Landscape Architect

Job Summary

The Landscape Architect serves as a critical connector between Campus Planning and Design and the Facilities department, ensuring that long‑term stewardship, operational viability, and lifecycle performance are embedded in how the University’s public realm is planned, delivered, and sustained. The role safeguards the University’s investment in landscape and urban forestry assets by translating planning intent, policies, and design aspirations into outcomes that can be effectively maintained, renewed, and supported over time.

Working largely independently under strategic direction from the Director of Municipal Services within Facilities department, the position spans multiple projects and initiatives simultaneously. The focus of the role is not limited to permit application review, but rather on ensuring continuity and alignment between planning, capital development, and operations, with constant attention to how current decisions affect future maintenance obligations, resource demands, risk exposure, and asset performance.

Organizational Status

The position reports to the Director of Municipal Services.

Work Performed

Long‑term stewardship is a defining responsibility of the position. The Landscape Architect plays a key role in shaping preventive maintenance programs, public realm maintenance planning, and capital renewal strategies for municipal landscape and urban forestry assets. This includes supporting infrastructure and asset inventories, condition assessments, and lifecycle cost analyses that inform long‑range maintenance and renewal planning.

The role contributes to balancing environmental performance, operational realities, financial sustainability, and community expectations. Decisions are guided by an understanding that landscapes and living systems require ongoing investment and management to perform as intended over decades, not just at the point of project completion.

Urban forestry is approached in this role as a long‑term living asset system rather than a collection of individual project elements. The Landscape Architect ensures that tree protection, species selection, soil systems, irrigation, access, and risk considerations are embedded in planning and development decisions. This stewardship lens supports canopy continuity, biodiversity, climate resilience, and public safety while aligning urban forestry goals with maintenance capacity and lifecycle planning.

By integrating urban forestry considerations across planning, design, construction, and operations, the position helps ensure that tree and landscape systems are resilient, maintainable, and able to deliver long‑term environmental and social benefits.

A primary function of the Municipal Landscape Architect is to serve as the principal liaison between operations, planning, and policy as they relate to the public realm and external infrastructure. The incumbent represents maintenance and operational interests in planning and development discussions and interprets planning concepts, policies, and design intent for operational teams. This liaison role ensures that maintenance feasibility, access requirements, lifecycle costs, and service delivery expectations are clearly identified and addressed early in the project lifecycle, rather than being managed reactively following construction.T

hrough this integrative role, the Municipal Landscape Architect aligns policy, planning objectives, and capital delivery with operational capacity, thereby reducing downstream risks related to safety, constructability, cost escalation, and long‑term asset degradation. The position plays a key role in advocating for the implementation of projects that are sustainable and enable the long‑term stewardship of municipal landscape and urban forestry assets.

The incumbent develops a thorough understanding of unique site features, landscape systems, and associated maintenance requirements and communicates this information effectively to internal and external stakeholders. Responsibilities include coordinating training, demonstrations, and operational handover, ensuring that maintenance plans, documentation, and asset information are complete, accurate, and clearly understood by operations. The role contributes to the development of preventive maintenance and capital renewal plans, oversees the design development and implementation of renewal projects, and prepares work schedules, cost estimates, reports, and recommendations.

The Municipal Landscape Architect leads and facilitates discussions with partners, consultants, and stakeholders to fully understand project design intent while balancing long‑term maintenance obligations, operational risk, and cost considerations. The incumbent is involved throughout the project lifecycle, including planning, design, development, construction, and handover, and is responsible for monitoring and reporting on deficiencies observed during construction and at turnover to operations. This includes ensuring that appropriate maintenance strategies and documentation are in place and formally accepted prior to operational handover.

In support of these responsibilities, the Municipal Landscape Architect prepares or oversees the preparation of graphical layouts, conceptual designs, construction drawings, specifications, plans, renderings, and supporting graphics related to specific landscape and external infrastructure issues or projects.

The position leads and/or contributes to the development and implementation of university policies, plans, and guidelines related to urban forestry, campus biodiversity, sustainability, and the public realm. In coordination with Campus and Community Planning, the Municipal Landscape Architect supports the evolution of technical standards and specifications through an operations‑informed, stewardship‑focused lens.

The role represents Municipal Services on committees (Streets and Landscape review and Development review and other external infrastructure Committees) and development review processes, ensuring a coordinated and holistic approach to landscape and external infrastructure decisions that reflects long‑term institutional interests.

Supports students and faculty on research and projects associated with Campus as a Living Lab and SEEDS program.

May act on behalf of the Director or Municipal Managers of Municipal Services

Performs other related duties as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
Position is responsible for expenditure of specific University funds and creates and promotes images and ideas which establish directions for hard and soft landscape and urban design related development. The incumbent will affect the allocation of funding in certain areas within project budgets of up to several million dollars. Errors in this work can cause problems of a financial, safety or political nature, which in turn results in cost and time delays during resolution. Recommendations and decisions affect the type and nature of physical and environmental changes made to the public realm.

Supervision Received

Works independently under the general direction of the Director of Municipal Services

Supervision Given

May supervise technical staff, trades, non-technical support staff and students. Provides professional guidance to technical groups including internal teams and external consultants and contractors.

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Registration or eligibility for registration, with the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects. Minimum of six years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in urban design, urban forestry, project management and landscape architecture. Experience with campus landscape architecture, CPTED and sustainable landscape practices and municipal assets is desirable. Ability to lead change by creating a vision and taking appropriate action to ensure acceptance and support. Ability to effectively facilitate groups to achieve appropriate outcome. Ability to conduct needs analyses, plan, organize, manage, monitor, complete, and evaluate projects within allocated time and resources. Ability to develop and monitor budgets. Ability to work effectively independently and in a team environment. Demonstrated capacities in design; integrated planning & design processes; cost estimating; report writing; public presentations; overseeing consultants; and the use of relevant software (i.e. AutoCAD, Photoshop, MS Office, Adobe Illustrator, Asset Management software, and GIS). Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing. Ability to prioritize and work effectively under pressure to meet deadlines. Ability to develop and implement preventative maintenance programs and strategic business plans.

ISA Certified arborist is preferred (Membership)

Strong communication skills are required to liaise, interpret requirements, and support the job needs of a broad range of staff (Managers, Planners, Academic staff, Directors, technical staff, and skilled staff). Ability to clearly articulate and navigate complex issues between diverse staff and project teams.

Collaborative problem solving and proven analytical skills in the areas of biodiversity, ecosystems and maintenance management.