Landscape Assistant - Katie Spencer

Katie Spencer,
Aged 21

Qualifications
BA Hons Landscape Architecture

Why did you join the industry?
I think it was making a difference to the landscape around me and making my mark on my environment.

What were you doing before? “I chose my A levels with this career in mind, I chose a funny combination Art, Geography and Biology and all of my teachers thought it was strange, but I knew what I wanted to go on to do. Then I studied for a BA Hons in Landscape Architecture at Leeds University.”

What do you do day-to-day?
I collect information about the area we're working on as it exists, I have to consider it ecologically, geographical and cultural. It's like an extension of my A levels, I do site surveying, so visual impact assessments. At the minute I work on drawing up plans that the partnership companies have fed us the information for, so at the moment I'm not designing, but our clients get a tailor made solution. I assist the Landscape architects with their designs though.

What's it like working in a man's world?
My course was really male dominated, but not so in my office now. I think as a woman you look at things in a different way, you bring more sensitivity to a project.

Now more and more women are discovering that job area and I've never felt undervalued as a woman.

Any thing come as a surprise?
I'd have to say the range of different people that you meet - they come from so many different backgrounds. We work with ecologists, architects, engineers and they all come from different places and different jobs, so it's very interesting mix.

What does the future hold?
I think I'd like to do more community lead design, so project that the community gets heavily involved in, so that they can have a say, they're the more successful projects.