Wish List to Dream Garden: How CGLA Turns Vision into Reality

At CGLA, we’re delighted to be celebrating a major milestone—Project Number 1000! Over the last 25 years, we’ve been privileged to work on some of the UK’s most prestigious gardens for an incredible array of clients. Through this experience, we’ve developed a robust, client-focused design-to-implementation process that sets us apart.

It Starts with a Wish List

Every project begins with a conversation. At your initial consultation, we don’t just listen—we bring ideas to the table immediately. Whether it’s a family-friendly retreat or a modern garden with architectural drama, our team of award-winning designers works to understand your vision, priorities, and lifestyle needs from the outset.

From Concept to Construction—Without the Stress

For many clients, the challenge isn’t just getting a beautiful design, although our award-winning team are brilliant at that! The real sticking point is: how do you get from that design to a cost-effective, well-implemented garden? That’s where we come in.

At CGLA, we don’t believe in handing you a pretty plan and walking away. We design with implementation in mind—and it makes all the difference. Our typical process includes:

In-house costing of your design, giving you accurate, real-world figures early on.

A collaborative budget review, where we roll up our sleeves and talk openly about how to deliver the garden you want in a way that works financially.

Value engineering as standard—tailoring, phasing, and refining the design to stretch your budget further without compromising on impact or quality.

You Stay in Control

Whether it’s staging the build over several phases, revisiting the brief, or adapting materials to achieve the same visual result at better value, our process is designed to keep you in the driver’s seat. You get the guidance you need to make informed decisions, and the support to turn your dream garden into a reality.

Case Study 1: The Classic Journey

This garden began in a very typical way: a family contacted us, keen to reimagine their outdoor space.

After an engaging site visit and discussion, we assembled a bespoke design package that suited their needs. The garden was modelled in 3D, and we worked through a couple of key rounds of updates before pausing to review costs.

Knowing budget was likely to be tight, we costed early. Our design and costings team sat down with the clients to go through a detailed, line-by-line breakdown, exploring the design’s feasibility in full.

The clients hoped to reduce the overall cost by 30%—a challenge we met by:

• Simplifying certain design details and removing those that were low priority
• Re-specifying materials to better-value alternatives
• Adjusting the planting strategy to allow for more measured establishment

The design was finalised based on these value-engineered changes, and the CGLA landscaping team was then commissioned to build the garden—recently completed to the client’s delight.

Most of our projects see cost refinements of 10–30%, but even where more substantial changes are needed, what remains consistent is that our clients feel confident and in control. Every adjustment is made transparently, with options clearly laid out—not imposed.

Case Study 2: Rescue & Rework

Not all journeys begin smoothly. In this case, a client approached us with a fully designed large-scale garden, which had already been sent out to tender. The results were a shock: tenders came back at twice the intended budget.

Despite having a very substantial budget, the client was disappointed—they had hoped to do more with it. When they asked their original designer for help reducing costs while preserving the concept, they were met with reluctance. The designer wasn’t willing to revisit or rework the plan, leaving the client stuck and demoralised.

After nearly a year of deliberating without a solution, the client reached out to us. They were understandably hesitant to start again, but also recognised that the current approach had led to a dead end.

We proposed a fresh route forward, underpinned by our design-to-implementation method. For a site with significant slopes and complex levels, cost awareness was vital. We began by modelling the site in 3D and preparing a first draft design—costed before even being shared. That way, when we sat down with the client, the discussion could happen with full financial context.

They appreciated the concept and could clearly see where compromises had been made to save costs. We then invited them to tweak and enhance areas that mattered most to them. Over the course of three further rounds of review and design/cost refinement, we arrived at a final scheme: still slightly above the original target, but one that the client had shaped and costed in detail at every step.

With trust restored and a clear way forward, the client asked us to build the garden. Construction begins shortly, and we’re delighted to be taking it forward.

Clarity. Control. Confidence.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or untangling a complex situation, our process is built to give you clarity, control, and confidence.

You’ll never be handed a design that’s impossible to deliver—or find yourself facing spiralling costs with no clear explanation. Instead, you’ll be an active partner in a process that leads to a garden you love and can afford to build.

If you’d like to explore what’s possible for your own space, we’d be delighted to start that conversation.

CGLA are an award winning team of Garden Designers, Landscape Architects, Landscapers and Garden Maintenance Operatives working in Buckinghamshire, London and the South East, as well as on prestigious design projects across the UK and abroad. We are currently working in Oman, Jersey and France, and welcome enquires for design, landscaping or garden maintenance. Contact us here