact assessment (LVIA), park / public open space enhancements, natural play, access improvements (including planning of new trail / cycleways and installation of gateway features), sustainable urban drainage (SUDS), therapeutic landscapes, edible landscapes, habitat creation, green / brown roofs, design for outdoor recreation, woodland design, environmental sculpture / landart and the production of landscape management plans.

`Design with Nature has a strong environmental and social ethic with one selected organisation being supported each year.

Useful resources and information

What our clients say …

“Mark helped us design an interpretive playscape. We loved the imagination and understanding of the site in his design. I’d certainly recommend Design With Nature Ltd”

"We were really pleased with the strategic masterplan for the facilities hub in Ampthill Great Park. The subsequent first phase works are much more accessible to a wide range of people. Furthermore, the associated shrub and herbaceous planting, carefully designed to accommodate the extremely challenging site conditions, has been very well received by visitors to the park."

"We are very grateful to Mark Stefan, his dedication and attention to fine detail approach was first class, especially as our brief was rather unusual. Creating a farm in a relatively small space of a primary school presented all sorts of issues. Without him, our project would never have got off the ground"

Meet Mark Stefan

Design with Nature is run by Mark Stefan. A Chartered Landscape Architect with over thirty years’ experience in the public, charity and private sectors he has been involved in a wide variety of schemes including highways, brownfield land reclamation, public realm improvements, the integration of new facilities into sensitive landscape settings and natural play space design. He possesses particular expertise in relation to project management / contract administration, community engagement, landscape and visual impact assessments and outdoor recreation related design. In addition, he has a Masters Degree in Forestry and Forestry Products from Bangor University and is an approved Building with Nature assessor.

Through its own experienced team and a network of specialist sub-consultants the practice has access to a large pool of experience and experts in particular related fields such as: ecology, arboriculture, production of 3D visualisations / photomontages, and structural engineering.