A full year at Planit has flown by, in which it has been a year of growing, learning and facing new challenges in a real-world practice environment.

We started off the year getting to know everybody down at the Standish studio. This was a wonderful opportunity where we felt very welcomed and settled straight away into Planit.

From there we have encountered many new opportunities whilst working on a range of projects, all with the support of our teams helping us advance our knowledge and skills ready to take with us into our Masters.

Bea

“The past year at Planit has been such a fantastic experience and I have learnt so much from working on range of projects at different scales and at different stages. It was great to work in such a supportive environment, especially after the pandemic caused us to have only online classes for the last 2 years at university. It was such a pleasure to come into the Altrincham office each day and be surrounded by such a friendly and supportive team.

I particularly enjoyed working on planting schemes during my time at Planit. Creating planting plans for Salford Rise and Alberton House has been not only enjoyable but a valuable learning experience. Both required unique considerations as one is on a bridge and the other is a roof terrace which I really enjoyed the challenge of.

Another big highlight was creating visuals for the Piccadilly Gardens design competition. Growing up around Manchester, this site has always stood out as an area in need of improvement in the city. To play a small part in the transformation of this space by creating visuals for this bid was so exciting!

My experience of working in practice for a year has been so valuable and although I am sad it’s over I will return to university with so many new and greatly developed skills. The skills that I learnt over the past year at Planit also gave me the confidence to apply to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with my container garden design which went on to win a Silver-gilt medal. Being able to present a Rise & Shine session where I shared my Chelsea Flower Show experience with my colleagues was also a big highlight!”

Helena

“I’ve had the amazing opportunity to work with both the Leeds and Manchester teams on a range of projects. Being able to watch the Leeds office grow and working on several important city centre projects with a wonderful team has been an invaluable learning opportunity. I’d also like to thank the Manchester team who have been so welcoming and helpful during my time there. I’m hugely thankful for my year at Planit and all the opportunities I have been given.

Some of my favourite projects to work on during my time at Planit have included Aire Park — in all its different entities, the ‘Hibiscus Rising’ Sculpture and the David Oluwale Bridge.

A former industrial site situated on the South Bank, the 3ha Aire Park will be Leeds’s largest city centre green space, surrounded by new homes, workspaces and retail and leisure spaces. Aire Park has required me to work at a wide range of scales, from design and access documents and concepts for the residential courtyards, to intricate construction details within the wider park.

Being a part of the early concept stages for the ‘Hibiscus Rising’ Sculpture has been a particular highlight for me. The sculpture is a tribute to David Oluwale, and we have been working with the artist Yinka Shonibare, Leeds 2023 the client, Leeds City Council and the David Oluwale Memorial Association through a series of workshops to create a landscape setting and narrative around this piece. It has been great to be part of such a pivotal project for Leeds.

Being able to produce the planting scheme and design for the adjacent David Oluwale Bridge — a new pedestrian bridge and surrounding green space linking the north and south of the River Aire — was also a brilliant learning experience which, I look forward to visiting and seeing the progress soon.”

Lydia

“This year at Planit has been one to remember. I’m grateful to have had a multi-disciplinary experience, working with both the Urban Design and Landscape teams throughout the year, who have all been very friendly and supportive. It has been fun to explore wider masterplanning scale and conceptual ideas, down to the detail design drawings and planting. Being able to try new things like physical hands-on planting down at NOMA has really inspired me to continue this too and to not be afraid of really getting involved on site.

Urban design project highlights include assisting the team with the Sheffield Residential Strategy, which explores strategic visions and ambitions for five different areas within the city. On a smaller detailed scale in Landscape, it has been exciting to work on the Great Northern project, which has involved initial proposals to designing residential building terraces in Manchester city centre.

This year, I have enjoyed the variety of project outcomes, from assisting Gillian with LVIAs and compiling figures together to producing sketches and graphical visualisations of design proposals to communicate and celebrate a project’s vision. This diverse skill set I have developed this year has helped me feel much more confident entering into the masters course next year and I am thankful for all the opportunities Planit has given me.”

We are looking forward to continuing with our studies for another year and are feeling very thankful for our experience at Planit, which has inspired us to keep learning and trying new things. Thank you for an amazing year to remember and the memories made, hopefully see you all soon!