The Outline Planning Application was approved in December 2009. WMUD coordinated a team including Jacobs (EIA), WSP (traffic and movement), HG Planning (planning support) and Nick Wright Planning (consultation).

• inform the forthcoming Local Plan process, in particular the Proposed Plan stage
• identify and set out the key components required within the SLA and provide an overall structure within which individual masterplans can be prepared

This report proposed a strategic framework showing how the land-use elements of the Dunfermline SLA – housing, employment, community facilities and infrastructure – could be accommodated on the city’s western flank between 2011 and 2026, in a manner which results in high quality, sustainable and distinctive place-making.

Key elements

The starting point for the form of the strategic framework was the development of walkable neighbourhoods based around mixed use local centres. Walkable means preferably within five minutes walk of the local centre and or public transport facilities but this could extend to a ten minute walk. Four new neighbourhoods are proposed in the period to 2026 – a large area to the south west of the city and three neighbourhoods to the west, north west and north.
Integrated with this set of walkable neighbourhoods is a new public transport system based on an integrated street system linking the new areas (rather than a remote segregated system). The eventual form of this transport system has not been determined at present but it is likely to be either a Bus Rapid the strategic framework Transport (BRT) or Light Rapid Transport (LRT). There is also a requirement for a new western distributor road for the city which would be integrated with the BRT or LRT in part.

The protection of the historic landscape of the city and the protection of the integrity of a green belt between Dunfermline and Crossford has been an important factor in the development of the framework. At the outset, it was considered that a series of neighbourhoods had a potentially better fit in sensitive landscape than a larger settlement form. Care has been taken with the siting of these neighbourhoods and their associated landscaping although it should be stressed that by designating an SLA in the sensitive landscape of west and south west Dunfermline, it was inevitable that some conflict would occur between different interests.

These new neighbourhoods have to perform a number of functions in relation to the existing urban fabric of Dunfermline. For example linkage to the existing fabric is important as is the provision of facilities in the new development which enhances the quality of life in existing areas. It was also seen as important to provide only local retail facilities and not compete with the centre of Dunfermline. The provision of employment space in local centres or in associated mixed use areas is also seen as desirable.

Finally it was necessary to accommodate the quantum of development specified in the SLA namely for:

• 4,200 new homes up to 2026
• 80 hectares of employment land
• capacity for further housing and emploment growth post 2026
• a high school
• 3 primary schools

Other facilities that the development industry might be expected to provide are:

• education, sport and healthcare facilities
• local shops and services
• employment opportunities
• public transport facilities and services
• strategic and local transport improvements
• walking and cycling improvements
• affordable housing
• public art and landscape enhancement

Integrated in these new neighbourhoods are high quality design, low or zero carbon developments and neighbourhood-wide Combined Heat and Power (CHP).

Team

The study was carried out through extensive client-side workshops and collaboration. The team was WMUD, Kevin Murray Associates, Nick Wright Planning and MRC McLean Hazel.

Positive strategic role

There is definite potential to undertake significant development on the study area – and to influence regeneration in the surrounding areas in the northern part of the Borough and in adjoining boroughs, and possibly even at a London level and beyond. The full scope and scale of transformation is dependent on a number of factors, including the ability to capitalise upon opportunities and address some very real constraints.

Constraints

There are a number of key constraints affecting development of the site particularly:

• The rail and canal corridors form barriers to north-south movement within and beyond the site. Whilst development could possibly be built over the railway, this is unlikely to be viable for the canal.
• Safety concerns around the gasholders are likely to prevent residential development on portions of the site as long as the gasholders are in place (until at least 2016).
• The single vehicular connection to the site makes it isolated, both in terms of public and private transport. It also places significant physical constraints on the quantum of development.
• The existing Sainsbury’s store may or may not wish to move from its current site – it could possibly be redeveloped as part of a larger, denser development.
• Crossrail are seeking to use part of the southern portion of the site as a temporary bus garage during construction works, to 2017.

Recommendation

The recommendation is to pursue as ambitious an option as possible in partnership with the key landowners, and to continue to build up the parallel case for a station. We see this option being represented as a composite of C and D at this stage, beginning in the eastern part of the site, and extending westwards over time as the gas holders are decommissioned. This composite is more ambitious than options A and B, but is more feasible than option E. It could also provide a basis for including part of option F if the opportunity presents itself.

