Initially we worked collaboratively with a multidisciplinary consultant team to prepare a landscape framework as part of a wider viability study. Part of this work involved identifying opportunities and constraints at an early stage. The original framework established a spatial structure to guide long-term development, supporting coordinated planning and the phased delivery of individual precincts.

Landscape-Led Masterplan
As the Landscape Architect, we developed the Framework into a Masterplan. The site was organised into a coherent hierarchy of green infrastructure, weaving through the development to form an integrated network of ponds, sustainable drainage corridors, green edges to sports facilities, public open space and pocket parks. This structure provided environmental resilience, recreational value and visual continuity while allowing flexibility for future growth.

Character-Based Settlement Extension

This project demonstrates a landscape-led masterplanning approach in which development form is derived from environmental structure rather than imposed upon it. The design responds to the transition between countryside and settlement, using a sequence of spatial typologies to create a coherent and legible neighbourhood.

The masterplan established a continuous green infrastructure framework as the primary organising element. Built development is then positioned within this framework according to context, accessibility and settlement grain, creating a gradual progression from rural edge to urban centre.

Establishing the Site Structure

The first stage defined the site’s permanent landscape structure. A robust edge landscape buffer was introduced along sensitive boundaries to contain views, reinforce the settlement edge and integrate the development within its wider landscape setting. This buffer functions as both visual mitigation and usable public space, forming a defensible long-term boundary to prevent incremental outward expansion.

A landscape-led drainage corridor forms the central organising spine of the scheme. Following natural topography, the corridor accommodates sustainable drainage, habitat connectivity and active travel routes within a single multi-functional space. Rather than being residual infrastructure, this becomes the primary public realm — a continuous green route connecting all parts of the development.

Development parcels were arranged around this framework so that the landscape determines the urban form rather than reacting to it.

Creating a Hierarchy of Character Areas

The masterplan uses a range of spatial typologies to respond to position within the site and proximity to movement routes. This variation avoids a single repetitive housing pattern and instead produces a sequence of identifiable places.

Urban Core – Street-Based Mixed & Perimeter Block

At the most accessible part of the site the layout shifts to a more urban grain. Streets define space through enclosure, and a perimeter block arrangement provides strong frontage and clear public-private definition. A street-based mixed typology integrates different dwelling types along the same streets, supporting activity, legibility and walkability. This area forms the social focus of the neighbourhood.

Intermediate Residential Areas – Garden Suburb Structure

Moving outward from the centre, density reduces and the layout transitions into a planted residential character. Streets become calmer and more domestic in scale, with tree structure and planting reinforcing identity. This familiar suburban grain provides market acceptance while maintaining connectivity to the wider green infrastructure network.

Edge Areas – Village Clusters

Toward the countryside edge, development breaks into smaller informal groupings arranged around greens and shared spaces. These village clusters reduce perceived scale and reflect local settlement morphology, allowing the development to sit comfortably within its rural context.

Boundary – Landscape Edge Buffer

The outer landscape buffer completes the transition, creating a visual foreground to the countryside and ensuring the development reads as a contained extension rather than encroachment.

Integrated Environmental Framework

The landscape-led drainage corridor links all character areas and provides ecological continuity across the site. Sustainable drainage features are designed as amenity spaces rather than engineered basins, forming linear parks, paths and habitat corridors. This approach integrates water management, recreation and biodiversity into a single coherent network.

Planning Processes are a Reflection of the Community

An important consideration was the adjacent established community, which possessed a strong local identity and sense of ownership. The landscape strategy sought to reinforce this character by creating legible, connected and recognisable spaces that could evolve alongside future development.

Design Outcome

The masterplan creates a clear spatial progression:

countryside → clusters → suburb → neighbourhood → centre

Each typology responds to its position, resulting in a development that appears to grow naturally from its setting. The varied grain improves legibility, supports mixed communities and allows phased delivery without loss of identity.

By structuring the development around landscape and movement rather than plot repetition, the scheme achieves a place-specific layout aligned with current UK design guidance and landscape-led planning principles.

The resulting strategy offered both clarity and adaptability, ensuring that individual phases could progress independently while contributing to a unified landscape vision.