Garden Design And Build
Landscape Design Belfast
A good garden design starts with the constraints, not the mood board. CSW designs Belfast gardens around what is actually fixed, then builds them.
Design Around What Cannot Move
Every garden has a handful of things that are simply not negotiable, and a design that ignores them is a drawing rather than a plan. Where the public sewer runs and how wide its protected strip is. How much the ground falls from one end to the other, and in which direction. Where the boundary legally sits. Which parts of the garden get sun in April and which are in permanent shade behind a gable. Establish those five and the design almost writes itself.
Most disappointing gardens we are asked to look at were designed the other way round. Somebody drew a beautiful layout, and then the levels turned out to need two metres of retaining wall nobody had costed, or the patio had to move three metres because of a sewer, and what got built was a compromised version of the picture rather than the best version of the site.
We design and build, which changes how we draw. There is no incentive to produce something that looks impressive on paper and turns out to be unbuildable or unaffordable, because we are the ones who then have to build it. A design that survives contact with the ground is worth more than one that does not.
Survey And Concept
Levels taken properly, drainage located, boundaries established, aspect and shade noted through the day, and a layout that works with all of it rather than against it.
Detailed Design
Materials, levels, steps, retaining, drainage runs and planting areas resolved to the point where the garden can actually be priced and built rather than estimated.
Build And Planting
The same team builds what was drawn. Groundwork, hard landscaping, structures, turf or artificial grass, and planting, with changes discussed rather than improvised.
Why Design With CSW
We Have To Build It
Designing and building means no unbuildable drawings and no gap between the picture you approve and the garden you get.
Levels Taken, Not Guessed
A garden that falls a metre from end to end is a different project from one that falls 200mm, and it is not obvious by eye.
Drainage Established Early
Where the sewer runs and how wide its protected strip is often decides the layout. Found at survey stage rather than at excavation stage.
Builders Not Just Gardeners
Retaining structures, steps and walls are proper construction. Having builders on the design means the structural end is realistic.
Phased If Needed
A garden can be designed as a whole and built in stages, so long as it is planned that way. Retrofitting a phase to an unplanned garden is expensive.
Maintenance Considered
How much work the garden needs in five years is a design decision. We would rather ask you honestly than hand over something you cannot keep up with.
The Constraints A Design Has To Respect
Three things regularly reshape a Belfast garden design, and all three are checkable before a line is drawn. This is general guidance rather than advice about your garden, and your district council and NI Water are the authorities on your particular site.
The Sewer Protected Strip
Under Article 236 of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 it is an offence to build over or near, or realign, a public sewer, water main or associated works without NI Water's prior consent. The protected strip is three metres, or one and a half times the depth of the sewer, whichever is greater.
In a typical Belfast back garden that strip can easily be a six metre wide band running the length of the plot, and it is often exactly where somebody wanted an outbuilding, a raised terrace or a substantial retaining wall. Knowing about it at survey stage means designing the lawn or the planting over it instead.
- Structures within the strip should first consider relocating rather than applying.
- Where building near a non critical sewer is genuinely the only option, the application goes to NI Water on form SBO A236.
- Retrospective consent is never given over a critical sewer, a manhole or a pumping main.
Height Limits On Anything That Encloses
Under the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015, a wall, fence, gate or other means of enclosure is permitted up to two metres in height, but only one metre where it adjoins a road or a footpath. Planning is decided by your district council.
For a design that matters because screening is so often the point of the exercise. A client asking for privacy on a corner plot where two sides adjoin a footpath is asking for something that needs either a planning application or a different solution, and it is better to know at concept stage.
- Height is measured from ground level, which on a sloping garden varies along the run.
- Open plan and shared surface estates commonly have enclosure rights restricted altogether.
- An Article 4 direction removes permitted development rights. Belfast City Council has made them, Malone Park being a published example.
Where Garden Structures Cross Into Building Control
Most garden work is not a building control matter, but designs frequently grow a garden room, studio or store, and that has thresholds worth knowing at the drawing stage rather than after.
Schedule 2 to the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 exempts a small detached single storey building with a floor area not exceeding thirty square metres, standing at least one metre from a dwelling, road or boundary, and a smaller class not exceeding fifteen square metres standing at least one metre from a dwelling.
- Both the area and the one metre distance have to be satisfied, not just one of them.
- Single storey means single storey. A storage loft takes the building out of the class.
- Building control in Northern Ireland is your district council. There is no private approved inspector route here.
How A Garden Gets Designed
The Survey Is The Design
We take levels across the garden rather than eyeballing the slope, because a fall of a metre over twenty metres does not look like much standing in it and completely changes what is possible. Every step, every retaining structure and every drainage decision comes out of those numbers.
At the same time we locate drainage, check the boundary against the deeds, note where the shade sits at different times of day and look at what the neighbouring properties overlook. That is a couple of hours that saves a great deal of redrawing.
