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In order to createa truly sustainabledevelopment it is

essential that everyenvironmental aspect isconsidered before the

ground is broken.ROGER HUNT plans

ahead.

ENVIROMENTALmasterplanning

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Spare a moment to understand howsustainable development may be achievedand it becomes obvious that an essentialfirst step is a masterplan: if well conceivedit helps achieve the physical, social andeconomic revival of a place and the creationof a community where people enjoy living,working and playing. While these are the essential characteristics

of sustainability, masterplanners must take aholistic view if they are to unlock a site’s truepotential. As the BRE information paper‘Delivering a Sustainable Masterplan’ explains,masterplanning for sustainability can besubdivided into eight categories: climatechange, resources, transport, place-making,ecology, community, business and buildings.

By addressing such multifaceted issues, themasterplan can deliver a more sustainable andinclusive development but, as the BRE papermakes clear, it is important to realise thatsustainable masterplanning is an integratedprocess, “sustainability cannot be treated asan ‘add-on’”.Every development requires a different

solution. Finding the most suitable is part ofthe masterplanning and place-making processbut it is also critical to get the urban designstructure or framework right, with passiverather than active design solutions as the firstpart of this process. “The building forms should be orientated to

benefit from their environment, to maximisesunlight penetration and collection for residents

THIS IMAGE Clay Farm, Cambridgeshire, where PRPArchitects is working as part of a multidisciplinary teamfor Countryside Properties

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areas with the hope of providing a catalyst forinvestment and regeneration in the area. The parkalso provides for biodiversity and a route toconnect the schemes to the council’s nearbywaste to energy power plant. For its Polnoon development, near Eaglesham

Village in East Renfrewshire, housebuilderMactaggart & Mickel worked closely with theScottish Government, councilors and the localcommunity for two years ‘from the idea to design’to create a new neighbourhood. Evolving the masterplan relied on a range of

workshops, community consultations anddiscussions with key stakeholders. Over 40 keysustainable characteristics were built into it,categorised by movement, buildings, open spaceand infrastructure. Features include sustainableurban drainage systems, new and retained treeplanting, soil management, traffic calmingmeasures, enhanced boundary treatments, acentral square as a neighbourhood hub, newpedestrian pathways and a correlation oftopography and mix of heights.A number of the key elements that have to be in

place to ensure the successful delivery ofexemplar low carbon development were identifiedby PRP Architects when it produced its ‘BeyondEcotowns – applying the lessons from Europe’report in October 2008. These ranged frombuilding in the right places and working with, andfor, the local community to climate proofing andmaking the most of scarce resources. Robert Coles, director PRP, contends that there

and users of the facilities for example,” saysRussell Pedley, director, Assael Architecture.“Promoting ecology through green or brown roofs,winter gardens and so on should also beconsidered at the outset. Ponds and swales canprovide habitats while helping to manage surfacewater run-off. “The second part of this process should be the

deployment of active solutions using renewableenergy sources assessed at a macro level,contributing to the environmental performance ofthe buildings themselves.”Colin Veitch, a director of GRID Architects,

asserts that masterplans are ultimately the meansby which social structures are established andsupported. “The pitfalls of a poor masterplan arenormally due to lack of investigation into the siteand making assumptions about the way a placeworks, often without insight provided by listening tothe people who currently use it.”Such failings were avoided at Marine Wharf,

one of six former industrial sites, all in differentownerships, spread over 7.3 hectares ofDeptford, south-east London. Although onlycommissioned by Berkeley Homes on MarineWharf, GRID quickly recognised that amasterplan was required to propose an overallvision for the area and establish a framework forthe development of the individual sites.Basing the masterplan around a strip of land

associated with the former Grand Surrey canal, itprovides a new public footpath along a linear park.This connects Marine Wharf to other development

LEFT Barratt East London's 140-million scheme inLewisham will have an energy centre that will serve allelements of the scheme as well as the adjoiningschool and leisure centre ABOVE MJP Architects'vision of sustainable suburbia – a walkable gardensuburb

OPPOSITE PAGETOP GRID Architects recognised that a masterplanwas required at Marine Wharf in Deptford, south eastLondon MIDDLE & BOTTOM At its Polnoondevelopment, near Eaglesham Village in EastRenfrewshire, housebuilder Mactaggart & Mickel hasdeveloped a masterplan with over 40 key sustainablecharacteristics

“A more environmentally sensitive approach is phased,smaller, human scale developments. These can give

better residual land values, lower construction costs andmaximise design quality. The homes are in demand, amuch better scenario than saturating the market”

