People

   Brisbane

Bringing more than 12 years of experience across statutory and strategic planning to the team, Amanda is a talented project manager specialising in strategic planning policy, using her skills as a strong communicator to engage key stakeholders and facilitate a clear pathway to obtaining approvals. Amanda takes pride in understanding the client’s vision and values delivering projects as a partnership, building trusted relationships to achieve long-term, sustainable outcomes. Throughout her career, Amanda has been a key driver in delivering master plans for both metropolitan and regional areas and iconic tourism projects, understanding that the people to place connection, whether it be from a local or visitor perspective is the most important factor when planning for a region’s social, economic and environmental future.

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   Gold Coast

Andrew has more than 30 years design experience, and demonstrates his passion for the ‘bits beyond the buildings’, drawing inspiration from his international experience, nature and the world in which we live. Andrew has been fortunate to work in numerous countries on a range of projects. From new town developments to small lot housing and courtyard design, large scale urban schemes, high end resorts, theme parks, civic space and beyond. Regardless of the project, all share a common thread – the desire to see the best design outcome. Andrew believes the integration of our works with the natural systems is a shared responsibility that is a given, as good design transcends the fashion of the moment. Design challenges are what make Andrew tick; finding the answer that works for the client and ultimately the end user. It is the satisfaction that comes from this that drags Andrew from the beach – most days.

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   Brisbane

Angus is an experienced town planner with expertise in urban regeneration approvals across all levels of both New South Wales and Queensland planning systems. Angus’ extensive statutory planning experience and ability to think beyond the standard town planning process has seen him facilitate planning approvals for complex residential, commercial and industrial developments, proactively engaging council prior to lodgement to ensure a streamlined and efficient assessment process.

Through Angus’ strong understanding of the commercial realities of property development, he is able to effectively apply a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving and manage stakeholder expectations in a way that meets project deadlines and achieves high quality outcomes.

Announced as part of the UDIA NSW Young Leaders Committee for 2019, Angus will be at the forefront of contributing regularly and directly to planning policy development throughout the year.

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   Brisbane

With over 17 years of experience Beth has an innovative and diverse approach to the strategic operations for Place Design Group across our Australian and Asian markets.

An award winning leader, Beth is currently recognised for the development of emerging, innovative methods for strategic communications and consultation across industry and communities. A distinguished professional, Beth co-founded a strategic marketing and public relations firm in 2009. Here she led a range of project based services across the corporate, not-for-profit, hospitality, fashion, and lifestyle sectors for nationally and internationally renowned brands. It is this breadth of experience combined with her exceptional, strategic communications skills that have enabled her to apply a new and innovative approach to planning and design with both internal and external stakeholders for Place Design Group.

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   Gold Coast

Clint brings over 20 years of international design experience, working on a wide variety of esteemed landscape projects, and has both lived and worked in multiple developed and developing counties across Asia Pacific and Europe. Clint’s enthusiasm for  design and appreciation of both the natural and the cultural fabric has enabled him to lead design teams with a flexible design approach to projects in varying locations. Destination lifestyle projects that embody community, culture and visitor experience are a personal passion of Clint’s within the built environment design space. His team approach with emphasis on clarity of design communication has been instrumental in the completion of work on many local & international projects resulting in successfully  delivered outcomes. Clint’s project experience ranges from hotel and resort design, urban regeneration, large master-planned mixed use tourism developments, civic design, mixed use residential and commercial developments, cultural and educational facilities, open space regenerations and parklands, to detailed residential design.

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   Brisbane

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   Townsville

A Townsville resident since 1983, Hywel has 30 years of local experience in the landscape architectural profession. As a Registered Landscape Architect and Member of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, he is dedicated and passionate about delivering project outcomes that are functional and highly presentable. Hywel specialises in the management and design of external landscape development works to a range of projects including residential subdivisions and developments, schools, aged care developments and public open space networks. Hywel possess local knowledge, experience, and understanding of what it takes to design, deliver, and establish sustainable landscape development works to projects across Townsville and North Queensland generally.

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   Brisbane

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   Sunshine Coast

Internationally renowned for his Urban Design and Placemaking Strategy, James is a second generation designer who has dedicated his career to improving lifestyles and experiences for the communities he works with. Having established James Birrell Design Lab in 2013, James merged with Place Design Group in 2019 and has built a stellar suite of local, national and international design, strategy and placemaking experience.

