The Design Principles Document (DPD) was a requirement of an outline planning consent and was produced in response to a specific planning condition prior to further reserved matters applications. The condition was added to ensure that the site came forward in a coherent manner and based on good design principles as opposed to a series of separate house builder products. The site will deliver around 1,100 new homes, a primary school and local centre as well as employment land and retained equestrian centre and farm buildings. As such it will form a major urban extension to the historic town of Nantwich as well as creating a new community. Our process involved extensive consultation with the client group, local authority, local community groups and regional Design Review Panel ‘Places Matter!’ Carefully structured and written to be clearly understood and easy to use, our approach centred around three key themes of Streets, Spaces and Materiality, derived from a thorough baseline assessment and understanding of the local context and place.
Our process involved extensive consultation with the client group, local authority, local community groups and regional Design Review Panel ‘Places Matter!’ Carefully structured and written to be clearly understood and easy to use, our approach centred around three key themes of Streets, Spaces and Materiality derived from a thorough baseline assessment and understanding of the local context and place.
A robust vision provided a springing point for the design principles to emerge. The process involved testing the emerging principles at each stage with key stakeholders including Nantwich Civic Society and local residents. At the heart of the principles is a landscape and green infrastructure strategy which builds on the existing conditions and creates a series of engaging and distinctive character areas across the site. Planting, materials, street furniture and street design all play a key role in establishing this narrative, against which the design and materiality of the new homes sits comfortably.
Key spaces and gateways are designed in more detail with building frontages, heights and materiality playing a more important role to ensure a cohesive approach to design and legibility is achieved.
A checklist and summary matrix provide a legible and easily understandable conclusion to the DPD, and also provided a clear and concise method of ensuring compliance with specific requirements of the planning condition, as well as against acknowledged criteria for good design such as Building for Life 12.