Client privacy notice

Last updated: Friday 09 October 2026

1. Who we are
Helen Codd, trading as Helen Codd Studio, is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice. This notice applies to clients and people who enquire about garden design services. For the website, see our analytics, cookies and website visitor policies.

Contact: helen@helencoddstudio.co.uk, or by post to Helen Codd Studio, The Studio, 64 Cuckfield Road, Hurstpierpoint, BN6 9SB. Telephone: 07994 330246.

2. What personal information we collect

• Your name, email address, telephone number and postal address.

• The address of the garden, and details of the property and garden, including photographs, measurements, survey notes and any plans or drawings you share.

• Your design brief and preferences, and our correspondence with you.

• Contract and payment records, including invoices and confirmation of payments received. We do not store full card details.

• Feedback and any complaints.

We normally collect this from you directly. We may also receive information from people you ask us to work with, such as contractors you appoint.

3. Why we use your information, and our lawful basis

• To provide the design service you have asked for, including surveys, design work, meetings and delivering documents. Lawful basis: performing our contract with you.

• To prepare quotes and agreements before you sign. Lawful basis: taking steps at your request before entering a contract.

• To keep accounting and tax records and meet our legal obligations. Lawful basis: legal obligation.

• To manage payments, deal with complaints and protect our legal position if there is a dispute. Lawful basis: legitimate interests, meaning our interest in running our business properly and defending any claims.

• To show completed work in our portfolio, gallery, website and social media (see section 8). Lawful basis: legitimate interests, and you can object at any time.

• To send occasional news or updates, only if you have opted in. Lawful basis: consent, which you can withdraw at any time. {Delete this item if you do not send marketing.}

4. Who we share your information with
We only share information where necessary, and only with organisations that help us run the business:

• Squarespace, for website hosting and forms.

• Microsoft, for email.

• Microsoft, for storing documents and photographs.

• Quickbooks, for bookkeeping and tax.

• Nationwide, for taking and recording payments.

• Contractors or suppliers, but only if you ask us to put you in touch or to share the design with them.

• Professional advisers, insurers and authorities such as HMRC where the law requires or allows.

We do not sell your information.

5. Transfers outside the UK
Some of the providers above store data on servers outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the UK's data bridge arrangements or standard contractual clauses approved for use in the UK.

6. How long we keep your information

• Financial and contract records: for the period required by HMRC and the law.

• Design files, survey notes and correspondence: for 10 years after the project ends, in case of questions or disputes.

• Enquiries that do not lead to a project: 12 months.

After these periods we delete or anonymise the information. Photographs used in our portfolio may be kept for as long as they remain in use, unless you object.

7. Your rights
You have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;

• ask us to correct anything inaccurate;

• ask us to delete your information, where the law allows;

• ask us to restrict how we use it;

• object to our use of it where we rely on legitimate interests;

• ask for your information in a portable format, where this applies;

• withdraw consent at any time where we rely on it.

To use these rights, contact us using the details in section 1. We will normally reply within one month.

8. Photographs and portfolio use
With your agreement, we may photograph your garden and use images of the design and the completed garden in our portfolio, website and social media. We avoid identifiable people in images. If you do not want your garden to be shown, tell us in writing at any time and we will stop using the images where we can.

9. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we use your information, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk, telephone 0303 123 1113.

10. Changes to this notice
We may update this notice from time to time. The latest version will always be on our website.