Scenario development
Given that this stage in the process was upstream of generating any real development proposals, it was necessary to explore a wide range of possibilities in an open, value free way. Therefore, rather than ‘design’ a selection of alternative indicative schemes, the method at this stage was to explore and develop a range of scenarios (future circumstances) with associated development typologies (physical place outcomes). At this stage of feasibility testing we considered it important not to prejudge any outcome, nor to have premature preferences that may preclude creative options be explored. Also, we found it particularly important to be open-minded about both cost-value parameters (these changed even in the short time of the study) and about a potential Crossrail station – even though this has been a desired outcome of the Council – because it is not in itself a ‘given’ component.



The scenario approach used enabled different kinds of future circumstances and outcomes to be constructed, explored and developed, then further reviewed and tested for feasibility and desirability. This method was wide-ranging including scenarios various people acknowledged were more or less desirable. It was not simply a wish list of a few idealised end-states. These scenarios were explored in a future situation (2025) well beyond the limits of current policy, and also without community involvement at this ‘upstream’ stage.

Our view is that this open, relatively creative approach demonstrates a wide range of possibilities. Importantly, it generated a wide range of relevant issues for further testing, review and, where appropriate, policy action and dialogue with landowners and statutory bodies.

The study team comprised Kevin Murray Associates (lead), Willie Miller Urban Design (WMUD), Alan Baxter Associates, Battle McCarthy, Colliers CRE and Gardiner & Theobald.

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has been particularly active in drawing attention to the merits of these Freiburg developments in its excellent revamped journal (only available online to members). Articles by Nicholas Falk on the general lessons of the developments (JTCPA Vol 76 no 10 October 2007) and Steve Melia focusing on mobility (JTCPA Vol 76 no 11 November 2007) provide an excellent overview of the developments.

The list of achievements at Rieselfeld is almost endless and mind-boggling from a UK perspective, it would be remarkable to achieve but a few of these. For example:

• the city council controls the process from the outset rather than responding to private developers
• the community is closely engaged in the development process at every level – there is a definite sense of pride and local distinctiveness
• planners allow individual designs within an overall framework of design codes – generally the design of the buildings is simple, contemporary and refreshingly style-free in comparison to the UK preference for pastiche
• there is a rich and diverse landscape with strong links to an adjacent country park – the overall feel of the development is green and open despite a grid layout and 3-5 storey buildings – and there is an integral SUDS which is an attractive central feature of the development (see top image)
• cyclists and pedestrians have priority throughout and there is a direct 7 minute tram link service to the city centre – in addition to this the speed limit is 18 mph (30 km/h) within the development
• there is a predominance of underground car parking throughout or carports with storage above – even housing blocks at the rural edge of the development have basement parking
• there is a wide range of community facilities include kindergarten, children’s centre, sports area, churches, gymnasium, meeting centres, primary and secondary schools, sports clubs and day nursery – the schools are the hub of the community
• there is a district centre with shops and a church shared by Protestants and Catholics
• there is combined heat and power throughout with connection to a district heating system combined with low energy building and considerable use of solar power

click on this image to enlarge | to close, ESC or click on X bottom right

At Rieselfeld, many aspects have combined to create something special. The masterplan and the physical aspects of the development are a major part of this – they are many years ahead of the dumb architect led masterplans so common in the UK. But the crucial elements lie beyond the physical plan. These are:

• a development culture in which the public sector plays a strong central role in contrast to private sector dominance in the UK
• small development parcels commissioned by groups of people who are going to be the occupiers rather than by developers who have no long term interest in the scheme
• the local authority controls the process of site release preferring to release small sites to groups rather than large sites to developers
• a considerable mix of tenures, house types and sizes throughout the development and these are indistinguishable from each other
• a different system for funding infrastructure such as transport facilities, energy and waste systems

Rieselfeld is not the only example of excellence in the development of eco-communities and sustainable extensions – Hammarby Sjöstad, a suburb of Stockholm is currently considered one of the world’s most sustainable communities as reported by the Guardian on 5 December 2007. There is a CABE case study of the development here. It is to be expected that many more of these developments will take place in Europe over the next few years. The UK has much catching up to do.

Useful links:
Freiburg Rieselfeld Photoset
Solar City Freiburg
Lessons from Freiburg – URBED
Solar Cities: European Habitats of Tomorrow
Rieselfeld Website

The major retrospective exhibition of the work of Gillespie Kidd and Coia currently showing at the Lighthouse in Glasgow features two films on the approach of this distinguished architecture practice. This short video clip made available by bd-online is a mini-lecture on St Paul’s Glenrothes, Fife (1957) by Andy MacMillan.

The mini-lecture is notable not just for its clarity and modesty but also for the way in which the proposed building was seen as an important landmark in the new town. The process of arriving and entering the building was thought out with considerable sensitivity and is a perfect transition from external space to sanctuary.

