Project Focus: Booths Park Courtyard

Set within the historic parkland of Booths Park in Knutsford, the central courtyard forms the heart of a wider office campus, connecting a collection of buildings with offices and associated leisure facilities. Originally developed around 15 years ago, the courtyard no longer reflected the expectations of modern workplaces. Its expansive paved spaces, large areas of grass and formal water feature created a hostile and clinical environment that people raced through rather than lingered within. With limited seating and shelter, the landscape felt inhospitable rather than welcoming.

‍"We knew the courtyard no longer reflected the quality of experience we wanted to offer our customers at Booths Park. As part of our wider investment in the estate, we wanted to create an outdoor space that our workspace community would actively choose to use, whether to meet, work, connect with colleagues or simply take a break during the day. 

“Layer.studio worked closely with our team to understand how our customers use the park and what the space needed to deliver. Through a genuinely collaborative design process, we transformed a large, underused courtyard into a series of connected landscapes that feel greener, more welcoming and more flexible. 

“Introducing greater structure, planting and a variety of seating has actually made the courtyard feel bigger, while creating distinct spaces for different needs. 

“The result is a vibrant shared destination that brings our workspace community together and adds real value to the everyday customer experience at Booths Park" 

Sharon Johnson, Head of Commercial, Bruntwood Places

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The expectations of office environments have shifted considerably. High-quality external spaces are an increasingly important part of attracting and retaining workspace customers, and our brief from Bruntwood Places was to help bring this campus up to date to meet these shifting requirements and offer a more welcoming, modern working experience.

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Appointed in April 2025, we reimagined the courtyard as a series of connected outdoor spaces that encourage movement, interaction and opportunities to pause. No longer one vast open space, but a collection of smaller destinations, we’ve created a more intimate and accommodating environment. Inspired by the idea of networks and connections across the wider estate, new routes link spaces together for informal meetings, quiet reflection and flexible events.

The existing mature trees, a key part of the character of Booths Park, were all retained. Around them, we introduced a planting palette of climate-resilient ornamental species, new trees, raised planting beds and a seasonal bulb understorey. The landscape offers something throughout the seasons, providing greater biodiversity and long-term resilience. Flexible open lawn space allows the space to support everything from outdoor meetings and lunchtime gatherings to seasonal events, pop-up food vendors and estate activities, giving the space far greater versatility than before. Material choices and our landscape interventions create a contemporary environment that feels softer, greener and more human in scale, encouraging people to linger and engage with the landscape.

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The redesign strengthens the relationship between the public realm and the wider Booths Park landscape, helping the heart of the estate feel more closely connected to its parkland setting. 

Big isn’t always better. The previous courtyard was stark and didn’t invite anyone in. Breaking one large courtyard into a series of smaller outdoor rooms has fundamentally changed how the space is experienced. Now, it’s a valuable, central destination within the wider estate.

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Completed in November 2025 by MS Projects, the redesign brings ‘friction’ into the space, slowing people down by inviting them to pause or explore, ultimately offering a richer experience. It has effectively extended the existing working environment, offering the flexibility that modern workspaces now expect. 

It’s now a verdant, biodiverse landscape that supports wellbeing, creates opportunities for social interaction and gives tenants greater flexibility in how they use the estate throughout the day. And, it offers immeasurably better adaptation for our increasingly hot summers.  

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