6. A celebration of Brian Clouston's career in Landscape Architecture

6. Work in Asia and Australia
Annie Coombs reflects on working in Hong Kong as part of BCP where the office felt like a family. The Junk Bay [Tseung Kwan O] study almost completed when Annie joined Mark Loxton, Alan Tate, Henry Steed Jennifer Steed and many others who had worked on this multi-disciplinary, master-planning pioneering project. It embraced new or emerging concepts: walking distances, climatic amelioration using breezeways, and flood alleviation. Castle Peak power station project involved successful hydroseeding solution as substitute for chunam plaster, this was to transform steep slope treatments in future BCP road, railway and airport projects in HK.
Jane Knight worked on Route 3 and landscape associated with road project, linking Hong Kong Island, the new airport and the Chinese border as part of the handover. Success led to the airport rail link, influencing the adoption of artworks as part of the landscape approach in busy stations and new hard landscape aesthetic along the engineered route, emphasising local distinctiveness, human scale elements and natural motifs where a green solution was impossible.
While Lindsey Spence worked at BCP HK office it amalgamated with Aspinwall engineers, resulting in closer integration and better landscapes. Projects included options and feasibility study for landfill site at Tseung Kwan O (Junk Bay) building on BCP’s UK reclamation expertise. This led to BCP landscape guidelines for landfill, reclamation and restoration, covering leachate, landfill gas management, capping materials, soil, types, depth of soils and materials suitability for end use. Also work on Yuen Long Park; Peter Sandover BCP London office designed the pagoda structure including aviary. Neil Chapman worked on Sha Tin Town Park. The combination of western and eastern design became a hallmark of the new towns programme.
Lok Fu park was designed on a 4m rigid grid it was very different from some of the other styles used at that time. The Tai Po Study, by Tim Gale and Mark Loxton, was a seminal first project in HK for BCP, it established a landscape structure for the new town that was new for HK. Yuen Shin Park in Tai Po moved away from traditional Chinese design, inspired by Jantar Mantar monument in Jaipur India, to be viewed from above, around and at night time. BCP and Aspinwall won two outstanding professional achievement awards 30 years ago at the first LI awards, for Sha Tin Town Park and for Jordan Valley Urban fringe park, part of a HK urban wide metroplan.
Clouston Australia was the longest surviving part of BCP, lead by Crosby Lorrimer. The business was sold in 2022 to engineers Beveridge Williams, retaining Clouston name and all the staff.
BCP Singapore office had projects including new Suntec City with international architects; also Nanyang Polytechnic; beautification consultants for Kota Kinabalu town centre, and Burau Bay Langkawi, Malaysia; Heny Steed was encouraged to write a book on his experience with high rise buildings: Greening the Vertical City (2015). He also designed many theme parks for China and in Taiwan, the Encore Garden at Taichung was built (1981) for philanthropist client for his employees (abandoned following earthquake in 1999).
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About this series of talks
Landscape architect Brian Clouston OBE, LI past president established a landscape practice in the 1960s that became multi-disciplinary and operated internationally. By the 1990s it was a leading practice in the UK and employed more people than any other in Europe. FOLAR wanted to learn more about Brian Clouston, what he did, how he attracted so many young talented staff and what type of projects they worked on. FOLAR also wanted to know what they went on to do on leaving BCP. We invited lots of former staff to tell their stories at an event in Sept 2023, with Brian Clouston. Brian continues to think about the role and contribution that landscape architects can make to society and to world affairs and in an interview, and he chose this opportunity to discuss his current big vision for Africa.
We recorded this event and two interviews with Brian Clouston, as a contribution to the oral history of the profession of landscape architecture.
Section One: Introduction; Early days and the formation of the practice; Reclamation; Garden Festivals; Work in the Middle East, Work in Asia and Australia; Urban renewal and Rural infrastructure; Business Parks; Section Two: Legacy Practices and practice, discussion; Section Three: Brian Clouston’s future vision.
These sessions were chaired by Annie Coombs FLI Managing Director of BCP Asia and Tim Gale PPLI Director of BCP.