Coopers Hill Acquires Scape Design, Strengthening Its Global Leadership in Hospitality Landscape Architecture
- Written by: Telegraph Magazine
With its new London studio, Coopers Hill establishes its first European office marking the firm's seventh international office following its Dubai opening in 2023.
With a 40-year legacy of defining luxury hospitality landscape design, Coopers Hill has built an impressive portfolio of hotels and resorts across diverse environments and ecosystems. Under the leadership of Founder, Managing Partner and Design Director, Allen Kerton, the firm headquartered in Singapore, will unite with Scape Design in London, to create a formidable portfolio spanning luxury hotels, resorts and lifestyle projects across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This strategic merger establishes Coopers Hill as an unrivalled force in hospitality landscape design, marking an exciting new chapter for the practice.
In the new organisational structure, Allen Kerton, whose distinguished global career spans hospitality design projects across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, will continue to lead as Managing Partner and Design Director based in Singapore. Philip Jaffa will assume the role of Partner and Design Director, operating from London, where he will spearhead Coopers Hill's expansion across Europe and North Africa, while strengthening the firm's Middle Eastern operations.
Allen Kerton, Managing Partner & Design Director of Coopers Hill, said, "The merger with Scape represents a significant milestone, enabling us to realise our ambition of delivering a truly global service offering for our clients. Our combined intimate knowledge and in-depth expertise of local environments and cultural influences position us uniquely to create meaningful places, experiences and memories by balancing architecture, luxury and the wilderness of nature, regardless of a project's location."
Philip Jaffa, Partner & Design Director at Coopers Hill, added, "This marks the beginning of an exciting new era for Coopers Hill. The merger provides an incredible opportunity to drive sustainable and evocative landscape architecture solutions for the hospitality industry's future, connecting humanity back to nature as the key touchpoint for health and well-being. Meeting Allen, a like-minded environmental landscape designer who shares my deep commitment to our planet's future, was instrumental in my decision to merge our two practices."
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About Coopers Hill
Coopers Hill is an international consultancy specialising in landscape architecture, urban design, and masterplanning, with offices in Singapore, Bangkok, Bali, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City, Dubai and now London. With a design legacy and experience extending over four decades, our talented and passionate team combines contemporary design solutions and techniques to create exceptional environments that connect people to nature and vice versa - from remote islands to city centres, and from tropical forests to mountain valleys.
Our extensive portfolio includes landmark projects in more than 50 countries worldwide, including current projects in Saudi Arabia, Zanzibar, Dubai, India, Maldives, Oman, Mauritius and Thailand.
Coopers Hill's expertise spans hotels, resorts, residential, commercial/mixed-use developments, environmental conservation, heritage sites and public realm projects. Our diverse portfolio features many of the world's most iconic and photographed resort, hotel and luxury residential landscapes. Notable projects include Capella Singapore; Song Saa Private Island in the Koh Rong Archipelago, Cambodia; and InterContinental Phuket Resort in Thailand.
Current projects include collaborations with renowned brands such as Capella, Pagani, W Hotels, MGM Resorts International, Raffles Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton, Six Senses, InterContinental, St. Regis, Banyan Tree and Lamborghini.
Globally, the practice will now comprise of over 120 landscape architects, planners, designers, artists, horticulturalists and ecologists, with experience of working in over 60 countries worldwide.
About Scape Design
Headquartered in London, Scape Design is a celebrated, award-winning boutique landscape architectural and environmental master planning practice specialising in the hospitality and luxury lifestyle markets. Led by Philip Jaffa, Scape Design's tight-knit specialised team has a diverse portfolio that includes exclusive boutique eco-resorts, leading 5-star hotels, private homes, urban residential communities, mixed-use developments, and commercial properties spread over 50 countries.
Scape is on the select list of designers for most of the 'who's who' of luxury operators – Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, Six Senses, Banyan Tree, Accor brands (Fairmont & Raffles), Marriott brands (Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, JW Marriott, Marriott, W Hotels), Hilton International brands (Waldorf Astoria & Hilton) and InterContinental, as well as many independent brands.
Industry-leading projects created by Scape include the Ritz-Carlton Rabat, Morocco; W Costa Navarino, Greece; Fairmont & Raffles Hotels at Katara Towers, Doha - the flagship property for the 2022 World Cup - and COMO Laucala Island, Fiji. The firm's exceptional landscape design at Mandarin Oriental Bodrum was garlanded by the UK Landscape Institute while, two years ago, Scape was celebrated as Winner at the AHEAD MEA Awards and AHEAD Europe Awards for its Fairmont Taghazout Bay and Grecotel Corfu Imperial projects respectively.
Current hospitality projects now under Coopers Hill London include Four Seasons Dubrovnik, Ritz-Carlton Rabat Morocco - Phase 2, Maxx Royal Resort Maldives and Ritz-Carlton Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