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   Brisbane

As a Design Director for Place Design Group, Mark brings more than 30 years experience in the design industry. An accomplished designer, Mark provides design expertise to projects throughout Australia, China and South East Asia as well as helping to oversee the executive workings of the business.

Having been based in China from 2007 to 2019 Mark has witnessed first hand the rapid expansion and urbanisation of the country and has been one of Australia’s leaders in the transformation of the built environment. With a focus on collaboration across all design disciplines, Mark has been able to achieve exceptional innovative and sustainable project outcomes. Mark is passionate about building a business that supports a great culture, lately he has been using his collaboration skills on his most complicated project yet, his own house and is, according to his wife “going OK, but slow…”

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   Sydney

Nick is detail oriented, highly creative Landscape Architect with over 10 years of dedicated experience in designing and implementing beautiful landscapes both in the public and private realm, with a proven track record of exceeding client expectations. Nick has been responsible for leading successful projects in the residential, commercial, aged care, educational sectors and master planned developments throughout Australia. Nick is passionate about the public domain, the local environments and particularly understanding and designing around the aspirations of the communities who will utilise the space, combined with the collaborative insights of the Client and Stake holder teams.

As Director, his role requires effective team leadership, high quality designed outcomes, communication skills, efficient project management, contract management and quality assurance for all documentation prepared within the office. With a passion for design and Landscape Architecture Nick loves developing new ideas in a collaborative team environment which will be enjoyed by everyone.

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   Gold Coast

Based on Queensland’s sunny Gold Coast, Peter is a highly respected planning expert whose experience spans many years with Local Authority and an extensive period in a consulting partnership prior to excelling in his current role as Planning Principal, Place Design Group. Reflective of this, Peter has a strong, established reputation in the Queensland and New South Wales planning spheres with involvement in a wide range of town planning projects across both states. These projects are inclusive of report and application preparation, town planning advice, negotiating on behalf of the development industry with Councils and Government, site and master planning, legal and court work, and statutory planning.

Peter’s planning experience and knowledge has supported his clients in achieving the best possible outcomes.

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   Brisbane

Rob is a Registered Landscape Architect with more than 19 years’ industry experience across multiple sectors for both public and private clients. He has a keen interest in exploring the relationship between natural and built environments through his imaginative yet methodical approach to design.

Rob has extensive experience in Commercial Centres, Tourism, Healthcare, Education, Public Realm and Transport & Infrastructure. He derives professional enjoyment from accomplished landscape architecture that delivers design outcomes that allow people to enjoy the health and lifestyle benefits of time spent outdoors in the Australian landscape.

As a Landscape Architect, Rob is personable and responsive. He believes that collaborative relationships with his colleagues, clients, fellow consultants and contractors, as well as those he leads, underlies creativity, work integrity and quality.

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   Brisbane

Shaun is a Registered Landscape Architect and Urban Designer with nearly 30 years’ experience delivering a diverse range of residential, environmental, open space, recreational and civic design experience. His strengths lie in the ability to interpret the initial concept ideas generated by the client, stakeholders and community feedback into exciting, integrated, responsive and buildable design solutions. Shaun’s experience in public realm, parklands, landscape and streetscape projects is extensive. These projects have ranged in size and budget and all have their own issues and complexities that needed to be resolved. Shaun delivers the client and the associated users (community) the best outcomes possible.

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   Brisbane

Shaun has more than 20 years’ experience in planning and property in Queensland; he is a Fellow of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) and has held senior policy positions both with the Planning Institute of Australia and the UDIA. A Town Planner by qualification, Shaun is the principal consultant on major planning and development projects throughout Australia. Committed to the streamlining and management of the critical path for his clients, Shaun’s strategic thinking guarantees the coordination of project designers and technical specialists in a manner that remains focused on the project outcomes. Creativity of thought, in anticipating, planning and navigating a path through legislative and stakeholder challenges to a timely outcome is a key to his success in consulting.

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   Brisbane

Sue is the Design Director for China and leads Place Design Group’s International Investment team based in Brisbane. Working with developers in Australia and across Asia Sue is able to add her considerable design talents as well as organisational skills to projects across all regions. Before moving to Australia Sue was the Manager of Place Design Group Shanghai office and has been responsible for many of the company’s high-profile projects over many years.