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are various ways you can adopt a sustainableapproach which is also affordable. “For example,you can maximise the site’s natural resources byusing naturally occurring sand or stone as buildingmaterials. You can also create water features,which add value to the development and create afocal point, yet also fulfill the need for sustainableurban drainage. Creating a sense of place or‘place-making’ is especially important with thelarger schemes, which are often built today.”Interestingly, Assael Architecture’s Russell Pedley

believes that a masterplan need not be big.“Historically, developers have built massive, highdensity developments delivering thousands ofhomes alongside a mix of uses, all of whichrequire extensive infrastructure or sit on servicingdecks or basements. This approach is expensivenot least because of the development costsassociated with this scale of development, but alsobecause you have to finish most of the schemebefore you can complete the sale of the first flat.“A more environmentally sensitive approach is

phased, smaller, human scale developments.These can give better residual land values, lowerconstruction costs and maximise design quality.The homes are in demand, a much better scenariothan saturating the market.”One aspect of masterplanning is that it offers the

opportunity to propose solutions that createeconomies of scale, especially where activities thatdo not work at a small scale can be combined to

produce huge gains and efficiencies.GRID’s Colin Veitch points out that masterplans

can make big contributions to creating straightroutes that follow ‘desire’ lines to connect areas toencourage non-car journeys.“Masterplans also enable land uses to be

located together to maximise social andenvironmental benefits and for energy productionto be centralised to provide renewable and/orefficient heating and power. In addition, biodiversitymay be consolidated by grouping small amenityspaces into larger parks or green ribbons; wasteand recycling facilities may be pooled; andtransport, access and parking arrangements, suchas car clubs, may be shared,” says Veitch.Tamsin McCabe, sustainable design consultant

at the consultancy Inbuilt, contends that it is nolonger acceptable that economic, social andenvironmental factors are played off against eachother. “Holistic sustainability works like a threelegged stool, if one of the legs is missing –economic / social / environment – or not equal, thestool does not work adequately.“To achieve holistic sustainability we propose a

layering system which will meet the overall needsof the planning authority and community moreclosely than the checklists in BREEAM, Code forSustainable Homes or BREEAM Communities.”According to McCabe the first step in this

layering system is the assessment of the site, areaand regional conditions, such as ecology, drought

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CONTACTSAssael Architecture www.assael.co.ukBRE www.bre.co.ukGRID Architects www.gridarchitects.co.ukInbuilt www.inbuilt.co.ukMJP Architects www.mjparchitects.co.ukPRP Architects www.prparchitects.co.uk

Read Roger Hunt’s blog: www.huntwriter.com orcontact him: roger@huntwriter.com

Meanwhile, the BRE has developed what itterms the ‘GreenPrint’ process to help designteams deliver masterplans that maximise theenvironmental sustainability of a development. Itfocuses on issues that a developer can influence,taking account of a site’s strengths andweaknesses as well as local priorities, policiesand targets.

allow local people to understand a range ofoptions for the development of a site in terms ofsuch things as residential building types and thepercentage of open space.MJP’s chairman, Sir Richard MacCormac,

argues that masterplans with significantly higherdensities than those that housebuilders havegenerally built to, do not result in an environmentof high rise buildings. “Densities of around 50dwellings per hectare mean that, with cleverlayout, you can still build family houses withgardens and create walkable neighbourhoodswhere people prevail over cars. At a certain scalepublic transport is viable and it is possible towalk to a local centre with shops, a primaryschool and amenities like a medical practice.Biodiversity is very much part of it and, withinthese densities, you can get up to 20 per cent ofthe land take as green open space which isavailable for children’s play, allotments orameliorating rainwater management.”

and flood risk, likely climate change impacts,existing community groups and infrastructure, andemployment and transport infrastructure. Thiswould usually include local authority requirements.The next level would look at BREEAM/Code

targets prescribed by local authorities or grantproviders. The third level considers additionalaspects to achieve holistic sustainability, identifyingsynergies with evolving local plans andrequirements – measures that are more innovativeand will fall outside of the other two layers.Employing the right ‘tools’ in masterplanning

can be hugely important. ‘Sustainable Suburbia– A Walkable Garden Suburb’, a report by MJPArchitects supported by the Homes andCommunities Agency, offers a ‘toolkit’ forinvestigating residential land capacity. Itexplores how far greater densities can beachieved which offer sustainable transport andlower infrastructure costs while still allowingprivacy and security. This has the potential to

ABOVE At Mill Hill East, PRP Architects was appointedby the The Inglis Consortium to develop a masterplanfor this suburban site at the heart of the LondonBorough of BarnetBOTTOM LEFT Clay Farm will comprise a newneighbourhood of 2,500 houses, local retail facilitiesand a new schoolBOTTOM RIGHT Loampit Vale in Lewisham, southeast London, designed by Assael Architecture

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