Nigel Dunnett


Nigel Dunnett FLI FRSA RDI is a British horticulturalist and professor of planting design and urban horticulture at the University of Sheffield. He has worked on naturalistic planting design, sustainable urban drainage landscapes, and green infrastructure projects working with landscape architects.

Career

In 1984, he completed his degree in Botany at the University of Bristol and following the completion of his PhD, joined the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield in 1994. He became Professor of Planting Design and Urban Horticulture in 2011. His teaching and research focus on ecological planting design, green roofs, rain gardens, and large-scale urban meadows.
He founded Pictorial Meadows in 1998, it was developed into a seed-based approach to colourful, low-maintenance urban meadows that has since been widely adopted in public landscapes.
He has collaborated widely with other designers and ecologists, notably James Hitchmough, and has contributed to projects in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Works

Olympic Gold Meadows

At the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, Dunnett co-designed large wildflower meadows and naturalistic planting schemes with James Hitchmough and garden designer Sarah Price. The Guardian noted their role in transforming perceptions of ecological planting in public landscapes and described them as "a blaze of colour and biodiversity, timed to perfection for the opening ceremony."
The project received international coverage in TIME magazine emphasised visual impact, positive public response and ecological significance. Sonia van Gilder Cooke stated, "Olympic spectators can't stop taking pictures of them. Passersby point when they see them. They've even generated fan mail. They're British wildflowers, and they are earning golden reviews at Olympic Park."
The scheme has since been credited with influencing approaches to urban planting in Britain and abroad.

Grey to Green Project

The Grey to Green EU-funded project in Sheffield was developed after the city’s 2007 floods, converting 1.6 km of former highways into Europe’s largest retrofitted sustainable drainage scheme. The planting design by Nigel Dunnett working with Zac Tudor of Sheffield City Council and Robert Bray Associates as adviser on the sustainable urban drainage, it combines flood mitigation with biodiversity and public realm improvements.
The project was awarded the CIRIA ''Inaugural Awards overall winner.'' It was praised as a “national green champion” at the Green Apple Awards and cited by the EU Climate-ADAPT as “a climate adaptation exemplar.” and the CEEQUAL’s “Most Outstanding Achievement" in 2016.

Barbican Estate, Beech Gardens and The High Walk

At the Barbican Estate, Beech Gardens and The High Walk in London, he led the redesign of the podium landscapes with the Landscape Agency, introducing climate-resilient planting to address chronic waterproofing and maintenance problems. The scheme has since been recognised with awards from the Landscape Institute for its innovation in planting design.

Tower of London Superbloom

At the Tower of London Superbloom, Dunnett designed the planting for the historic moat as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Working with for Historic Royal Palaces, the scheme involved sowing about 20 million seeds across 14,000 m² to produce seasonal displays that changed in colour and form through the summer. Described as a transformation to “a spectacular river of flowers” filling the moat and it was intended as the first stage in a long-term plan to create a permanent naturalistic landscape in the heart of the City of London.

Grosvenor Square

At Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, London, Dunnett is leading the planting design for a major transformation of one of the city’s historic garden squares. Working with Tonkin Liu, BDP, Davies White and ecologist for Grosvenor, the scheme will expand planting areas from about 140 m² to 8,000 m², with over 70,000 plants, 44 new trees and 80,000 bulbs. Grosvenor has described the project as creating “an extraordinary urban garden” designed for climate resilience, stormwater capture, and biodiversity gain.

Publications

Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls.The Dynamic Landscape: Design, Ecology and Management of Naturalistic Urban Planting.Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainably in the Garden and Designed Landscape.Naturalistic Planting Design: The Essential Guide. Reviews of this book include from The Telegraph "How exciting for gardeners to have such an important and different book"

Research papers

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Awards and accolades

Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show medals – including recognition in 2025 for naturalistic planting schemes.
  • * 2009 – The Future Nature Garden with Adrian Hallam and Chris Arrowsmith – Silver-Gilt
  • * 2011 – RBC New Wild Garden – Silver-Gilt
  • * 2012 – RBS Blue Water Garden – Silver-Gilt
  • * 2013 – RBC Blue Water Roof Garden – Gold
  • * 2017 – Greening Grey Britain Garden
  • * 2025 – The Hospitalfield Arts Garden – Silver-GiltLandscape Institute Awards – shortlisted and awarded in several categories across public realm and planting design project for the Barbican Estates.
  • Fellow of the Landscape Institute 2020.
  • RHS Ambassador in 2023
  • Royal Designer of Industry in 2023.