2026 JUDGES
Malcolm Anderson
RHS
Malcolm is the Head of Sustainability for the RHS, helping the organisation shape the delivery of their sustainability strategy which aims to see the society reach their goals of being net positive for nature and people by 2030.
He joined the RHS in September 2021, having worked for the National Trust across the SW of England for thirteen years and a further nine years at the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
From installing heat pumps and biomass boilers in listed buildings to building straw-bale buildings and updating Victorian sewage systems to cope with our changing climate; Malcolm has spent decades reducing environmental impact in buildings, gardens and large estates.
Joe Harries
WSP
Joe is Deputy Head of Landscape & Urban Design and provides leadership to our team of over 130 landscape and urban design professionals. He works alongside clients, colleagues, and stakeholders to ensure best practice is delivered on time, on budget and exceeding expectations. Over the course of his career, he has gained valuable perspective across the roles of contractor, planner, manager and designer, with over 20 years’ experience as a landscape architect delivering a variety of development and regeneration schemes. He is a natural collaborator who helps to drive the understanding and development of authentic places that maximise the social, environmental, and financial benefits of the landscape.
Helen Nyul
Verna
Helen Nyul is Director of Ecology at Verna and has over 20 years’ experience working on business and biodiversity strategies at the intersection of development and policy.
Her work has included supporting major organisations to set and implement Biodiversity Net Gain commitments, including leading the development of Barratt Redrow’s approach ahead of BNG becoming a statutory requirement in the UK.
Helen previously spent nine years with Fauna & Flora, advising extractive companies on integrating biodiversity and ecosystem considerations into planning and delivery.
She has contributed to the development of key industry guidance and standards on BNG and now focuses on how complex projects can enable nature recovery at scale in ways that are practical, consistent and supported by well-designed software.
Sam Jones
The Green Partnership
Sam Jones a Founding Director of The Green Partnership and a recognised leader in the housing and communities sector. With a career spanning landscape creation, management, and consultancy, he has built his work around turning ambition for nature into lasting, practical change.
A strong advocate for stewardship, Sam is passionate about creating places that are not only greener today, but better managed, better understood and able to leave a positive legacy for the future.
Sam Bower
Balfour Beatty
With over 25 years of experience in nature conservation, Sam has extensive background in habitat creation and management. For more than ten years, he has been involved in and led the delivery of ecological, arboricultural and landscaping packages on infrastructure projects at all scales. His current focus is on long-term strategic and technical development to help realise a more nature-compatible construction sector.
In his ongoing commitment to the progression of industry standards, Sam sits on several practitioner working groups, regularly participates in public speaking events and has served as an adjudicator for numerous sector leading, biodiversity competitions.
Martin Townsend
BSI
In his career, Martin has worked as an environmental Regulator, advised Ministers, and worked with City Mayors and businesses across the world of all sizes and sectors. Ensuring Sustainability comes alive and is an enabler of business success. Martin has also been a keynote speaker at many international conferences to ensure as a global community, we accelerate the rate of change while reducing the impact we have. Martin joined BSI in November 2019 and sits on several advisory boards for public and private sector organisations to support them in their success.
Adam White FLI PPLI
Davies White Ltd
Adam White FLI PPLI is a Chartered Landscape Architect and Fellow of the Landscape Institute. A former President of the Institute, he currently chairs its College of Fellows.
With over 25 years’ experience, Adam holds both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Landscape Architecture from Manchester Metropolitan University.
He is author of Nature Play (published by Play England) and a trustee of the Sustainable Landscape Foundation.
During his presidency, Adam co-founded and launched the award-winning #chooselandscape careers campaign.
Together with Andrée Davies, he is a director of Davies White Ltd, a multi-award-winning practice best known for co-designing and delivering four RHS Back to Nature gardens with HRH The Princess of Wales in 2019.
Dr Phil Askew
Peabody
Dr Phil Askew is Director of Landscape at Peabody. He is leading landscape and green infrastructure design and implementation across all of Peabody’s existing and planned estates. At Thamesmead he is leading one of London’s largest regeneration and development projects where there is a green infrastructure and landscape led approach underpinned by our GI strategy Living in the Landscape making the most of its unique green and blue assets. Phil has a background in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Horticulture and prior to his current role he led the design and delivery of the London 2012 Olympic Park at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and its transformation into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with the LLDC, the UKs largest new urban park in over a century.
