To mark World Earth Day, we spoke with Claire Hunt, Regional Director at OOBE, about the deeper connections between people, place and the environment. From her personal reflections on nature to her professional approach to landscape architecture across Birmingham and the West Midlands, Claire shares how thoughtful design can shape meaningful, inclusive spaces. Blending creativity with ecological awareness, she offers insight into the role of landscape in creating not just visually appealing environments, but places that foster wellbeing, connection and a lasting sense of belonging. Let’s see what she had to say.

What does world earth day mean to you as a person and in your role as Regional Director?

For me, it’s all about connection. We’re part of the environment—we’re not separate from it.

Personally, I like to keep it simple. It’s about being outside, noticing the seasons, and having that sense of being part of something bigger than the day-to-day. Earth Day is a moment to reconnect with that and remember the bigger picture.

Professionally, I feel very fortunate to be leading the OOBE region across Birmingham and the West Midlands, where those values run through everything we do. We always come back to people, environment and experience—creating places where people feel calm, comfortable and a genuine sense of belonging.

Of course, we want spaces to be beautiful, but it’s about more than that. It’s about designing environments that feel human, connected to nature, and meaningful to spend time in.

Earth Day gives us a chance to step back from the day-to-day of delivering projects and talk about that more openly. It creates a platform to connect with different sectors whether that’s developers, contractors, or, as we’re doing today, the insurance industry and to influence how we think about the environment more broadly.

And on a personal note, it’s also my birthday, which feels quite serendipitous I get to celebrate both at the same time.

How do you refer to your artform?

I’d describe myself as both a landscape architect and an illustrator.

Landscape architecture is my profession, but illustration is a really important part of how I think and communicate. It allows me to explore ideas, tell stories about place, and bring a different layer of personality and clarity to the work. The two are very connected. One is about designing spaces, and the other is about helping people see and understand them.

One of the unique things about what you do is it allows your personal influence and style to come through in the landscapes you create – how have you found that?

Thank you. That’s something I’ve grown into over time.

As I’ve progressed through my career, I’ve become more confident in bringing my own perspective into the work. Being a designer is about having a point of view and expressing it in a way that feels authentic.

But it does take courage. The industry can be quite challenging at times, and there are situations where I’ve felt out of place, whether that’s being the only landscape architect in the room, or sometimes the only female. In those moments, it can be easy to question whether your voice belongs.

What I’ve found is that illustration has become a really powerful tool for me. It allows me to communicate ideas clearly and confidently, and to express a different way of thinking about a place.

It’s a way of saying, “this is how I see it,” and bringing people with you.

Now, I feel proud of that approach but it’s definitely something that’s taken time to develop.

So inclusivity is a big part of it too?

Yes, absolutely.

When I talk about creating places where people feel they belong, that’s exactly what I’m designing for. Inclusivity isn’t an add-on, it’s fundamental to how a space works and how people experience it.

I’d love to see the construction industry continue to move in that direction. There has been real progress, and I’ve definitely found my place within it, but it can still feel quite intense early in your career. As a graduate, you’re not only learning your profession, you’re also figuring out where you fit within it.

That’s why it’s so important that we create environments, both in the spaces we design and within the industry itself, where people feel comfortable, confident, and able to contribute.

JB; That’s really amazing to hear you say about that kind of inclusion and everything and how you’ve seen it kind of gradually change from where you are from, where it was, to where you are now and finding your place. It’s really nice to hear.

I think for me, it’s about being part of an industry where people feel able to express themselves and for that to be valued.

That’s where the best ideas come from: when people feel comfortable bringing their own perspective, rather than trying to fit into a mould.

And I think the more we create that kind of environment, the stronger the work becomes as a result.

For us as underwriters and insurers when we look at risks we ask for artists impressions and inevitably what happens is that you end up with a draconian building without the trees and plant and pathways and creativity. I think the illustrations that you create make it more difficult for developers and contractors to strip out the trees and plants I mentioned. Purely because it is such an involved style that draws people into it and makes them think – actually, I do really like that can we keep these things in.

I think you’ve absolutely captured it there.

What those illustrations are trying to convey is the essence of a place what it feels like to be there, and what can actually happen in those spaces.

Often, it’s the simplest elements that matter most. A bench, for example, can hold so much meaning. I’ve had people respond to my sketches by sharing really personal stories, moments of connection, support, even difficult times in their lives where a place like that became important to them.

That’s when you realise these aren’t just design features, they’re part of people’s lives.

If those elements are stripped out, you don’t just lose trees or seating, you lose the opportunity for those experiences to happen. The chance encounters, the conversations, the feeling of being outside, connected, and part of something.

And when that’s gone, places can start to feel empty or disconnected, and then there’s a question of why they’re not working.

