Who Are Dakic Garden Design and Landscape Construction + The Team?
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Dakic Garden Design & Landscape Construction is an award-winning garden design and build practice based near Arundel, working throughout West Sussex, Hampshire and the wider South East. Led by designers Jonathan and Briony Dakic alongside construction director Jason Owens, the studio brings together horticultural expertise and professional construction experience to deliver thoughtful, well-crafted gardens.
With over 40 years of combined experience across horticulture, garden design and landscape construction, our work is founded on a shared commitment to quality, longevity and design integrity. We believe gardens should not only look beautiful on completion, but continue to grow, mature and improve over time.
We offer a fully integrated service, guiding each project from initial consultation and design through to construction and planting. This approach ensures continuity throughout the process, allowing ideas to be realised faithfully and built with precision and care.
Our work has received national recognition, reflecting our dedication to design-led gardens that balance creativity with horticultural knowledge and professional construction standards
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Every garden begins with understanding the client, the site and how the space will be used. We take time to develop considered designs that respond to both the architecture of the property and the surrounding landscape.
Our horticultural background underpins every decision, ensuring planting schemes are not only visually effective, but appropriate, resilient and structured for year-round interest. This is combined with careful material selection and construction detailing to create gardens that are both functional and enduring.
By managing both design and construction in-house, we ensure clear communication, accountability and consistency from concept to completion. Clients work directly with the designers and construction lead throughout the process, creating a collaborative and transparent experience.
We are fully insured for both garden design and landscape construction, providing reassurance and professional confidence at every stage.
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Dakic Garden Design & Landscape Construction was founded from a shared belief that gardens deserve both creative vision and technical precision. With backgrounds rooted in horticulture and professional construction, we recognised the value of combining design integrity with practical delivery under one cohesive practice.
Having worked within horticultural environments, nursery production, garden services and large-scale construction, we saw first-hand the gap that often exists between design intention and built reality. Our aim was to create a studio where both disciplines are equally valued — where planting is carefully considered, materials are thoughtfully selected and every detail is resolved properly on site.
National recognition for our show garden work reinforced our commitment to high standards, but at the heart of the practice remains a simple principle: to create gardens that enhance the way people live. Whether designing a contemporary outdoor living space or restructuring a family garden, we focus on clarity, longevity and craftsmanship.
By bringing together creative design and construction expertise within one team, we ensure ideas are not only imagined well, but realised faithfully.
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We believe the best gardens are created through careful design, horticultural understanding and professional construction.
Our aim is to create outdoor spaces that enhance how people live, providing environments that are functional, beautiful and enduring.
Each project is approached individually, ensuring every garden reflects the client, the setting and the unique potential of the space.
Our Team
As a collaborative team, we bring together complementary skills and shared values. With backgrounds spanning horticulture, garden design and construction, we approach each project with care, clarity and professionalism. Clients work directly with us throughout the process, ensuring consistency, accountability and a genuine understanding of how their garden should function and evolve over time.
Garden Designer, Project Manager & Director
Jonathan holds a degree in horticulture awarded by the RHS, providing a strong academic foundation alongside extensive practical experience. His professional background includes working within respected horticultural institutions such as the RHS and the National Trust, as well as maintaining and managing private gardens, including those of high-profile and aristocratic estates.
Since establishing his own garden business in 2018, Jonathan has worked closely with domestic clients across a wide range of properties. This hands-on experience has given him a clear understanding of how gardens are used day to day, and how individual requirements differ from one household to another. He recognises that no two clients or spaces are the same, and approaches each project with careful attention to personal needs, lifestyle and long-term usability.
Alongside garden maintenance, Jonathan has undertaken numerous garden redesigns, planting plans and remedial improvements to gardens that were previously poorly structured or incorrectly planted. His background in aftercare and long-term garden management informs his design thinking, ensuring that every scheme is practical to maintain, horticulturally sound and designed to mature successfully over time.
This blend of academic horticulture, institutional experience and real-world domestic practice underpins his commitment to creating gardens that are both beautiful and sustainable in the long term.
Jonathan Dakic
Construction DirectorConstruction Director
Jason leads the construction delivery of Dakic Garden Design & Landscape Construction, bringing extensive experience across residential construction, groundworks and landscape implementation. His career began in Australia in 2019, where he worked in housebuilding before progressing into broader construction roles including brickwork, paving, drainage, concreting and site preparation. This wide-ranging experience has given him a comprehensive technical understanding of construction from ground level through to final finishes.
Alongside hands-on work, Jason has supervised teams and contributed to site management across a range of projects. He holds formal management qualifications, excavator certification and health and safety accreditations for both individual and site supervision. His technical capability includes operating large and small excavation machinery, managing groundworks and ensuring structural integrity and proper installation throughout the construction process.
Jason is a veteran, having previously served in the British Army. His military background instilled a strong sense of discipline, organisation and responsibility, which continues to influence his professional approach. He maintains exceptionally high standards and is committed to delivering work with precision and integrity, ensuring every project is built correctly and without compromise.
Having contributed to the construction of award-winning show gardens, Jason recognised the value of combining technical construction with creative design. He approaches each project with the understanding that landscape construction is not only a technical process, but also a craft requiring attention to detail, care and pride in execution.
As Construction Director, Jason ensures every garden is delivered to a professional standard, translating design intent into carefully constructed outdoor spaces built for longevity and performance.
Garden Designer & Project Manager
Briony is currently undertaking professional garden design training with the prestigious London College of Garden Design, having been awarded a place through their bursary programme. She is due to graduate in July, further strengthening the studio’s design credentials with advanced spatial, technical and presentation expertise.
Her experience spans multiple sectors of the horticultural industry, including large and small-scale nurseries, the National Trust and garden retail environments. This broad background has given her a deep understanding of plant production, plant selection and the practical considerations that underpin successful garden schemes.
Since establishing her own garden maintenance business in 2021, Briony has worked closely with domestic clients, gaining valuable insight into how gardens function in everyday life. This hands-on experience informs her design thinking, ensuring her proposals are not only visually engaging but realistic and appropriate for long-term use.
Naturally artistic from an early age, Briony brings a strong creative sensibility to the practice. She enjoys developing concepts through hand-drawn sketches as well as CAD, allowing ideas to evolve fluidly from initial vision through to detailed presentation. Her work focuses on spatial balance, planting harmony and creating gardens that feel cohesive, expressive and carefully considered.
Briony Dakic
Jason Owens
Let’s Work Together
