Birkdale poolside retreat

The brief

An existing pool shell, surrounded by outdated brick paving and tired gardens. Our clients wanted a space the kids would actually use and the adults could entertain in, without it feeling like two separate zones. The bones of the backyard were good: a generous block, an established home and a pool in the right position. Everything around it had simply reached the end of its life.

The design

We rebuilt the space around the existing pool rather than starting again: new coping and paving, layered planting to soften the boundaries, and a pool house designed to sit naturally with the architecture of the existing home. Working with the pool's existing position kept the budget focused on the parts of the garden the family would actually feel: the surfaces underfoot, the planting at eye level, and the pool house at the centre of it all.

The result reads as one continuous space. The pool house anchors the entertaining zone, the lawn gives the kids room to move, and the planting ties it all back to the house. Fountains bring movement and sound to the pool zone, and layered subtropical planting keeps the garden green through the seasons.

The build

We stayed involved through construction, working alongside J&S Pools to keep the design intent alive from setout to final plant. Construction-ready documentation meant the details were built exactly as they were drawn. The project went on to receive Bronze in the Emerging Designer category at the LDI Awards 2025. If your own pool area has good bones and a tired everything else, this is the kind of renovation where design pays for itself: one plan, priced once, built once.

Birkdale sits two streets from the bay in Redland City. If you're nearby, see our landscape design in the Redlands, or read about how our design process works, from first consultation to construction-ready Master Plan.