What we’re trying to do through illustration is bring that character and human experience to the forefront and to show that these aren’t optional extras, they’re fundamental to how a place functions.

So it’s really encouraging to hear that being recognised, because that’s exactly the intention behind the work.

Exactly, I think it kind of goes on to a couple of the other questions as well. It’s blending into a few, but I think that’s probably the biggest challenge for me. If I was approaching a project, I’d be very narrowly focused on what was going on and making sure that the risk assessment etc was carried out. And then to bring in a wider perspective to what it is based on, like you’ve just said with working out how it connects to the other buildings and the rest of the environment. It almost sounds like, tree roots from a building working as a new tree. I know this sounds really fluffy now, but with the rest of the buildings around it and places where I’ve experienced that, sun on your face and watching the trees and it does give a sense of calmness. You’ve come out for a breath of fresh air because you’ve had to deal with something and then it’s very different to other places where, like you say, it clearly hasn’t worked it just doesn’t work the same. So it’s something that I will take into the wider world and just wonder what the architect was thinking here or how it works?

Yes, exactly and it does start to link into a lot of the other questions.

For me, that broader perspective is one of the biggest challenges, but also one of the most important parts of the role. It’s easy to focus narrowly on a single building or a set of requirements, but the real value comes from understanding how a place connects how it relates to its surroundings, how people move through it, and how it feels to spend time there.

At OOBE, experience sits at the heart of everything we do. We always start by asking bigger questions: how do we want this place to feel? Who is it for? Why does it matter?

Those conversations happen early, and we bring everyone into them, the client, architects, cost consultants so that there’s a shared understanding from the outset. From there, we respond to the physical conditions of the site and carefully layer in elements that support that vision.

When a place works well, it’s not accidental. It’s the result of deliberately bringing people and nature together from the very beginning.

If landscape isn’t part of those early conversations, those opportunities can be lost and that’s often when places don’t quite succeed, even if everything looks right on paper.

Ultimately, we’re trying to bring together a range of needs and priorities, which is never simple. But if we keep coming back to a basic principle that people need access to nature, light, air, and space then it gives us a strong foundation to design from.

I think that kind of goes on to a question that I was thinking about, which was in terms of, as you say, if you’re not in the room from the start, or even if you are in the room, how do you find financial constraints with what you also tried to do?

It is a really tough question and it’s a constant balance.

Financial constraints are a reality on every project, so it’s not about ignoring them, it’s about understanding where value really sits.

What we try to do is shift the conversation slightly. Instead of seeing landscape elements as things that can be reduced or removed, we position them as part of the core infrastructure of a place things that support wellbeing, usability, and long-term value.

If you take those elements out, you might reduce cost in the short term, but you often lose quality, and ultimately that can affect how successful a place is over time.

So it’s about being strategic, making sure the most important elements are embedded early, and designing in a way that is robust and deliverable within budget.

And again, it comes back to being involved from the start. If landscape is part of the initial thinking, it’s much easier to align ambition with budget. If it’s introduced later, it’s far more likely to be seen as something that can be reduced.

It’s never straightforward, but it’s about making sure the right things are prioritised.

To expand on it too, from an underwriting perspective we always find projects suffer from cost cutting but as insurers we are often the last people to know. So when we get plans and documents, landscape, greenspace and other additions become ‘cost saving’ considerations.

That’s a really interesting point, and it’s something we see regularly.

Cost pressures are inevitable, but there are ways to respond that don’t diminish the quality of a place and sometimes they can actually improve it.

Planting is a good example. Instead of highly maintained, clipped lawns and hedges, we can design more naturalistic schemes with wildflower planting or mixed beds that provide seasonal interest. They can be more resilient, more biodiverse, and often more cost-effective to maintain.

We’re also always looking for opportunities to simplify what sits beneath the surface. Rather than over-engineering with extensive underground drainage systems, we might introduce features like rain gardens or swales working with natural processes to manage water in a way that benefits both the environment and the user experience.

So even within financial constraints, there’s a lot we can do. It’s about being thoughtful and creative to find solutions that support cost, nature, and people at the same time, rather than seeing them as competing priorities.

One of the interactions that we talked about when we previously met was about bees and insect conservation and you suggested a very good program on iPlayer called My Garden of a Thousand Bees and I had the time to watch it before the interview. It was a fascinating look at the industry of over 60 bee species in a garden in Bristol that worked with the landscape over summer. I thought it linked really well with this interview because it shows the similarities between what you do working at OOBE with the existing environment without impacting it whilst making the most of the spaces much like the bees.

There needs to be a question though! So for me I always advocate for bee bricks, swift boxes, bat boxes and the like. How much influence do you have on encouraging this kind of intrinsic ecology into what you do?

I tend to go as far as I’m allowed to and sometimes a little bit further.

