St Helier’s character

This [tag]animation[/tag] of the [tag]historical development[/tag] of the beautiful Channel Islands town of [tag]St Helier[/tag] was part of our study for the States of Jersey in 2005.

The study was commissioned by the Planning and Environment Department of the States of Jersey and originated in the Island Plan which was approved in July 2002. In particular, Policy BE1 stated that:

“The Planning and Environment Committee will initiate an appraisal of the [tag]urban character[/tag] and [tag]townscape[/tag] of the town of St. Helier as an aid to the process of preserving and enhancing its character and in guiding policy formulation and the assessment of planning applications”.

The appraisal of the urban character of the town coupled with [tag]design guidance[/tag] for each character area forms the core of the study. The guidance is set in a strategic policy context which identifies potential change in each area and makes proposals for conservation and physical intervention. The design guidance could enable the States of Jersey to take a new approach to assessing and processing planning applications.

The complete Final Report is available to download from the States of Jersey website (in chapters). and includes sections on the methodology, the key findings, issues from urban design perspective and proposition for the content of future planning guidance. Alternatively it can be downloaded from here (15.89 MB).

Our co-consultants were Drew Mackie Associates (consultation), Yellow Book Ltd (strategic vision), Gordon Urquhart (historical research and conservation) and Malcolm Fraser Architects (interventions).

See also our companion study of the Local Distinctiveness of Bolton Town Centre.

There is a image gallery of St Helier here.