Our masterplanning approach focused on three core objectives: protecting the brook corridor floodplains, preserving natural landscape features, and establishing viable, connected communities. Through sensitive landform remodelling, we unlocked the development potential while enhancing the site’s natural character. 

 

We used the site’s green and blue infrastructure — brook corridors, wetlands, and woodland edges — to structure movement and settlement patterns. These corridors not only supported biodiversity and amenity but also created a human-scale framework of distinctive spaces, giving coherence across the large site. 

 

The masterplan envisioned a community where homes and workplaces were closely tied to nature — with walking routes, green corridors, and generous open space shaping daily life. The settlement was organised into five interconnected villages, each with its own identity and access to natural space: 

 

 

Each village was linked by walking, cycling, and public transport, and designed to support flexible, mixed land uses, promoting innovation and community resilience. We proposed co-located homes, workspaces, community facilities, and education — with space for sports, worship, and local enterprise. 

 

Community involvement was embedded in the vision, with self-build and collective housing proposed at key locations to foster long-term ownership and identity. Higher densities were focused around village cores, with lower-density development easing into green space and biodiversity corridors. 

 

The masterplan we designed showed how bold, landscape-led thinking can deliver a new settlement that is distinctive, sustainable, and grounded in place.