Snow Capel
Matson, Gloucester
Local Planning Authority: Gloucester City Council
Client: Bromford
Status: Resolution to grant
Project type: Residential, Affordable Housing, Housing Association
Role: Masterplanning
Blending the past with the future: A heritage-led, sustainable masterplan for a high-quality 75% affordable housing development
At Sneedham’s Green, Origin3 designed a heritage-conscious, landscape-driven masterplan that brings together the urgency of delivering much-needed homes with a deep respect for history and place. Located within a moated site of national significance, the development is carefully designed to balance both community and conservation.
From the outset, the masterplan has been shaped by a collaborative and consultative approach. Sensitively responding to the Scheduled Monument and its surrounding landscape, the design has evolved through meaningful dialogue with stakeholders—addressing heritage, visual character, infrastructure, and drainage in equal measure.
At the heart of the scheme is a central landscaped space that protects the moat’s setting, encourages public access, and invites engagement and education through well-placed interpretation boards on walking routes, highlighting the historical links within this landscape.
The open structure of the masterplan strengthens visual connections to Sneedham’s Green, enhancing the sense of place and reinforcing ties to the broader historical landscape. Active travel routes are embedded into the design, promoting walk-ability and easy access to nearby amenities.
This considered masterplan forms a natural extension to Matson. Nestled within a relatively well-contained landscape of existing topography and vegetation, and bordered by established neighbourhoods and the M5, the site has been designed to have minimal visual impact on the nearby AONB and Robins Wood Hill.
In every aspect, this development reflects a forward-thinking yet contextually aware vision—delivering 75% affordable housing, designed to the highest standards and incorporating progressive principles of sustainable development, while honouring the site’s historical and environmental significance.