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    Phil Black

    Phil leads Cracknell’s Abu Dhabi studio with over 20 years’ experience as a landscape architect and horticulturist within designed and constructed landscapes across the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Phil specialises in landscape design and built environments with a particular focus on environment, art and cultural landscapes. Phil is passionate about all phases of the design process, from concept preparation to detailed documentation and project delivery taking pleasure in solving complex site issues during the construction phase of either small scale urban landscapes or large-scale public realm projects.

    Yi You

    Yi You has 20 years’ experience as a landscape architect and urban designer in the UK and China. As Director of the China office, he is responsible for regional market business development and liaises with international and local clients and consultants to maintain sound professional relationships, and he oversees the design and
    management of multi-scale landscape, urban design and masterplanning projects.

    Yi You is passionate about the creation of integrated public realm and meaningful places that achieve a balance between social, environmental, and economic sustainability

    Hani Bisada

    Hani is an experienced design and management professional with a career spanning 20 years in the Middle East. As a Design Director, he leads a team of designers, managing, inspiring, and directing them to deliver a portfolio of uniquely designed projects. Hani is passionate about creating sustainable, human-centric landscapes that leave a positive impact on communities. He has particular skills in managing large-scale public realm and hospitality projects, and his work has earned him several prestigious awards, recognising the innovation of his schemes and the value added.

    Hani believes that a successful design must not only meet functional requirements, but also deliver emotional inspiration and resonate with people on a human level. As a designer, he strives to be human-centric, understanding and responding to the needs and aspirations of the individuals and communities that will use and interact with the final designs. In addition, he is committed to creating sustainable and resilient landscapes that are built to last, where maintenance and upkeep are integrated into the design process from the outset.

    Alessandro Ponchio

    Alessandro has 18 years’ experience in architecture and landscape architecture across Europe, the UK, the Middle East and Asia. At Cracknell, he heads up Cracknell’s European Office in Switzerland, where he leads an international design team.

    Alessandro has a strong interest in urban regeneration and public realm design. He believes a seamless integration between masterplanning, architecture and landscape design, at each design stage and at various scales of the design process, has the power to provide context, culture and climate responsive solutions to create resilient built environments.

    Martine Jabbour

    Martine’s philosophy is to connect people with nature through creative yet sustainable
    landscape design. Her architectural background, attention to detail, ingenious use of
    materials, and artist’s sensitivity all contribute to her cutting edge design leadership.

    With over 15 years’ experience of international, interdisciplinary design, Martine’s
    work is not only beautiful and well-researched, but also responds to the unique sense
    of place and mood in the urban environment. She is multilingual with exceptional
    interpersonal skills, and is a positive shaper of Cracknell’s team dynamics.

    Colin Ferns

    Former Principal of Cracknell London, Colin specialises in the development, visualisation and realisation of concept designs, using his 40 years’ experience in architecture, landscape and urban design from a variety of projects throughout the UK, Europe, India and the Middle East.

    His projects are predominantly in the hospitality and tourism and residential sectors, as well as community sports & leisure. A skilled draughtsman, Colin breathes life into many of Cracknell’s design concepts at an early stage delighting clients with his expressive and energetic vision

    Gabriel Spence

    Gabriel is a chartered landscape architect with a diverse professional background across design, real estate development and business strategy. He has a wealth of GCC market knowledge in placemaking, construction and cost. He brings a hands-on approach to team and portfolio management, bridging between winning and delivering world-class projects while optimising commercial performance and managing client relations.

    Gabriel’s process is underpinned by extensive client-side experience where he challenges the paradigm from the viewpoint of ‘the other side of the table’ to enrich the outcome. His passion for analytics and data-driven decisions compels Gabriel to continuously pursue innovation and strategic improvements in operations and workflow.

    Gonçalo Saude Pereira

    Goncalo is an impassioned and creative landscape architect with over 19 years’ experience across Europe and the Middle East. As a Director at Cracknell, he is an active and hands-on team leader for the design and project management of significant developments across a varied mix of sectors, scales and contexts especially in tourism and seafront projects & urban design and masterplanning.

    Goncalo is deeply committed to delivering creative, project-tailored design solutions that are authentic, unique, sustainable, and meaningful responses to the context.

    Ian Rose

    Ian has 26 years’ experience, 24 in the Middle East, working in varied roles on a range
    of landscape projects at all stages of the design and delivery process. He spent 5 years
    working as a landscape consultant on public realm for the Abu Dhabi City Municipality.

    At Cracknell, having been Team Leader of one of the Dubai-based design units, he now
    oversees the company’s project management of landscape projects globally. Passionate
    about creating usable, responsive public places that improve the lives of end users, he is an
    experienced speaker and mentor for UK Landscape Institute pathway candidates.

    Sarah Meredith

    Passionate about positioning people at the heart of the company, Sarah integrates the HR function within the overall business strategy to support organisational growth and development. She enjoys working with diverse multi-cultural teams and harnessing the advantages of the different views they bring to the company.

    Sarah believes it is essential to build a company people want to be part of by creating a supportive culture of inclusion, collaboration, teamwork and respect, and recognising the importance of the work/life balance. Emotional intelligence is also a particular area of interest; she works with people to build skills in this area to help them motivate, inspire and engage people to create extraordinary design.

    Fairly new to the design industry, Sarah enjoys working with such a talented creative team and bringing her HR expertise to Cracknell’s global offices.

    Sarah qualified in New Zealand and has 20+ years’ experience as an HR professional in the UAE across various industries.

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