Wherever we can, we look for opportunities to integrate ecological features into our designs, whether that’s bee bricks, bird and bat boxes, or something as simple as retaining log piles and natural habitats. Often, it doesn’t take much to make a meaningful difference.

What I found so powerful about My Garden of a Thousand Bees was that focus on a single garden. It highlighted just how much is happening around us all the time, often unnoticed. That same richness exists in the spaces we design—it just depends on whether we create the conditions for it to thrive.

Even something as simple as a fallen log or a slightly “wilder” patch of planting can support an entire ecosystem. When people begin to notice that, it can completely shift their perception of what a well-designed landscape looks like.

It’s not always about neatness or control and sometimes it’s about allowing space for nature to exist and evolve.

And I think that’s where we’re seeing a positive shift. People are becoming more open to landscapes that feel a bit more natural, a bit less managed, and ultimately more alive.

That’s a very good point because when you were saying how you talk about spaces that don’t need maintenance as well, I think that’s one of the things that both contractors and property owners will often be concerned about. The realisation that; ‘oh, we’ve had this, now we’ve got to maintain and upkeep it’ and realistically, the spaces you are creating don’t need as much of that. They’re wild spaces incorporated into the day to day.

Yes, and that concern around maintenance comes up a lot, both from contractors and long-term owners.

What we’re trying to do is shift that perception slightly. A well-designed landscape doesn’t necessarily mean high maintenance. In many cases, more naturalistic planting schemes can be more resilient and require less intensive upkeep over time.

It also comes back to how we define what a “good” landscape looks like. There’s often an expectation that it should be neat and highly managed, but that’s not always the most sustainable or the most engaging approach.

I think, in many ways, we’ve lost touch with that connection to nature. There’s an incredible amount of richness and even abundance around us we just don’t always recognise it. Even simple things like hawthorn leaves, nettles, or dandelions, which you might walk past every day, are part of a living landscape that we’ve become disconnected from. You could even make something as simple as a nettle tea from what’s growing around you.

JB which is a real shame

Absolutely, it really is.

And I see that a lot in the education projects I work on. I design a lot of schools, and I love bringing that awareness into those environments, helping people realise what’s happening right outside their front door.

You lift up a log and there’s a whole ecosystem underneath. It’s all connected.

If we can start to allow that kind of “messiness” to be part of our everyday spaces, the benefits are huge. Not just for biodiversity and maintenance, but for how people feel and connect with the world around them.

So that’s quite interesting with the education piece do you get to talk to the children about what they want in the spaces as well?

Across my career, I’ve worked on a lot of school projects, and in some of those cases we do get the opportunity to involve the children. Those moments are always really special.

We’ve run workshops where they help design elements like allotment gardens, and it’s about bringing them into the process so they feel a sense of ownership over the space.

What’s also really rewarding is opening their eyes to what’s possible. We talk to them about the different roles involved, landscape architects, architects, engineers, contractors and you can see that moment of realisation, where they think, “I didn’t know this was something I could do.”

That sense of connection and ownership is really important. It builds an early understanding that these spaces belong to them, and that they have a role in looking after them.

I think we all carry those early experiences with us. If I look back, one of the reasons I became a landscape architect is because I spent so much time outdoors as a child. I felt calm, I felt happy, and I loved being in that environment.

So when we design schools, it’s about creating opportunities for that same connection whether that’s through outdoor learning, forest school environments, or simply giving children the space to explore and engage with nature as part of their everyday lives.

Those early experiences really shape how people see the world, and how they value the environment as they grow up.

So talking about childhood and inspiring the next generation, where do you get your inspiration from?

I feel really fortunate that I’ve travelled quite widely over the years, but a lot of my inspiration actually comes from much closer to home.

In Birmingham, I live right by the canal network, and I walk or cycle along it almost daily. I find it endlessly inspiring.

You’ve got this incredible piece of Victorian infrastructure, originally built for industry, now sitting alongside these rich ecological networks. The banks are slightly “messy,” there’s wildlife everywhere, herons, fish and then these small, unexpected moments of beauty.

There’s a stretch near Bournville where native orchids grow along the canal edge, and people stop to photograph them. What I love is that they sit against the backdrop of the Cadbury factory and it’s that contrast between industry, history, and nature all coexisting.

That, to me, is far more inspiring than something more formal or curated. It’s accessible, it’s part of everyday life, and it feels real.

I don’t think these spaces are celebrated as much as they should be. They’re still a bit under the radar, and sometimes people find them daunting, which is understandable. But when I’m there, I feel completely immersed in it like I’m stepping into one of my own sketches.

A lot of the elements I draw come directly from those experiences, things I’ve observed, moments I’ve noticed.

So for me, inspiration isn’t necessarily about grand, designed landscapes it’s about those everyday, layered places where nature and human history come together.

Then when you get into the city there are fewer and fewer spaces that you can experience in the same way.

