LANDSCAPE DESIGN · Upper North Shore
Landscape Design in Turramurra
For more than twenty years we have designed and built gardens across Sydney’s North Shore, and landscape design in Turramurra is work we know well. It is a leafy, established suburb of large family homes on generous blocks, many bordering national park and carrying significant trees, where the brief is usually a considered family garden that connects to the house and sits comfortably among the canopy.
As your project gets started, we set up a meeting to understand your needs and the space you’re working with. We talk through ideas and materials, and draw on our past projects to see how they might fit your home. After that meeting we send over a quick questionnaire for you to complete. The questionnaire, together with the insights gathered from our initial conversation, forms the foundation of a comprehensive project overview tailored to your new garden.
With experience within and around Turramurra, our understanding of the area is extensive. Our collection of projects and our experience let us confidently create garden designs and build landscapes of various forms, from a single considered courtyard through to a full garden, pool and entertaining area. If you have a question about our services or your own project, call us on 1300 460 690.
- TYPICAL BLOCK Large, leafy, sloping
- COUNCIL Ku-ring-gai Council
- KEY OVERLAY Tree canopy LEP + bushland edges
Why Turramurra is different
Turramurra is one of the most bushland-rich parts of the Upper North Shore, with deep, often steep blocks that back onto reserves and Ku-ring-gai Chase. That setting puts retaining, tree protection and bushfire planning at the centre of any landscape design in Turramurra, alongside the garden itself. Ku-ring-gai’s Local Environmental Plan is built to protect the canopy, so a good design works with the existing trees and levels rather than around a removal that may not be approved, and planting is chosen to blend into the bushland rather than compete with it.
Services in Turramurra
Having completed projects across the North Shore, we understand the Turramurra brief, from pools and entertaining terraces through to lawns, bushland-edge planting and full landscape builds on large, treed blocks. Our team includes landscape architects, project managers, pool builders, structural landscapers and horticulturalists, so a project moves from concept to a finished, planted garden without being handed between separate businesses.
Turramurra council & site notes
Ku-ring-gai Council
Turramurra is within the Ku-ring-gai Council area, which runs one of the strictest tree-canopy LEPs on the North Shore. Canopy cover targets shape where a pool, deck or driveway can go before DA stage, and removing a significant tree without approval risks real penalties. Blocks bordering reserves and national park are commonly bushfire-mapped, which affects materials and clearances, and larger structures or pools may need a development application. We factor this in during design and can prepare the documentation council requires.
Turramurra FAQs
Every Turramurra garden is priced to the site rather than a set rate, because sloping blocks, retaining, access and tree protection all shift the scope. A single courtyard or entertaining terrace sits at one end, a full garden with pool, structural landscaping and planting at the other. After our initial meeting and questionnaire we prepare a project overview so you can see the likely investment before any design work begins. Call 1300 460 690 to talk through your block.
Some work is exempt or complying development, but in Ku-ring-gai the tree canopy provisions in the Local Environmental Plan mean a lot of Turramurra projects touch on approval in some way. Pools, larger decks, retaining above certain heights and anything affecting a significant tree usually need a development application. We identify this early in the design and can prepare the documentation council requires.
Not without checking first. Ku-ring-gai Council runs one of the strictest tree preservation regimes on the North Shore, and removing a significant tree without approval carries real penalties. Our approach is to design with the existing canopy and levels rather than build a concept that depends on a removal that may never be approved. In practice, mature trees usually improve the finished garden anyway.
Blocks bordering reserves and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park are commonly bushfire-mapped, which affects material choices, clearances to structures and the planting palette close to the house. It is not a barrier to a beautiful garden, but it needs to be built into the design from the start rather than discovered at DA stage.
Yes. Deep, falling blocks are the norm through Turramurra and much of our work involves retaining, terracing and level changes that turn an unusable slope into flat lawn, a pool terrace or a series of connected outdoor rooms. Structural landscaping is handled in-house, so the engineering and the finished garden are designed together.
Landscape architects hold a tertiary qualification and are trained in site planning, documentation and structural elements, which matters on complex Turramurra sites involving retaining, DA drawings and bushfire or tree constraints. Our team includes landscape architects alongside project managers, pool builders, structural landscapers and horticulturalists.
Design typically runs over several weeks from the first meeting through concept to documentation, and construction depends on scale, whether a pool is involved and whether council approval is required. Larger Turramurra builds on treed, sloping blocks take longer than a courtyard, and we set out realistic timing in your project overview.
Planting that blends into the surrounding canopy rather than competing with it tends to work best, with layered natives and shade-tolerant species under established trees, and more considered feature planting closer to the house and entertaining areas. Our horticulturalists select for the soil, aspect and light conditions of your specific block, and for how the garden will look as it matures.
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