Biographies
Jon Sheaff
Director, BA (Cantab) PG Dip LA CMLI
Jon Sheaff is a Chartered Landscape Architect and landscape manager with over 25 years’ experience of developing and delivering complex projects for public, private and third sector clients. Jon brings considerable experience of designing and managing significant public-sector assets, of developing strategy for the delivery of public open space services and of adapting service delivery to new approaches to funding and governance.
Jon has a broader commitment to conserving the heritage value of public open space and to sustaining the importance of good quality public realm for cities and for communities. Jon has expressed this commitment through his memberships of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for London and of the Design Council CABE Built Environment Panel.
Prior to establishing his own practice, Jon ran Southwark Council’s Parks and Open Spaces service from 2001 to 2009, implementing a £25 million investment programme for parks that delivered the restoration of Dulwich, Peckham Rye and Southwark parks and led to the creation of new parks at Burgess Park and Potters Field Park. Jon also worked with the Football Foundation, the LTA and Sport England to develop significant new sports facilities at Burgess Park and Southwark Park. Under Jon’s leadership, the authority acquired nine Green Flag awards.
Jon joined Farrer Huxley Associates as a Director in 2009, leading their housing and public realm division delivering housing projects for Peabody, Southern Housing, Poplar Harca and public open space and play projects for the London Boroughs of Westminster, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Southwark.
Jon established his own consultancy in 2011 and has continued to deliver parks strategy and public realm design projects over the past nine years. Jon has established strong working relationships with clients and stakeholders in the course of developing a number of significant projects including Greenwich Park Revealed (for the Royal Parks), the restoration of Hainault Ancient Forest (for Vision Redbridge) and Great Linford Manor Park (for Milton Keynes Parks Trust). Under Jon’s leadership, Arkwood has explored the value of benefits flowing from green infrastructure assets, expressing this exploratory work in award-winning natural capital accounting projects for the London Boroughs of Barnet and Barking and Dagenham.
Gemma Woodfall
Director, BA (Hons) PG Dip LA CMLI
Gemma is a chartered landscape architect with over 15 years’ experience across landscape planning, design and management, with a passion for creating places for people and nature.
She has a deep understanding of landscape systems, habitats and working in and conserving historic environments. Project experience ranges from park restoration, transportation, flood defence and recreation infrastructure schemes, through to industrial, energy, commercial and residential developments.
Experienced at project managing and operating within multidisciplinary environments, Gemma has taken complex projects, built and led teams to deliver from initiation, public consultation to detailing and construction, and maintenance. She has also produced landscape, green infrastructure and open space strategies, as well as landscape and visual impact assessments. She is equally comfortable creating bold strategies, as she is with developing high quality detailing.
She has delivered award winning evidence bases, including for numerous Neighbourhood Plans for “Good quality research and analysis distilled for an audience who may not be from a technical planning or planning-related backgrounds”.
In her spare time she is a trustee for Crystal Palace Park Trust, a charity acting as custodian for the Grade II* Registered Park and Garden on behalf of diverse communities drawn from the surrounding five boroughs. She provides vital technical input and leads the environment and heritage working group to save the park for future generations.
Emma Kirk
Senior Landscape Architect, MA BMOS
Emma completed her Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph in Canada 2021. Throughout her studies she worked as a Design Intern and most recently a Landscape Designer at a residential design-build firm outside of Toronto, Canada. This position allowed her to gain experience in both concept development and construction documentation/supervision. Her professional experience has been rooted in storm water management, garden design, and ecological practices. She will be bringing her passion for sustainable and creative design to Arkwood.
Muge Onal
Project Landscape Architect, BA MA
Muge completed her BA in landscape architecture at Ankara University in Turkey 2013. She started working for a landscape company while she was studying for her last year of university.
Since she graduated she worked for different landscape companies which work on vertical gardens, boutique landscape gardens and urban design for 8 years. She experienced working in the office as well as coordinating the construction sites. Working in different companies has enabled her to have experience in many fields.
She left her job in the Municipality of Aydın as a Landscape Architect in Turkey before she started her masters degree in London.
She completed her professional landscape architecture master’s degree in London, 2021.
Muge has been working for Arkwood since June 2021.
Frederik Wommelsdorff
Landscape Architect, MSc BSc
Frederik is an Urban Designer and Landscape Architect, holding an MSc in Urban Architecture and Design from the University of Aalborg in Denmark, complemented by a BSc in Anthropology of Technology. His academic research includes city branding strategies, water management plans, a natural regeneration vision for the Port of Aalborg, and master plan strategies for a culturally conflicted area in Copenhagen. Post-graduation, Frederik moved to Bordeaux in France, where he undertook drawing classes at the “Old Art School,” expanding his proficiency in various drawing techniques.
With prior experience at firms like SWECO Architects, Frederik contributed to establishing urban regeneration and design strategies in socially challenged residential areas. Since joining Arkwood Ltd. in 2023, Frederik has been involved in projects such as Lambeth Attenuation Project, Watling Avenue in Burnt Oak, Heybourne Park, and Caterham High Street, which involved developing design concepts, graphical visualisations, masterplan consultation and technical design reports across the various projects.
Martin Smith
Landscape Architect, BA MA
In 2023 Martin completed a Masters Conversion to Landscape Architecture at Writtle UC. This career shift builds on 16 years as an award-winning designer for London residential renovation, with experience from concept through to completion including project management.
Martin is passionate about transforming landscapes for the benefit of people, nature and the environment. As a keen sportsman and competitive cyclist, he has a particular passion and understanding for sporting recreational places. His MA design dissertation focussed on the democratic landscape configuration of Hackney Marshes, and his major design project the strategic reconfiguration of the Herne Hill Velodrome site.
Robert Vida
Assistant Landscape Architect, BA MA
Robert is a landscape architecture student, studying for his MA in Professional Landscape Architecture at UEL while working at Arkwood alongside his studies. After spending several years building up various sets of skills, including the field of gardening, Robert realised that Landscape Architecture is the profession he wanted to pursue. This combines his educational background in architecture and love for gardening and nature as a whole.
After completing his first year, Robert was approached by UEL to design the layout of a pop-up skatepark as part of a campus-wide project called Active Campus. In the following year, Robert worked as a graphic designer intern with the Sustainable Research Institute of UEL to produce two documents about the importance of brownfield habitats and how to achieve Biodiversity Net Gain during their development.
Floriza Ibasco
Practice Manager, BSc MBA MAAT
Floriza finished her Bachelor of Science in Accountancy with a Distinction at Southern Luzon Polytechnic University in the Philippines. Working her way up and with the great desire to acquire more knowledge, she studied for a Master of Business Administration at Heriot-Watt University.
Floriza is the practice manager and provides bookkeeping and accounting services for Arkwood. She is a full member of the Association of Accounting Technicians and gained designatory letters MAAT.
Sam Wright
Social Media Manager, BA
Sam studied Fine Art Sculpture at the University of Brighton and graduated in 2019. Sam has an interest in the relationship between people, object and space in art. This interest translated well into an appreciation for Landscape Architecture and what goes into designing public space. Sam is also very passionate about the environment and greenspace, with a keen interest in biodiversity and nature.