As you move further into the city, there are fewer and fewer spaces where you can experience nature in that same way.

We’re seeing a huge amount of development coming forward, which is positive in many ways, but there is a risk that development starts to lead, rather than landscape. That’s understandable to a degree as there’s a need to attract investment, bring people into the city, and support growth.

But the question I keep coming back to is: as more people come to live and work in Birmingham, where do they go to access those everyday connections with nature?

It’s a city with a strong industrial heritage, it was the engine of the Industrial Revolution and that legacy is still felt in how it’s evolved. Now we’re moving into a new phase, with more people living, working and spending time here, and the landscape needs to support that shift.

At the moment, green space is limited, so we have to think carefully about how we use what we do have. For me, the canal network is absolutely critical. It’s one of Birmingham’s most valuable assets in terms of ecology, movement, and access to nature.

There’s a real opportunity to invest in those spaces making them feel safer, more open, better connected, and more welcoming for everyday use.

We don’t have a coastline or a major river in the same way other cities do, so these networks become even more important. They are our green infrastructure, and we need to treat them as such.

If we get that right, they can play a central role in supporting the city’s future growth in a meaningful and sustainable way.

One of the things we have to work with then is the spaces we have already, is there anything that as an architect has piqued your interest in that respect?

I think one of the most interesting things is how people use spaces in ways that were never really planned.

If you look at areas like around the central library, they host big events like the Christmas markets, ice rinks, the big wheel which are great for Birmingham’s economy and bring a lot of energy into the city.

But what I find most inspiring is what happens in those spaces day-to-day.

There are groups of roller skaters who gather there when the fountain’s off, and dancers that use the reflective façade of the library almost like a mirror for practising their routines. You’ll see people with headphones in, dancing and skating and just completely immersed in what they’re doing.

I love that, because it’s people coming together, being creative, and using the space in their own way. It’s informal, it’s free, and it’s completely authentic.

And the interesting thing is, it wasn’t designed for that. It’s an incidental use—but a really powerful one.

That’s what I enjoy most about what we do. We’re not trying to dictate exactly how a space should be used. It’s more about creating the conditions for people to come and make it their own.

When people feel comfortable enough to take ownership of a space like that, that’s when you know it’s working.

So one final question is something we asked all of our underwriters and it connects to Earth Day in that, if you could work on any landscape project on Earth at any part of history, what would it be? Mine was the pyramids in Egypt.

I’d probably go back in time as well. I was lucky enough to spend a few months in Mexico City, and one place that had a huge impact on me was Teotihuacan.

What struck me most was how the city was planned in relation to the natural world. The alignment of the main axis with the movement of the sun, and how everything was connected to the sky, the seasons, and the environment.

There was this deep relationship between people, nature and the universe, and they built an entire city around it. I found that fascinating.

What also stayed with me was how strongly their beliefs were tied to the landscape. Gods like Tlaloc, the god of rain, were central because rain meant survival. It meant crops, food and life. So even their spiritual world was completely bound up with weather, land and natural systems.

It really made me reflect on how we design today, and whether we’ve lost some of that closeness to the natural systems we depend on.

And then, more recently, spending time in Chapultepec in Mexico City was equally inspiring, but in a very different way. It’s this vast urban forest right in the middle of the city, layered with trails, culture, ecology and everyday life. You have major civic buildings sitting alongside naturalistic landscapes, all supported by systems like rainwater harvesting.

What I loved was how embedded it felt. Nature wasn’t separate, it was part of how the city functioned day to day.

One of the things that really stayed with me was how people valued the landscape there. Even something as simple as fallen leaves were collected and reused to create compost and soil. It was seen as a resource, something with value.

That mindset really shifted my perspective. It’s a reminder that landscape isn’t just something to look at. It’s something that supports life, livelihoods and the wider system.

So I think those experiences, both ancient and contemporary, have really shaped how I think about design, bringing us back to that idea of connection between people, nature and place.

I think that stands for, it’s a good footnote to the whole interview, really. Whereas, one side of the world we take care of things and understand the value of nature and what it does within our urban sprawl. And on the other side, we probably just see it as a bit of an inconvenience and pressure wash it off.

But thank you very much for that. It was really useful. I think hopefully it was for you as well.

Yes, I think that really sums it up. In some places, there’s a deep understanding of the value of nature and how it supports everyday life in our cities. In others, it can still be seen as something to control or even remove.

So it’s about shifting that mindset, recognising landscape as something fundamental, not incidental.

Thank you, it’s been a really enjoyable conversation. And now it’s straight back to reality, looking at levels on a leisure centre!

Hope you celebrate World Earth Day and your birthday soon too!

Thank you. I will! On Earth Day itself, I’m actually hosting an event in Birmingham—a canal walk with the regional director from the Canal & River Trust.

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