Local knowledge shapes strong communities
One of our experienced landscape architects spent her childhood in Gippsland and enjoys this personal connection with our local projects.
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Senior Associate Landscape Architect Nadia Combe is taking the opportunity to embrace her hometown roots and give back to the community she grew up in through her work across Spiire’s local projects in Gippsland.
Having joined the Spiire team in 2023, Nadia brings a breadth of technical expertise in Landscape Architecture and Project Management across 16 years in public practice, a passion for teaching, and a strong appreciation of creative practice in contemporary art and music.
Nadia is currently leading the design of the Yallock-Bulluk Marine and Coastal Park and Commercial Street Link in Korumburra in south-east Victoria.
Having grown up in the small town of Korumburra, she brings a unique perspective to her work that echoes her rural upbringing and sparked her interest in landscape architecture.
“I’ve always had a really close relationship to the landscape. My parents are primary producers in the area, so understanding how the landscape can impact people’s day-to-day lives was part of my childhood,” she says.
“To know these spaces intimately and then to be able to respond to that, improve the community and urban space I grew up in and also help direct that change, is really special.”
Nadia and the close-knit Gippsland team are uniquely positioned to provide expert local knowledge relevant to the design, development and functioning of Spiire’s regional projects.
“It’s about building that relationship with local councils down here to let them know that we do have this local knowledge and we do understand the way projects need to be delivered here.”
At the forefront of Nadia’s design philosophy is her commitment to improving people’s lives and bettering the community she lives and works within through landscape.
“You’re exposed to the community, so you’re really at the coalface of understanding what is important to them and then understanding what your role is a landscape architect who’s designing and delivering these projects,” Nadia says.
Given her own multidisciplinary background, Nadia is passionate about holistic project environments, where collaborating with different design disciplines enables the delivery of innovation for the community and environment.
“Working alongside other allied professions like engineers, surveyors and planners at Spiire is really important for the practice of landscape architecture. It helps you understand and appreciate the site from a different point of view,” she says.
