Our Team

Urban Design Box is a team of professionals which has a strong background in Architecture and Planning and extensive experience in Urban Design.

(NP) We can advise our clients on development design strategy as well as demonstrating both strong visions and the viability of our proposals through the quality of our design and visual work.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith - Director

I have over 20 years experience designing and leading masterplanning and urban design projects from vision through to delivery; working on behalf of private and public sector clients including National House Builders, FTSE100 Companies, Local Government, Port Authorities, and Land Promotors and Developers. I am a member of the RIBA and am a Recognised Practitioner of the Urban Design Group, of which Urban Design Box is a Practice member. 

I enjoyed an early career within a large Architectural and multi-disciplinary practice with national coverage, becoming the Urban Design Director responsible for the South West. I set up Urban Design Box in 2015 with the ambition to provide design focussed masterplanning within a commercially astute context and with a highly personal client service. I have represented clients at Planning Appeal, providing Evidence on Design matters on both masterplanning and detailed design projects. I Chair on the Design Review Panel at the Design Commission for Wales and sit on 'The Design Review Panel' advising on Urban Design in particular. I am a visiting tutor at the Welsh School of Architecture.

Emily Ramsay- Urban Designer

I joined Urban Design Box in 2021 as an urban designer, after spending the first couple of years of my career as a planner following university.

My experience has been primarily in residential projects ranging from small, bespoke developments to large urban extensions. I’ve worked with a range of clients on sites largely in the south-west, providing material for planning applications, carrying out site appraisals and liaising with Planning Officers to gain planning permissions. 

I’ve appreciated placemaking during many of these projects, as well as in previous years while studying to gain my Master of Planning degree and now I’m enjoying developing my design skills and putting them into practice as an urban designer. 

I am working towards becoming an Urban Design Group Recognised Practitioner.

Chloe Garland - Design and Admin

I have extensive experience within environmental conservation and throughout my career, I have worked on several ecosystem management projects, with a focus on protecting endangered species. 
 

In previous roles, I have worked as a consultant ecologist and have designed and implemented a number of interpretation projects. 

At Urban Design Box, my role includes graphic design projects, finance, and team and project administration.

Our Office - Bristol North Baths

We are based in the former Bristol North Baths swimming pool building; the layout of light, glass fronted offices surrounding a central social hub suits our way of working.​

Why not pop in and see us for a coffee?

Collaborators

We work with a small number of design collaborators to provide a comprehensive and flexible masterplanning service including:

Pearce 3D specialise in architectural visualisations, producing visualisations for projects from residential one off developments to large scale developments.

Big Picture Design is a design consultancy that specialises in Masterplanning, Urban Design, Architecture, Feasibility and Surveys.