Work experience with Duncan McLean, landscape architect, Land Use Consultants

Kate Allen, Regeneration & Renewal, 30 May 2008

He currently manages the Inverness city centre streetscape and transportation project and the Kirkwall urban design development framework in Orkney.

What has been your most beneficial career experience to date? I was deputy resident engineer for 18 months during the construction of Glasgow's international financial services district, which involved being on site almost every day. I learned so many things: not only the practical aspects of designing and constructing a public realm scheme, but also project management and communication skills.

What's the best advice you've ever been given? I've always liked the Greek proverb: "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." I think you could apply this ethos to many aspects of environmental planning and design work. More straightforwardly, my mother always taught me to be honest.

What's the best training you've had? Probably the various university classes at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, in which I learned about trees and plants. I don't think I appreciated them then and part of me wishes I could go back and do it again.

What book would you recommend? There are a few reference books that I regularly use, including Townscape by Gordon Cullen and Design With Nature by Ian McHarg. They're both classic texts in landscape architecture.

What do you wish you'd known when you started out? It may appear obvious, but double-checking everything can prove invaluable, whether it be text in a report or construction drawings. At the very least, it will save you the embarrassment of getting someone's name wrong.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2000: Graduates with MA (Hons) in landscape architecture from Edinburgh College of Art, and joins consultancy ERM as a graduate landscape architect.

2001: Joins Land Use Consultants as a landscape architect after six months travelling in the Far East.

2006: Promoted to senior landscape architect at LUC.