Glenrothes is not a great achievement of 20th century urban development – it is a Mark I New Town with a very suburban and dispersed layout, not unlike many public sector housing estates from the same period. St Paul’s seems to be a very sensible response to issues of identity and orientation in an undistinguished landscape.

Link to other GK&C videos from Building Design Magazine
Link to the exhibition website
Link to the Twentieth Century Society

A Flash slideshow featuring public realm strategy work in Renfrew, Byres Road in Glasgow, Ashington in Northumberland and West Port, Dundee.

At Renfrew, we were asked to develop proposals for Hairst Street and High Street which would bring about significant change in the town centre environment. We worked up a shared surface proposal with Martin Stockley Associates which is shown on the slideshow.

The work on Byres Road was part of the Byres Road and Partick Centres study with Halcrow. We proposed a series of new urban spaces at the intersections of side streets with Byres Road.

In Ashington, we produced a range of proposals for sites and buildings in and around the town centre and some of these have been implemented.

The study of West Port, Dundee proposed structuring development framing new public spaces along a stretch of dual carraigeway constructed in the 1960s.

Our current work on a [tag]masterplan[/tag] for [tag]Gretna[/tag] has brought us into contact with the work of [tag]Raymond Unwin[/tag]. Unwin set out a plan for the development of Gretna early in World War I as a new settlement to house the considerable number of workers in the munitions factory that had been developed nearby on the Solway Firth.

In Gretna today, only a few streets and buildings are attributed to Unwin and his partner [tag]C M Crickmer[/tag] but these have a special character and quality that mark them out from the rest of the town. Some of the characteristics of these areas include broad tree-lined streets with narrow roadways and grass verges, generous gardens and brick housing – either terraced or four-in-a-block – with shallow plans and long frontages.

The area is laid out in a winding picturesque pattern of streets focusing on set-pieces including a church and a formal park. It is so obvious that these areas are the work of a skilled hand with a particular attitude to building towns – it is more than just architecture.

In his book Town Planning in Practice: An Introduction to the Art of Designing Cities and Suburbs (published in 1911 but reprinted by the Princeton Press in 1981), Unwin wrote:

“My experience has been that when the town planner himself becomes the site planner, and concentrated the whole of his thought on one portion of the site, arranging buildings and open spaces upon it, he can generally improve considerably in detail on the preliminary scheme sketched out in connection with his town plan.”

“In site planning a thorough study of the site and a survey of its levels, its trees, the prospects which it affords, and any features of interest it contains are as essential to success as in the case of town planning. It has been too common for site planners to work out there plans on paper only, and to save themselves trouble by clearing away trees and hedgerows, wherever these happen to come in the way of the plan. No system can be more foolish, for a new building estate, at best, looks raw and poor, the gardens empty or filled only with small struggling shrubs and plants; and nothing so helps the early appearance of a building site as the preservation of existing trees, and even sometimes of existing hedgerows. Where for example, a road can be made to run alongside a well-grown old hedgerow a beautiful decoration and a special characteristic is at once secured for that road, and a sense of privacy for the gardens, which it would take perhaps many years to secure by new growth.”

“In planning out a site, whether large or small, one of the first considerations should be to determine the centre point of the design. In any but very small sites there are likely to be required some buildings of a larger or more public character than the dwelling-houses – such, for example, as churches, chapels, public halls, institutes, libraries, baths, wash-houses, shops, inns or hotels, elementary and other schools; and it would probably be well, having decided which, if any, of these are likely to be required, to group them in some convenient situation, and of them to form a centre for the scheme.”

Some of the pages from this book are available on Google Books.

The few streets of Unwin’s work in Gretna amply demonstrate how he was able to turn principle into practice – as he was able to do conspicuously in Hampstead Garden Suburb above. They also sit very comfortable in the 21st century – they are safe and walkable, they keep traffic in check, they have generous private and public open spaces together with well placed centres and focal points.

Raymond Unwin has provided us with excellent examples of how to create [tag]new neighbourhoods[/tag] and has given Gretna a worthy pattern for extension and new building.

Link to more information about Unwin on the Letchworth Garden City website.

Link to previous post about the Gretna Masterplan commission.

Link to Gretna photoset.

The CELL area is situated in Castle Morpeth in comprises four settlements – Cresswell, Ellington, Linton and Lynemouth. These four settlements have similar problems but they also have distinct characteristics which are important to recognise when planning for their future. The villages have been largely dependent on the mining economy of south east Northumberland which has now ended, though the Lynemouth aluminium smelter remains, depending now on imported coal.

