Making space work for people and nature

The city can be an unyielding place with few places to sit and enjoy the sun.

Urban Wilderness is a landscape design and environmental consultancy based in Leeds and Sheffield. We are a close-knit team of Landscape Architects, Masterplanners and Urban Designers, offering our clients a wide range of services. We design at all levels from large open spaces and new settlements to individual gardens and play spaces.

As our name suggests, we specialise in bringing the best of the world beyond the town into the urban environment. Similarly the more ‘natural’ systems of the countryside require sensitive design and management to successfully incorporate new development into existing spatial strategies, land uses and habitats. Every space has its own merits and we strive to embrace these to produce designs which are sensitive to their context and character.

We help to physically shape our environment and the way in which we experience it.

Reception and Environment Centre

Southwell

This project included the detailed hard and soft landscape design for a new signature building within Nottingham Trent University's Brackenhurst Campus. The landscape sought to integrate the new building into the…

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Bloom! St. Helen’s Moorish Stitch

York

Urban Wilderness were commissioned to work with McArthurGlen to develop a new, temporary garden for the Bloom! Festival in York; “A fun floral festival celebrating 250 years of the Ancient Society of…

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Wirksworth Meadows

Wirksworth

Following successful tender submission, Urban Wilderness were commissioned to reinvigorate a much loved community greenspace closely connected to Wirksworth town centre. Having recently been saved from potential development through purchase by the…

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Longshaw Estate

Peak District National Park

Urban Wilderness was commissioned by the National Trust to develop a spatial plan for the landscape at the Longshaw Estate  (Peak District National Park) with an ambition to optimise the visitor…

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Hunters Bar Primary School

Sheffield

Urban Wilderness supported the University of Sheffield’s Department of Landscape to develop a ‘green barrier’ within Hunters Bar Primary School, with the intention of mitigating the effects of pollution emanating from…

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Green Barrier Guide

Sheffield

Off the back of the award winning success of the Hunters Bar School, where Urban Wilderness designed a 200ft long living barrier around the school’s playground in collaboration with PhD researcher María…

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Canterbury

Kent

Urban Wilderness were commissioned to work alongside Church Lukas Architects to develop a new student accommodation scheme in Canterbury that seeks to balance biodiversity enhancement with space for student health and…

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Portswood Road

Southampton

This urban realm scheme integrates six student accommodation blocks together via a series of courtyard spaces. Like all urban residential schemes, the landscape sought to deliver a richness in both user…

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Meanwood Valley Strategy and Climate Resilience Plan

North Leeds

The Meanwood Valley runs from the city centre of Leeds out to its rural edges. The valley follows the Meanwood Beck which is a tributary of the River Aire. It provides a much-needed green corridor…

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Stanbrook Abbey

North York Moors National Park

Working for the Benedictine community of nuns who had moved north from Worcestershire, Urban Wilderness produced landscape proposals from concept through to construction for the nuns’ new monastery in Yorkshire. With Fielden…

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Court Lodge

Ashford

This legacy project seeks to create a new sustainable neighbourhood in Ashford, providing a framework for social inclusivity, environmental stewardship and future economic prosperity. The project aspires to create a truly…

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Central House

Harrogate

Urban Wilderness were commissioned by CEG to provide landscape design services associated with a new office refurbishment in Harrogate at Central House. The design for this scheme sought to deliver both landscape functionality,…

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Calderdale Hospital

Halifax

Urban Wilderness were appointed by the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation to support a planning application for the development of Calderdale Hospital, Halifax, providing a TVIA and Estate-Wide Landscape Strategy.  The…

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Our City Green

Sheffield

Our City Green is a proposed festival committed to improving people’s health and wellbeing through connection to, and exploration of, urban nature. The festival seeks to reinvigorate underused green spaces across Sheffield,…

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Rock Ferry, Assisted Living and Extra Care

Birkenhead

Working in close collaboration with Pozzoni Architects, Urban Wilderness developed an overarching site-wide landscape strategy, including the detailed application of a 100 bed Extra Care Scheme. At a site-wide level Urban…

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Black Brook Biodiversity Strategy

Shepshed

In response to local policy requirement, Urban Wilderness was commissioned to create a biodiversity strategy to ensure that the development of housing allocation sites along the Black Brook would positively address both the ecological…

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Broomhill Library

Sheffield

In the 1920s, prominent garden designer of his day, Percy Cane, designed a new garden around a victorian villa in Sheffield. The villa now stands as a community library with poor access and…

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Vista, Care Centre

Leicester

Urban Wilderness were commissioned to design the landscape and recreational amenity spaces associated with a centre for excellence specialising in the care of visually impaired and blind residents. The design emphasises the existing…

