landscape designer Archives • Orterra

Water Sensitive Urban Design

October 2, 2023November 17, 2023 administratorEducation, Environment, Infrastructure

Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is a concept that’s appearing more and more in local government planning policies across Australia, and rightfully so. It’s a concept that Orterra have embraced for many years because it just makes sense, for the environment as well as for the individual projects we design and deliver. Did you know that Biodiversity is one of our key values as an organisation? You can see all of our values and how we define them right here, but basically, our work has a focus on improving, rehabilitating and regenerating the biodiversity and the environment of our projects. […]

Bringing all 7 Senses to life through Design

August 1, 2023October 22, 2023 administratorUncategorized

What are the 7 senses? Outdoor spaces are those where all of the senses are heightened. How could they not be? There could be beautifully scented blooms, the sound of wind moving through trees, the cool of a shaded garden, the taste of a herb or a vine-ripened cherry tomato as well as the feel of grass underfoot. There’s the five senses in one paragraph! However, it’s a misconception that we only have five senses. Just like the seven deadly sins and their corresponding heavenly virtues, we have seven senses to take advantage of in our landscape design. All seven […]

The Role of Environmental Design in Preventing Crime

July 3, 2023October 22, 2023 administratorEducation, Environment, Infrastructure, Property Development and Commercial, Residential, Tech

Did you know that the design of outdoor spaces plays a significant role in the occurrence of crime? It’s actually a concept we’ve long employed in our work with local government and developers in creating new urban landscapes. It is guided by a set of principles based on extensive research from across the globe. It even has its own acronym – CPTED What is CPTED? Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED, is exactly that: creating a space that feels safe, so that people can make use of it. Sometimes referred to as Designing Out Crime, it’s multidisciplinary and integrates […]

The Role of Green Infrastructure in Biodiversity

June 1, 2023November 23, 2023 administratorEnvironment, Infrastructure, Property Development and Commercial

Biodiversity is essential to thriving communities, yet, we are losing biodiversity at alarming rates. Green infrastructure is a way to protect, maintain and increase the biodiversity in our urban landscapes and is one which requires a considered planning and design approach. We wrote about green infrastructure here, but as we shared, there’s no real clear definition. The description most aligned to the Orterra philosophy is this one created by the European Commission: “Green infrastructure is a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services such as water […]

And we are out…..

December 20, 2022March 2, 2023 debbieAbout Orterra

We are now on holidays…. Office Closed Between Friday 23rd of December 2022 and reopen on the Tuesday 10th of January 2023 We have loved working with our clients this year. Developing some great relationships with new clients and strengthening those with our continuing clients. This has allowed us to complete some amazing projects this year. Some of the types of projects we have worked on this year are So if you are ever wondering if your project is something we would work on. Then it probably is. We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year […]

Weeds and How To Tell If You Have One?

September 21, 2022October 9, 2022 debbieEnvironment, Garden Design, Property Development and Commercial, Residential, Tech

For many gardeners and non-gardeners, the notion of weeds is that they are this very bad thing that grows too fast and makes the place look ugly. However, the issue of weeds is more complicated. They cause a lot of damage to our natural environment. They cost billions of dollars a year and have a large impact on our biodiversity. What is a weed? The definition of a weed is “a plant that grows very quickly where it is not wanted and covers or kills more desirable plants” Basically, it is a plant growing where you don’t want it to […]

What do the Terms Cut and Fill Mean?

August 23, 2022August 23, 2022 debbieGarden Design, Infrastructure, Property Development and Commercial, Residential, Tech

When talking to our clients we often use the terms cut and fill. These often come up when discussing how you might change the ground to create different types of spaces in a garden. Often they are terms that clients are unfamiliar with. So wanted to go into more detail today about what this meant. If you have a development or build on a slope, it is extremally helpful if you understand these two terms. And, how it affects your site. Today, we are going to break it down for you. So you can have a better understanding of what […]

To Answer your Question here is our Design Philosophy

July 27, 2022August 1, 2022 debbieAbout Orterra, Education, Infrastructure, Property Development and Commercial, Residential

We often get asked by our clients what is your design philosophy? So, today I wanted to dive a bit deeper into this question of design philosophy and what it means to us here at Orterra. Places People Love That is our philosophy. It is that simple. But what I will do is break it down for you a little more to get to the core of this statement. A philosophy is “a particular system of beliefs, values, and principles.” We here at Orterra have very clear values here that we work from that underpin our design philosophy. Equality Inclusion Empathy Diversity Biodiversity Transparency We use […]

How to Get Help Designing Your Garden

August 4, 2020September 7, 2021 debbieGarden Design, Residential, Tech, Uncategorized

You want to do something with your garden. It’s a common occurrence, that sometimes we get to a point where we would like to do something with our garden. That something bugs you, and after looking at Pinterest wondering through the aisle at Bunnings and driving yourself crazy you decide that you might need the help of a professional. Before you go through the process of working out who you are going to hire, I would suggest you ask yourself the questions below and work out which category you fit into. First Question – I know exactly what I want? […]