We are part of the Roger Tym and Partners team which has been appointed by Castle Morpeth Strategic Partnership and ENRgI to prepare a masterplan for this area. Urban design issues within the settlement boundaries will be an important part of the masterplan proposal but they should be seen in the broader context of the surrounding countryside and coastal landscape. Although the area is rich in history, this has not expressed itself particularly through distinctive architecture and townscape. The unique character of the settlements is more the result of a complex mixture of land uses, focal points, community nodes and modest brick and stone architecture.

As part of the urban design framework, we will devise a spatial concept that draws together these disparate components into a more cohesive whole whilst creating new opportunities for change through new building, external spaces and a more useful landscape framework for the settlements. A central part of this will be a critical examination of settlement structure and function. This will allow alternative scenarios to be developed with clear development options and frameworks for comparative assessment. Having established future settlement structures and functions we will set out a rationale for improving certain spaces, adopting distinct design approaches and identifying priorities for investment.

The components of the urban design framework would be inter-related strategies covering overall settlement structures and functions integrated in the broader landscape context, places including hubs, focal points, features and special areas of the CELL area that can sensibly and beneficially be the target of investment. We will also include a network strategy, arrival strategy and streetscape and public realm proposals as well as development opportunities.

We propose an integrated approach to the urban design framework for the area which seeks to match the physical opportunities with the scope for economic and social renewal. We will take an all-embracing holistic view of the settlement and its potential for improvement, including the need to achieve an acceptable balance between the desires and needs of different user groups.

We have been commissioned by Antrim Borough Council to produce masterplans for the towns of Crumlin and Randalstown. The aim of the study is to identify an appropriate framework for an integrated approach to ensure the future sustainable development of both settlements. The strategies should provide separate robust and flexible blueprints for the two towns and address their relationship to Antrim town itself.

The Terms of Reference for the Crumlin and Randalstown Masterplans identifies a number of specific objectives. The plans have to bring forward realistic proposals that will help achieve a vision for the physical, structural and economic regeneration of both settlements in the context of local strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. The plans should identify derelict, vacant and underused and inefficiently used land and buildings, assess their development potential and make recommendations for their future use or relocation.

In addition to this, the masterplans should assess the potential for riverside development (Randalstown: River Maine & Crumlin River) including Council owned amenity land and physical linkages between parts of the urban area. They should illustrate how the towns can be developed and set out the key actions required by the private and public sectors to achieve this. It is necessary to demonstrate how linkages between the core retail areas and adjacent residential areas can be improved including proposals for improved pedestrian and vehicular access with particular attention to appropriate provision for persons with disabilities.

We are working with Douglas Wheeler Associates and Doran Consulting on this study.

We have been appointed by East Dunbartonshire Council to prepare a Design Guide for the village of Twechar incorporating a Landscape Masterplan. The brief describes an interesting and important piece of work – it is also highly topical. It seeks to address a central issue faced by most communities, local councils and planners in the early 21st century – how best can new development be accommodated in or added to existing settlements? The effectiveness of planning control in producing appropriate standards of new development is often in doubt – not just in Twechar and East Dunbartonshire but throughout the country as a whole. The Twechar approach, as set out in the brief, is potentially ground breaking and immensely constructive.

The proposed Design Guide is a by-product of the Masterplan produced by Kevin Murray Associates in 2005. This document drew attention to the particular sensitivity of the local environment, external views and proximity of the greenbelt and proposed that the highest possible standards will need to be adopted when designing new buildings and landscaping.

The desired outputs from the proposed study are a development code to guide the overall structure and typologies of the village, a building design and materials code to ensure that the quality and character of new buildings is consistent and sustainable, an open space strategy including a landscape and planting strategy, a signing strategy and a detailed actionable landscape masterplan.

We think that the Design Guide should set out a vision of the future character of the village and the criteria and processes that will be necessary in order to achieve that vision. Normally a plan is a passive thing, providing a framework for future development. We think that the Twechar Design Guide should be an active document used as a kind of manual for the future, involving agencies, communities and developers in a joint exploration of possibilities and results, with a common agenda for the future of the village.

Our recent work throughout the UK has given us a broad perspective on recent initiatives in new design and implementation through design briefing, design guidance and design coding. Each is different and each has seen varying degrees of success and it is important to be aware of the merits of each approach.

We aspire to produce a multifaceted Design Guide which results in an enhanced image of the village as well as finding ways of adding new development to the attractive landscape of Twechar without damage or diminution of its essential qualities.

We are working with Drew Mackie Associates and Martin Stockley Associates on this work.