Sue has over 17 years’ experience spanning all aspects of design including Residential Communities, Commercial and Tourism based projects. Sue has a very proactive leadership style and this has enabled her to develop exceptional client relationships. Her skill in design as well as her ability to manage and deliver projects to meet client’s needs have been recognised by numerous award wins.

As Design Director Sue continues to personally work with our teams in both China and Australia to deliver award winning projects that exceed initial expectations.

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   Brisbane

In his 25-year career, Tony has collaborated in the planning and design of a broad range of projects in Australia as well as internationally in China, Southeast Asia and the UAE. His professional roles have involved project management, strategic planning, urban design and master planning for major developers and government agencies. This includes projects which have received industry recognition through UDIA, PIA and AILA awards. Placemaking, design quality, evidence-based planning and environmental sustainability – and how these can positively contribute to healthy communities and better cities – shape Tony’s interests and approach to professional practice. A focus on finding optimal development outcomes that strike the right balance between good city form, urban quality, resilience to climate change and commercial realities underpins this approach.

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Alvin brings over 20 years’ experience working on a range of landscape and urban design, city planning and transport infrastructure projects in the UK and Australia. With a diverse professional and geographical background, Alvin has developed a broad, flexible approach to his work. He understands the bigger picture and how projects relate to strategic planning and policies at a city or regional level, and also how places must be designed to meet community needs. Alvin’s work across playgrounds, public squares or foreshores and all the different types of spaces, reflects his passion for design, and more specifically, designing places for people to enjoy that genuinely makes their lives better.

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Amy has accumulated over 10 years’ experience in landscape design and project management, primarily in the residential, commercial and municipal sectors and has delivered many exceptional projects.

A strength of Amy is her strong design ability and communication skills which allow her to effectively deal with all technical issues during the construction process. She is a proactive collaborator with high sense of responsibility and discipline and believes that by working closely with the design team, the client side and other consultants is the best way to achieve great built outcomes that exceed the initial expectations.

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   Brisbane

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   Sydney

With a passion for inclusive design and a background specialising in play space design, Baz is an advocate for the profession of Landscape Architecture as a catalyst for positive social change and a key contributor to community cohesiveness.

With over 10 years of local and international experience, Baz has delivered a diverse portfolio of landscape projects in Australia, ranging in scale from open space and recreational planning strategies for entire new suburbs, through to the detailed design of commercial centres, UNESCO world heritage parks and all-abilities play spaces.

As Project Manager within Place Design Group, Baz brings his approachable nature and clear communication style to every project. Combined with strong creative and technical skills, financial and project management capabilities, Baz is proficient in leading highly skilled teams to ensure complex design projects are delivered with innovation, on time and to budget.

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With over 20 years’ experience as a landscape architect across Australia and internationally, Cathy brings an unrivalled wealth of knowledge, passion and problem-solving prowess to every project. Some often argue Cathy has a crystal ball, however it’s her ability to integrate her strong background in construction techniques and engineering principles into her design concepts that deliver built outcomes that often exceed client outcomes. Through her broad perspective on potential design outcomes that consider both the cultural and environmental fabric of a site, combined with strong communication skills and consultant coordination, Cathy guides her team to produce designs that create a true sense of place for the end user, while simultaneously satisfying statutory requirements – magic!

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   Chengdu

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   Brisbane

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   Gold Coast

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   Brisbane

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   Brisbane

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Echo has experience on a wide variety of notable landscape projects and has both lived and worked in China and Australia. Professionally, Echo thrives on being part of a team of passionate designers, creating spaces and places for the masses. Her ability to work within strict project boundaries and timeframes, while finding ways to expand opportunities for the projects she works on, has added great value to her work outputs.

Highly proficient in AutoCAD, SketchUp and Photoshop, InDesign and Grasshopper Echo’s creative nature and eye for detail allows her to leverage her skillset to deliver the best possible project outcomes for clients.

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   Sydney

Eileen has a strong interest in designing inclusive play spaces that cater for children who live with mental health issues, by integrating nature and adventurous play elements to create a facilitative environment. Eileen has skills in design development, 3D modelling, documentation, and translating design ideas through graphic representation. She has been involved in a mix use of master planning, commercial, residential and open space design while at Place Design Group.

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   Sydney

Elia is a Graduate Landscape Architect with a first-class honours Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Technology Sydney. He is passionate about curating spaces articulately to redefine how people use and experience landscapes. He is highly interested in the impacts that landscapes have in communities and how they contribute to ecological needs. His primary technical strengths are planting, construction and documentation. He also acquired experience in working on smaller-scale projects independently.

