Client: National Extension College
Location: Cambridge
Building design: RDA
Sculptor: Cardozo Kindersley Workshop

Brief
When the National Extension College, an educational trust for distance learning, acquired new premises in Cambridge, it asked Liz Lake Associates to design a workplace garden. On the site of a former stonemason's yard, the brief was to create a garden for staff and visitors that responded to the site's historic connection with stone carving. It was also to provide a setting for sculptures that would be created in situ.

Approach
Original hard standing and some associated structures and machinery were incorporated into the scheme, and provided a series of axes and vistas which combined with water features to form focal points within the garden. Our sustainable solution limited excavation, transportation and the dumping of large quantities of materials.

Outcome
The garden is a great success and now forms the focal point for other office development on the site. Many of the tenants on the site are in design related professions and some have said the garden is a major reason for their choice of location.