What and who is tirwel?
read on to understand a bit more about what tirwel is, what makes us who we are, where we come from and what we want to leave behind.
What is tirwel?
‘tirwel’ is Cornish for landscape, being a landscape consultancy based in Cornwall it seemed a logical choice of name.
tirwel the consultancy was born of a need to achieve a balance between profitable engaging work as a landscape architect and life outside work, the more we talk to other self employed consultants it’s a common thread.
tirwel aims to be our clients’ ‘go to’ contact for all and any landscape needs. We love it when you come to us early in the process because that’s when we can be most effective, when we analyse a site to identify any issues which will influence design, process, and viability, work with other specialists to produce a coherent scheme that shouldn’t end up costing more time and money than it needs, be honest if there are any potential pitfalls and find pragmatic solutions. We’re realistic though, developments don’t always go according to plan, so whatever stage you’re at you’ll get the same level of professional, consistent, complete service.
Where is tirwel?
tirwel is based in Truro, Cornwall. We work on sites across the South West which to us is essentially as far as we can drive there and back in a day so Cornwall, Devon, West Somerset and West Dorset.
We don't work further afield as we don't feel the distance and logistics lend themselves to a committed and quality service.
Who is tirwel?
tirwel is mainly Lucy Wilson Richards CMLI, a landscape architect by profession with a varied experience across public, private and charity sectors and a longstanding commitment to heritage, inclusive and sustainable design, a mother of two, and a person in her own right. In the background providing business support and precision boat driving skills is her husband Mark.
A phone call away are a collection of trusted industry colleagues covering planning, heritage, arboriculture, ecology, architecture and marketing.
We don’t plan to take over the world just make it a more positive place. Small is more agile, more focussed, more connected, and more committed to establishing positive relationships with clients, colleagues and communities. Small is sustainable.
Lucy was born in the Midlands growing up in the rural / urban landscape around Warwickshire and classing Birmingham as her home town. The contrast and balance of landscapes influenced her approach as much as plant and history loving parents.
After studying at the University of Sheffield she spent time working for the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, Warwickshire County Council and what was then Entec UK before deciding life was leading her to the sea and relocating to Cornwall to work with CEC, an experience building couple of decades covering most types of practice and a wide range of project types, sizes and roles. Alongside work she continued to develop her interests in community led landscape schemes and inclusive design, specifically design for dementia inspired by her father's fight with Lewy's Bodies and Parkinson's and the effects nature and time in contact with the outside world had on his quality of life.
By 2018 the time was right to steer her own course, she left CEC to set up tirwel in January 2019. The rest of this section is up to you...
