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Caption: The Parade, Sutton Coldfield When M&S closed their doors in the Gracechurch Centre for the last time in January 2019, many of the Sutton Coldfield residents said that it signalled the “death knell” for the town centre. Then followed more shop closures, Sutton is dying a slow and painful death and that was before…

Coming out of lockdown is not a flick of the switch moment when we all revert back to the ways we live, work and are educated and measures may have to be in place for some time to come. It will inevitable change how our schools educate in the future and the way we as…

    ‘They took all the trees And put ‘em in a tree museum, And they charged the people, A dollar and a half to see ‘em’ Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell   Last year Sir David Attenborough spoke at the Landscape Institute Awards, he said if we are to save the planet (from…

  The health of the nation is rarely out of the news and never more so than today. The evidence is unequivocal – peoples’ health and wellbeing and the persistence of health inequalities can be addressed by providing good quality and local green spaces. In fact, much of the history of landscape architecture can be…

      Few individuals have influenced modern hospital practice and physical design as did Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). A pioneer in epidemiology, nursing, and hospital administration, she advocated concepts in hospital design which permeate healthcare architecture to this day. In the bicentennial year we remember Florence Nightingale as founder of the nursing profession, but most…

“May you live in interesting times,” goes the Chinese curse. Quite an understatement, don’t you think?   I came across a blog this week by Blair Inns @blairenns that really struck a chord with me. So, have taken the liberty to edit it so that it relates to built environment professional with some of my…

The Government calculates the value of woodlands to the UK economy IT OFFICIAL, woodlands provide a value of £5.3b per year to the UK economy according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) report ‘Woodland natural capital account, UK:2020’ which looked at the various benefits of existing woodlands and calculated the benefits the equivalent boost…

Jane Findlay, Director of Fira and President Elect of the Landscape Institute, attended the West Midlands Combined Authority’s the Design Charter launch in Birmingham last week. Jane backed and encouraged WMCA’s approach to design and inclusive growth. In her introduction to the afternoon session she highlighted how the Design Charter can have a positive influence…

Senior leaders from Fira will be attending the MIPIM property fair in Cannes, France from 10 – 13 March 2020.   Fira Directors Jane Findlay and Phil Champion will join nearly 27,000 participants, 6,000 investors and 4,000 exhibiting companies to explore some of the most exciting commercial developments from around the world and gain insight into the…

What do we all learn at university about running a business or managing a team? If you are like me, very little. I’m a qualified Landscape Architect and undertook years of training to reach chartered level, but that doesn’t help me run a business, manage clients or stakeholders and look after the welfare of our…

As Dutch elm disease spread across Britain in the 1970s, trees were felled, and their loss was a constant topic of conversation. Today, just a few years into the equally devastating ash dieback epidemic, and as the first great trees are toppled, most of us appear to have forgotten all about it. The disease almost…

JOIN THE FIRA TEAM – Become part of the Green Revolution We are currently open to applications from talented and enthusiastic Landscape Architects of all levels and experience in our Birmingham office. Fira is a nationally recognised practice of landscape architects, urban designers and masterplanners with a people-centric ethos. We create beautiful, sustainable spaces that…

Fira would like to congratulate David Williams, who on Friday, found out he achieved Chartered Status and is now a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute. A huge achievement for David after all his hard work.

We are proud and delighted to announce that our founding Director, Jane Findlay, will be standing for the position of President Elect in the 2019 Landscape Institute elections. In her bid Jane has developed a comprehensive manifesto covering 7 key themes that we face in our profession. Each theme has been published on social media…

Introduction The General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679 EU) (GDPR) provides strict rules on what data can be held and how it should be gathered, processed, stored, deleted and rules regarding the free movement of personal data.  Under the Regulation the Information Commissioner has powers to issue notices where data controllers and/or data processors have contravened…

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We are Fira, a landscape design practice with a passion for place-making, health and wellbeing. We are looking for talented, creative and ambitious Graduate Landscape Architects in our Birmingham studio to support our experienced teams’ work on some of the UK’s most exciting projects. You must have excellent graphic skills and be used to working under pressure to challenging deadlines and…

National Memorial Arboretum We are pleased to announce that The Remembrance Centre at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) has been awarded a RIBA National Award https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-national-awards https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-regional-awards/riba-west-midlands-award-winners/remembrance-centre  

The new Macmillan Horizon Centre in Brighton has achieved a BREEAM “Excellent “ rating. This places the building’s performance in the top 10% of the UK’s non-domestic buildings and the rating is the culmination of the dedicated effort of Macmillan’s project team; the design team, led by David Morley Architects; and the contractor, Jerram Falkus.…

Professional Chartership Success     Congratulations to Emma Collett for passing the Landscape Institute’s Pathway to Chartership this week. Emma has been with Fira for a number of years since graduating from Birmingham City University. She has worked on a variety of projects and she has developed a wide range of experience, technical knowledge and…

Fira is proud to support Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice in their Forget Me Not appeal. St Mary’s is an independent charity providing hospice care to people across Birmingham and Sandwell. The Hospice will be creating a beautiful installation of forget-me-not flowers in the heart of Birmingham City Centre. This inspiring memorial will be an opportunity for the whole community to…

Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre Multi-million pound plans to build a new cancer centre at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton have been approved.This means building work can soon get underway on the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre. The therapy gardens are designed by Fira’s Ula Bujauskaite who has also been short listed as the RHS…

What a celebration – now for the next 40 years! It’s not every day that a business turns 40, so we thought it’s only right and proper that we do it in style! Our 40th anniversary party was held at Warwickshire Cricket Club and was a wonderful occasion, with many friends and colleagues, old and…

Going for Gold at the RHS Spring Fair In June, Andy Webster, one of our landscape architects will be taking his final exams towards an RHS Level II Certificate in the Principles of Horticulture. Fira have funded his study which has been ongoing, part-time for the last two years. The group with which he studies…

    To mark our 40th year since our practice established our team of Landscape Architects  have decided to support the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. For our first event we will walk 40k from Birmingham to Worcester along the canal tow path on 30th April to celebrate our 40 years and to raise money for BCH. I…

The first event to celebrate 40 years of Fira was an office badminton tournament. The tournament got off to a very good start with some very close group games, Jackie & Gareth and Emma & Christopher came out on top winning both of their groups and moving to the final. The final was a close fought match finishing…

This year we reach a landmark in our history, it is the 40th anniversary of the formation of Fira.   From our humble beginnings in 1976 as an in-house landscape team for a national architectural practice we have grown into an independent landscape consultancy operating across the UK and overseas with a diverse portfolio and…