Female-Owned Firm Wins Industry Awards

PARK CITY, Ill. – The landscape firm Heynssens + Grassman will receive two Excellence in Landscape awards today from the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association for the firm's work on two Chicago-area properties. 

This makes three awards in three years for the Park City, Ill., firm, which specializes in high-end, design-driven projects. The company won two gold medals for the projects, which included historical restoration and design of pools, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces and garage and parking spaces at residences in Winnetka and Lake Forest, according to Denice Shuty, company design coordinator.

Shuty says the company took a unique design approach for the properties.

“I think that it was an unusual approach in trying to work with a very odd-shaped house, going through renovations and additions and trying to preserve 100-year old trees,” says Shuty, referring to the company's work on the Winnetka property.

"The other project was a big Georgian estate in Lake Forest," Shuty continues. "It was a huge property that looked very plain. We added pools and outlook points to view formal and informal gardens and make it look like an estate rather than just a big property.”

The awards ceremony takes place at the Drury Lane banquet hall in Oakbrook where Heynssens + Grassman will share the accolades with the rest of its design team, with whom they collaborate on 60 or more projects annually, mainly on the North Shore. 

Heynssens + Grassman is female-owned and operated company headed by René Grassman and Chris Heynssens.