Landscaping Expert
Independent Landscaping Consultancy and Expert Witness Services
The Landscaping Expert Ltd is an independent professional practice providing technical consultancy, defect investigation and expert witness services for landscaping, garden construction and external works.
The practice supports homeowners, contractors, solicitors and insurers where independent technical assessment is required — whether to understand why work has failed, resolve a disagreement, assess defective construction or provide expert evidence within formal proceedings.
Our approach is evidence-led and impartial. We establish what has been designed and built, assess the available evidence against the agreed specification, relevant standards and recognised industry practice, and provide clear conclusions on what has gone wrong and what may reasonably be required to put it right.
Our Services
The Landscaping Expert provides three core areas of professional support:
Independent Expert Witness
Independent expert evidence for landscaping and external works disputes, including:
- site inspections and defect investigations;
- Independent Expert Opinions;
- pre-action technical assessments;
- CPR Part 35 expert reports, where formally instructed;
- Single Joint Expert appointments;
- Scott Schedule input;
- experts’ meetings and Joint Statements;
- causation analysis; and
- remedial scope and reasonable cost assessment where appropriate.
Technical Landscaping Consultancy
Independent technical advice where problems need to be understood before they develop into more serious disputes.
This may include:
- construction and specification review;
- workmanship assessment;
- drainage, levels and falls;
- materials and installation;
- construction detailing and buildability;
- defect diagnosis;
- repair-versus-replacement assessment; and
- remedial recommendations.
Dispute Resolution Support
Technical issues often need to be clarified before meaningful negotiation can take place.
The Landscaping Expert can provide independent technical input to assist early resolution, mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution by identifying the areas of agreement and disagreement and separating evidence from assertion.
Areas of Expertise
Instructions regularly involve:
- timber and composite decking;
- decking substructures and external timber structures;
- paving and porcelain patios;
- driveways and external surfacing;
- drainage and surface-water management;
- garden levels and falls;
- steps, thresholds and interfaces with buildings;
- walls and retaining structures;
- defective or incomplete workmanship;
- landscape specifications and construction detailing;
- soil preparation, planting and soft landscaping;
- material and product performance; and
- remedial landscaping works.
Where an issue requires expertise from another discipline, such as structural engineering, arboriculture or specialist drainage engineering, this is identified and appropriate specialist input recommended.
Decking and External Structures
As an Ambassador of The Decking Network, decking forms an important part of The Landscaping Expert’s technical work.
Decking investigations may include the assessment of:
- structural support and subframe arrangements;
- timber durability;
- composite and alternative decking systems;
- fixings and fastening;
- ventilation and moisture management;
- board movement and expansion;
- drainage and water management;
- steps, edges and balustrade interfaces;
- roof terraces and balconies;
- installation workmanship; and
- compliance with manufacturer requirements, relevant standards and accepted industry practice.
The objective is not simply to identify that a deck has failed, but to establish why it has failed, the extent of the problem and what constitutes an appropriate remedial solution.
Independent and Evidence-Led
The Landscaping Expert has no commercial interest in the outcome of an investigation.
Our role is to provide clear, reasoned and impartial technical opinion based upon inspection, measurement, documentation and the available evidence.
Where expert evidence is prepared for civil proceedings, the expert’s overriding duty is to assist the court on matters within their expertise.
Principal Expert
The practice is led by Karl Harrison FPGCA MIET MAPL, a landscape construction and decking specialist with more than two decades of practical industry experience.
Karl is the holder of the RICS Expert Witness Certificate and undertakes independent expert witness and technical consultancy instructions throughout the UK.
His practical background in landscape construction and specialist knowledge of decking enables The Landscaping Expert to investigate not only the visible symptoms of defective work, but also the underlying design, specification and construction issues that may have caused them.
The Landscaping Expert Ltd
The UK’s trusted source of independent landscaping expertise
Expert Witness • Consultancy • Dispute Resolution
07581 193 034
karl@landscapingexpert.co.uk
www.landscapingexpert.co.uk