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Ellis Grove, Care Home

Nottingham

Urban Wilderness developed a communal courtyard and landscape setting for an Extra Care scheme in Nottingham. The proposals sought to deliver safe, legible, engaging and beautiful spaces for both independent enjoyment and…

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Reviving Mines, Paradise Reimagined

Shangdong, China

Urban Wilderness participated in the “Shandong Mines Park” Reviving Mines Competition,  organised by Non Architecture. The brief asked participants to explore the potential to transform the barren mines in the Zichuan…

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Dormouse Garden

Chester

This garden, created for Chester Zoo's Wild Worlds Festival, seeks to reveal the often hidden conservation work of Chester Zoo. It is inspired by the Zoo’s work to better understand the…

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South Loughborough

Leicestershire

South Loughborough comprises of a 49 hectare site which has been carefully designed to positively address potential issues relating to its edge of settlement location and the gap between Loughborough and…

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Holbeck Viaduct

Leeds

Urban Wilderness are a key partner in ‘The Holbeck Viaduct Group’, a consortium of local people and businesses who aim to involve the local people of Holbeck, and surrounding areas, in setting…

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Greening The City Strategy

Nottingham City Centre

A well designed landscape can foster a feeling of belonging, a recognisable identity, a community focus and a sense of place. These factors form part of both Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU)…

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Andover

Hampshire

The historic market town of Andover is situated on the River Anton, 18.5 miles west of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of Winchester and 25 miles north of Southampton. The vision of…

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Brackenhurst Campus

Brackenhurst, Southwell

In order to realise the Nottingham Trent University’s goal of improving student experience, its wider public image and its standing within the National Student Survey, a ‘Landscape Strategy’ has been developed…

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Railway Reclamation Park

Barnburgh

A full planning application for a landscape-led scheme within a section of the former Dearne Valley Railway cutting. The landowner has an obligation to undertake essential engineering works to a road…

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Applegarth Farm

Grayshott, East Hampshire

From its humble beginnings as a small farm shop and restaurant, Urban Wilderness worked with Big Apple Ventures to develop proposals to diversify the site into a visitor destination and luxury glamping…

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Wirksworth Memorial Garden and Market Square

Wirksworth

The project brief was to create a flexible space that could be used for the town's Saturday markets whilst maintaining the peace and tranquility of a memorial garden. It was important from…

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Lisbon University

Portugal

Working in collaboration with Munro+Whitten (based in Leicester), Urban Wilderness won the Delegates Choice Award for the Lisbon University Design Ideas Competition. The competition formed part of the Landscapes and Life…

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Paragraph 80 Homes

The construction of new, isolated homes in the countryside requires a rigorous, innovative and context led design approach as outlined in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), Paragraph 80 (previously Paragraph…

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Designer Outlet York

York

Urban Wilderness were commissioned to assess the landscape surrounding the Designer Outlet to the south of York and to put forward a strategy of public realm improvements that would unify and…

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Garden Design

UK

Landscape design at a private residential scale should revolutionise the way that a homeowner engages with their property. Effective garden design should both improve the functionality of your garden and your…

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St Mary’s Green

Hamstreet, Ashford

A landscape led masterplan on behalf of Hallam Land Management Ltd. This proposal sought to create a high-quality, attractive and sustainable community delivering a series of interconnected ‘Greens’, a range of…

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Harrowby Lane

Grantham

Harrowby Lane is a community-focused residential masterplanning project that seeks to focus pedestrian activity within the centre of the scheme whilst effectively integrating the development with the surrounding amenity assets and…

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HSE Headquarters

Liverpool

Recently completed landscape project which visually lifts the approach to the Health and Safety Executive's headquarters in Bootle, Liverpool. New planted mounds, featuring semi-mature tree and ornamental shrub planting and uplighting are…

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Keele University Campus

Keele

Proposals for Keele University support the universities aims to both grow student numbers by an additional 1500 student accommodation rooms and to provide a sector leading student experience through the introduction…

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Hook Lane

Pagham

Working on behalf of Hallam Land Management Ltd, alongside LRM Planning and Brookbanks Consulting, Urban Wilderness designed and submitted proposals for a new mixed use scheme for up to 300 houses,…

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“Having worked with Nathan and the Urban Wilderness team since their inception on a range of public and private sector projects, I am continually impressed with not only the quality of their technical work and the professionalism of their team, but also the manner and approaches taken to all matters, including community and stakeholder engagement. Their staff are always open to discussions and available to offer advice. Through their understanding, not only of their own discipline but also those of their co-professionals, working with the Urban Wilderness team provides a collaborative, and seamless approach which is both efficient and refreshing. They have set themselves very high standards indeed..” Dean Ward, - Associate, WSP (2018)

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