Robert Hewitt
Stephenson Halliday
Robert Hewitt is an Associate Director and Chartered Landscape Architect at Stephenson Halliday. He has expertise in landscape design and planning of major infrastructure projects covering a wide range of sectors across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean. Robert works across a multidisciplinary team to develop nature-positive solutions and landscape-scale restoration strategies for renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. Robert brings a collaborative ethos, a focus on climate resilience and an appreciation of the landscape experience. Robert has also led employee resource groups and influenced change and strategies that enhance social value in multidisciplinary organisations.
Brian Hawtin
Chartered Landscape Architect
Brian Hawtin is a Chartered Landscape Architect with Huskisson Brown Associates in Tunbridge Wells. He has decades of experience in design, construction, maintenance, forestry and most recently biodiversity. He wrote the industry leading Landscape Handbook for national developer Barratt / David Wilson and is an expert on the practical delivery of Biodiversity Net Gain.
Brian has also lectured at Greenwich University / Hadlow College on the Garden Design and Landscape Architecture degree pathways as well as managing garden builds for RHS shows and a number of television garden programme
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Martin Baxter
The Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP)
Martin Baxter is Deputy CEO at the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP). He works in the UK and internationally to accelerate the transition to a sustainable future and support people in the development of sustainability skills and green careers.
Martin has national and international experience in developing and negotiating global and European environmental management standards and developing capacity for effective and widespread implementation. Martin is a Board member of IEMA, and a non-exec director of the Society for the Environment (SocEnv) and the Broadway Initiative. He is a visiting professor at Cranfield University and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Derby for his contribution to environmental sustainability.
Neil Beamsley
Bellway Homes
Neil is the Head of Nature and Biodiversity for Bellway Homes. He is responsible for Bellway’s strategic approach to matters such as Biodiversity Net Gain, ensuring that legislative requirements integrate with the group’s wider housing development activity. Neil is a Chartered Ecologist with over 25 years of industry experience and chairs the Future Homes Hub’s BNG good practice group. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Managements’ Professional Standards Committee and is also part of the industry expert panel advising on the revision to the for British Standard for Biodiversity – BS42020.
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Sally Hayns
Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM)
Sally has been an ecologist for more than 30 years, working primarily in the eNGO and public sectors. She joined the (then) Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management as CEO in 2010 and has been instrumental in driving forward change within the Institute and the profession. Under her stewardship the Institute gained its Royal Charter in 2013 and introduced a Competency Framework for the profession, which now forms the basis for membership and chartered ecologist grades and assessment, reinvigorated the Institute’s policy and influencing work, and consistently promotes the ecology and environmental management profession as a key player in action to address the environmental challenges we face.
Sally is also a trustee of the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
Jessica Lewis
Berkeley Group
Jessica Lewis is Head of Sustainable Places at Berkeley Group, leading the integration of nature recovery, communities and biodiversity enhancement across one of the UK’s largest residential developers. She has championed ambitious, practical approaches to Biodiversity Net Gain, community engagement, and nature-positive placemaking, helping embed them into strategy, design and delivery.
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Dr Sally Fraser CEnv, MCIEEM
Jacobs
Sally is a Senior Associate Director of Ecology at Jacobs UK with 20 years consultancy experience. She is currently the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Lead where her focus is on supporting clients to address their challenges on delivering BNG, both at a project and strategic level. She has worked on major infrastructure and estate scale land use projects across the UK. Sally is also involved in a number of internal and external initiatives in regards nature policy engagement, guidance, and training.
David Keegan
David Keegan Garden Design
David is a multi-award-winning designer whose work has earned him recognition in the UK and internationally. He is the founder and owner of DK Garden Design is a premier garden and landscape design company.
Since appearing on the BBC Two programme Garden School in 2005, David has been at the forefront of creating award-winning gardens and landscapes across Europe. He is the only designer to have won the prestigious Northern Design Award for Best Landscape Designer four times—2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016. His Eco Garden in Worsley, Salford, was awarded the British Association of Landscape Industry (BALI) Award for Domestic Garden Construction in 2017, cementing David’s position as one of the industry’s leading designers.
Beyond the UK, David’s talent has also earned international acclaim, with multiple wins at the APLD International Landscape Design Awards throughout the years, including three wins in 2025.
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