Katie Bailey is the founder and landscape architect behind MOAT Landscape Design. Based in Upper Hutt and having lived and worked across the wider region for twenty years, she brings a deep, localized understanding of the region’s unique microclimates, soils, and environments to every project.

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Katie’s core expertise lies in creative planting design, concept planning, and hands-on planting. She prides herself on following through with projects long-term—offering care and maintenance for the first few years continuously refining the space as it matures. Beyond this core focus, her services include project management for hardscaping construction, tailored one-off property makeovers, and professional landscape assessment work.

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She partners with a diverse mix of residential, education, and conservation clients across an adaptable range of scales. Her portfolio spans everything from maximising tight outdoor spaces in modern infill housing to planning comprehensive new builds, residential refreshes and expansive lifestyle blocks. Her design philosophy centers on creating sustainable spaces that foster a genuine connection to the outdoors, with a particular expertise in native revegetation and organic and biointensive soil management practices which she refines on her own three-acre Whitemans Valley property.

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Committed to community and ecology, Katie maintains a close association with Enviroschools within the education sector, collaborating to design educational, action-based spaces that inspire manaakitanga and empower tamariki to engage with their environment. She is also an active member of the Koanga Institute and Forest & Bird.

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With a Master’s in Landscape Architecture and a Diploma in Horticulture, Katie beautifully balances thoughtful design—focusing on visual appeal, local ecology, and  site conditions—with practical, grounded horticultural knowledge.