National Extension College

Liz Lake Associates were commissioned to design a workplace garden for The National Extension College's new premises in Cambridge 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.

Original hard standing and some associated structures and machinery were incorporated into the scheme, providing a series of axes and vistas which combined with water features to form focal points within the garden. The design emphasised sustainability, requiring limited excavation, transportation or dumping of large quantities of materials.

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.