We are delighted that Chris Blandford, who is the Gardens Trust’s Vice-Chair and Conservation Committee Chair, has been awarded the OBE in The King’s New Year Honours list 2024.
Chris is a Landscape Architect, Master Planner, and World Heritage Specialist, with a long serving commitment to historic designed landscapes and heritage conservation.
GT Chairman, Peter Hughes KC says “I am sure we all share my delight in the news that Chris Blandford has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s honours list. Chris has made a huge contribution to the protection and preservation of our heritage and his recognition is richly deserved.”
Chris trained as a landscape architect and environmental planner in both the UK and the USA and established the CBA Studios Consultancy in 1977. Over the next 30 years his visionary and influential work for private and public clients attracted many awards for excellence and innovation in landscape planning and design. During the 2000s Chris led the international work of the practice in the Middle and Far East, India, and North Africa.
From the 1990s Chris became increasingly involved with the heritage conservation sector. He he undertook a variety of roles including leading projects for the restoration, conservation, and management of historic landscapes, and also providing strategic and policy advice to government and agencies. Much of his work in this period was focussed on the nomination, management, and planning of over 25 potential and actual World Heritage Sites in the UK and Overseas, and he became President of World Heritage UK. In 2023 the Gardens Trust was fortunate that Chris hosted its series of online lectures looking at 6 World Heritage UK landscapes.
Following retirement in 2017, Chris has continued to work in the charitable sector in a voluntary capacity, including as the Gardens Trust Vice Chair and Conservation Committee Chair. We are proud and grateful to have his support, and send hearty congratulations!