His previous project experience focused on native plant regeneration schemes across Sydney, developing solutions that address crucial problems to inhibit the natural regeneration of endemic plants in their respective areas. Elia also studied abroad in France and Switzerland, which obtained monumental experiences that shape his interpretation of landscape architecture and had equipped him with a unique perspective in practice.

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Erin works closely with the group’s planning and design professionals to provide a superior level of communication, activation, design, place identity and engagement strategies for small, medium and large-scale public and private projects across national and international borders. Erin is a seasoned project manager and leader of the group’s team of visual and written communications professionals including graphic designers, copywriters, consultation and engagement specialists, 3D visualisation and virtual reality artists and animation professionals. Erin has built a highly transferable skill set of business, people, and project management within the strategic communications, planning and design realm. Her diverse career has seen her gain experience delivering a range of marketing, brand and business development, project management, profile and positioning, and strategic concept work. Erin also has a strong track record in developing and delivering innovative practices in the areas of brand, community engagement design, creative concept development, strategic communication and digital consultation methods. Erin is a member of the International Association for Public Participation Australasia, The UDIA’s 500 Women in Property, and is fully IAP2 certified.

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   Sydney

Ethan is a Graduate Landscape Architect who has recently completed studies for a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture with 2nd Class Honours at the University of New South Wales. He has also gained industry experience working for Commercial Landscape company ‘Cabbage Tree Landscapes’, informing his knowledge and understanding of construction process and details. Ethan’s strengths lie within his grasp and eye in graphic communication, as well as his experience and interest in engaging with community and other stakeholders through university studios. Through this, Ethan has been able to successfully explore a range of scaled designs in his time at university which now informs his ability to support the team at Place Design Group.

Ethan’s passions focus on exploring the connection between space and social issues such as inclusivity, exclusivity and diversity through speculative design. In his honours year he was commended for his work in ‘social equity’. He examines ways in which Landscape Architects can best enhance social and ecological systems cohesively within civic spaces.

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With over 18 years’ experience in the planning realm, Frazer relocated to Australia from the UK in early 2018 and took on the role of Senior Town Planner in our Place Design Group Gold Coast office. While Planning legislation and policy differs between countries, Frazer has quickly and effectively added value to our clients and their projects with his international planning knowledge and expertise.

Frazer is driven by the satisfaction of navigating complex ideas and concepts, turning them into positive client outcomes. He thrives on the diversity offered by planning across the varying sectors in both a strategic and development assessment capacity.

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   Sydney

Georgia has five years of experience working as a Landscape Architect. She has been involved in a diverse range of projects from large scale master plans to detailed campus and residential schemes. This work has encompassed the interpretation and appreciation of complex, intricate sites with cultural, environmental and community significance. Georgia’s strengths lie in her collaborative and holistic approach to achieve the best outcomes for clients, key stakeholders, and communities. This is exemplified in the number of complex projects she is currently undertaking as project manager. Her qualities as a leader were acknowledged when she was selected to be a part of the UDIA NSW Legends and Legacy Program 2020 as an Aspiring Leader. Her passion is centred around landscape as an integral and overarching element of the urban fabric, all within the context of helping to bring sustainable change to improve our environment and the way we live.

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After completing her studies at the University of Sheffield Gina continued to combine east and west design methods working for International Design companies in China. Over the past 10 years she has worked on a variety of large-scale projects, including mixed-use residential developments, parks, hotels, and resorts.

Gina is familiar with the design style and process of many different types of projects and combines this experience in all aspects from concept to detailed design and documentation, and on-site coordination. Gina has had great experience in delivering highly complex projects and this has been recognized by clients and shows in the built outcomes. Her design skills play an active role in her project management process, allowing her to facilitate smooth communication between the design director and clients.

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   Brisbane

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   Brisbane

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Hayley is a Town Planner at Place Design Group with experience in both strategic and statutory planning. Hayley’s expertise range from strategic planning, statutory policy drafting and advice, consultation and communications, to GIS mapping technology. This has allowed her to work and project manage a variety of projects within South East Queensland and nationally. Hayley is certified in community and stakeholder engagement with an IAP2 accreditation, with the capacity to create and execute engagement strategies and facilitate consultation. Hayley’s diverse skill set makes her an important asset to the Place Design Group team.

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