Landscape-led Masterplanning

The Landscape Agency is working on a number of projects masterplanning urban and village growth. This involves thorough survey and analysis of landscape and environment; a plan is developed which responds to and enhances the natural setting, creating a context for new development that enhances value and quality of life.

British urban planning traditionally has placed store on the integration of the settlement within the landscape. Great historic examples include the plans for Bath, Clifton in Bristol and Edinburgh New Town.

However, one of the best examples of landscape led urban planning is the Ladbroke Estate in Notting Hill, London. Designed by Thomas Allason, a landscaper and surveyor, the Ladbroke estate is characterized by terraces of stuccoed brick houses backing onto large private garden squares and communal gardens. Inspired by Nash's work at London's Regent's Park, the original design for the Ladbroke Estate centred around a large central circus with radiating streets and garden squares or 'paddocks'. The popularity of Notting Hill's garden squares and leafy urbanism is testament to the appeal of the landscape led approach. These examples inform and inspire our work.

Significance

The emergence of landscape-led masterplanning coincides with considerable change in the nature of residential development in England. The abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies, the arrival of the Localism Act and the draft National Planning Policy Framework provide an entirely new planning system – albeit one that is not fully resolved yet. Central Government is seeking to create a strategy to deliver economic growth against a background of protracted and economic weakness across the UK and Eurozone and a massive national housing short-fall. And it seems that there will be a renewed onus on the delivery of housing on Greenfield sites as a way of trying to increase build rates and stimulate market activity. The Landscape Agency’s approach responds completely to these new social, environmental and financial challenges.

The Landscape Agency has helped to develop the following landscape-led masterplans:

Huntingdon and Histon Road, North-East Cambridge
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
West Winch, King's Lynn
Bio Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Belmore Park, Norwich
Ivybridge, Devon
Worksop, Nottinghamshire
Wisley, Surrey

Clients:

Zurich Assurance
Barratt Homes
Hopkins Homes
Bio City Developments
Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment
Grosvenor