Esme Jones

I joined DSA in the summer of 2026 for my placement year, as part of my Masters’ of Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield, between my undergraduate study and master’s year.

Throughout my undergraduate (BSc) studies so far, I began to understand the importance of designing for people and nature as a collective and not seeing them as two separate identities, helping to connect people to their environment, a key ambition for DSA. 

During my final year, independent from academic studies, another student and I applied for RHS Badminton 2026. Inspired by an ecological module run by our lecturer Nigel Dunnett, our design aimed to highlight the ecological importance of brownfield sites and their role within wider urban ecological networks. They demonstrate how plant communities can thrive under stress and, in doing so, offer a blueprint for climate-resilient planting design. For our pocket planting we were awarded a Silver Guilt medal. 

I am looking forward to applying the skills I obtained from my experience with RHS, and underpinning knowledge from university, to my work at DSA. I am also keen to learn how landscape projects develop through planning, taking this further into my final master’s year and career in Landscape Architecture.