Levels, Terraces And Retaining
Belfast has a lot of sloping gardens, and the honest news is that changing level is the expensive part of landscaping. Every terrace needs a retaining structure, and every retaining structure needs drainage behind it, because it is water pressure rather than soil weight that pushes these things over.
So a design either works with the existing slope, using it for interest, or it commits to terracing and prices it properly. What does not work is drawing flat terraces and finding the retaining cost afterwards.
Sun, Shade And Where You Will Actually Sit
The seating area belongs where the sun is when you would use it, which for most households is late afternoon and evening rather than midday. A patio placed against the house because that is conventional can easily be in shade from three o'clock.
It is worth walking the garden at the time of day you imagine using it before the layout is fixed. In a Belfast garden with a gable to the south west, that single observation frequently moves the whole design.
Maintenance As A Design Decision
How much work a garden takes is decided on the drawing, not afterwards. Deep mixed borders are beautiful and want real attention. Larger areas of lawn, structural planting and generous hard surfaces need far less.
There is no right answer, only an honest one. We would rather ask directly how much time you genuinely want to spend in the garden than design something that looks superb in year one and becomes a source of guilt by year three.
How A Design Job Runs
Survey The Site
Levels across the garden, drainage located, boundaries checked against the deeds, aspect and shade noted, and what neighbouring windows overlook.
Talk About Use
Who uses the garden, when, and for what. Children, dogs, entertaining, growing things or simply somewhere calm to sit all pull the design differently.
Concept Layout
A layout that works with the survey rather than against it, showing where the constraints have shaped it so the reasoning is visible rather than hidden.
Detail And Price
Materials, levels, steps, retaining, drainage and planting resolved to the point where it can be genuinely priced rather than estimated and revised later.
Build
Groundwork, drainage, hard landscaping, structures and surfaces, built by the team that drew it, with any change discussed rather than improvised.
Planting And Handover
Planting, turf or artificial grass, and a straight conversation about what needs doing in the first year while everything establishes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you survey levels before designing?
Because a slope you cannot see changes everything. A fall of a metre over twenty metres looks like nothing when you are standing in the garden, and it decides every step, retaining structure and drainage run in the design. Drawing a layout first and taking levels afterwards is how gardens end up with retaining walls nobody budgeted for.
Can a sewer really change my garden design?
Frequently. NI Water's protected strip is three metres or one and a half times the depth of the sewer, whichever is greater, and in a typical Belfast back garden that can be a six metre band running the length of the plot. Building over or near one without consent is an offence under Article 236 of the 2006 Order.
How high can I screen a garden for privacy?
Two metres generally, but only one metre where the enclosure adjoins a road or a footpath, under the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015. Corner plots suffer most because two sides may adjoin a footpath. If privacy is the whole point of the project, this is worth checking at concept stage.
Do you design gardens you do not build?
We design in order to build, and that shapes the drawings for the better. There is no temptation to produce something that photographs well and turns out to be unbuildable or unaffordable, because we are the ones who have to deliver it. A design that survives contact with the ground is worth more than one that does not.
Where should the patio go?
Where the sun is at the time you would actually use it, which for most households is late afternoon and evening. A patio placed against the house because that is conventional can be in shade from three o'clock. Walking the garden at your usual sitting time before the layout is fixed often moves the whole design.
Why is changing the level so expensive?
Because every terrace needs a retaining structure and every retaining structure needs drainage behind it. Retaining walls fail from water pressure rather than soil weight, so the drainage is not an optional refinement. A design either works with the existing slope or commits to terracing and prices it honestly from the start.
Can I have the garden designed now and built in stages?
Yes, provided it is designed that way from the beginning. Phasing works when the drainage, levels and services for later stages are anticipated in the first one. Retrofitting a phase onto a garden that was never planned for it usually means digging up something you have already paid for.
Will I need building control approval for a garden room?
Not if it stays inside the exemption. Schedule 2 to the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 exempts a small detached single storey building not exceeding thirty square metres and standing at least one metre from a dwelling, road or boundary. Both conditions have to be met, and a storage loft makes it no longer single storey.
How much maintenance will the garden need?
Whatever the design decides, which is why we ask directly rather than assuming. Deep mixed borders are lovely and want real attention through the year. Structural planting, larger lawn areas and generous hard surfaces need far less. There is no right answer, only an honest one about how much time you want to spend.
What if I do not know what I want?
That is normal and it is not a problem. The useful questions are not about style, they are about use. Who is in the garden, at what time of day, doing what, and how much work do you want it to be. Answer those and the design has somewhere to start from.
More Landscaping & Garden Design From CSW
Get Your Free Quote Today!
Let us come out, take some levels and find out where the drainage runs. That first hour usually tells you more about what your garden can be than any amount of looking at pictures. No charge for the visit.
- Call us: 07703 433214
- Email: Cswbuild@gmail.com
- Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland