Master Planning
For Haysom Ward Miller, masterplanning is a process which emerges from a study of the relationships which exist within a place and a community. Good planning should not only embody and reflect those relationships but should enhance, nurture and strengthen those connections. Masterplanning is not the impositions of a formal structural plan, viewed from above; it is about reading, revealing and extending existing patterns, viewed at ground level, which make up that complex matrix of relationships, habits and practices of our daily lives.
Planning therefore begins with a thorough process of engagement, observation and mapping. The planner must first develop an intimate understanding of that community. Engagement is complex, and can draw out conflicting hopes and aspirations; people have different ideas for how their community should grow and the role of the planner is to listen, reflect and probe with great sensitivity to help the community to arrive at a framework for positive growth.
Historically growth would have been incremental, with each addition easily reflecting the local patterns of movement, hierarchies, and regional vernacular forms and materials. Modern development is more often planned in large blocks and often subservient to external determinants such as vehicle movement, servicing and statutory controls. The processes and forces of development become detached from the communities most affected by that growth. It need not be so. Our experience is that when communities are consulted through a process of genuine ongoing engagement, the process can become an impetus for positive growth which can help build strong and resilient communities for existing and future residents.
The existing built environment carries a rich and layered history which time has nurtured to reflect the social and economic patterns of our lives. The forms and materials speak of our environment, shared history and culture. Our built interventions are an extension of that dialogue in a conversation that will continue on into the future, so we must build with the greatest care to ensure that what we communicate is intelligible, relevant, inclusive and open for those many voices to continue that narrative into a positive future.
For us the city should be conceived of as an eco-system: rich, vibrant, multi-layered and full of life. There are conflicting forces and symbiotic relationships. It is a place of phenomenal energy drawn out of the richness and variety of life. A city is evolved and is evolving. A city is not a machine; a machine is engineered, efficient but a dead thing. A city is chaotic, full of vestigial bits intricate and complex, but this is what makes it resilient and alive. The architect and planner is like a gardener, nurturing weeding and planting, channelling life.
Oxford and Cambridge Arc
Our competition entry for the new Oxford and Cambridge Arc was our attempt to map and understand these patterns and forms which have emerged as part of the historic growth of a Cambridgeshire village; patterns which were intimately aligned with the landscape, the waterways, topography, geology and the human connections across its surface. Our proposal was to carry out similar studies of villages along the new line, and propose small scale incremental growth following those intrinsic contextual patterns.
Community Land Trust Development, Manor Farm, Stretham
The masterplanning and design for 100 houses for a Community Land Trust (CLT) in Stretham began with a process of engagement and consultation. We walked the site with local residents to map desire lines etched into the landscape by dog walkers and residents, using their knowledge to make the most of views to locate the future open spaces and plan for movement and connections back to the village. We recorded and mapped the local patterns and forms of the old village to understand the street hierarchies and building placement and then developed design proposals which reflected the scale, massing and growth patterns of this existing historic fabric. This process empowered the local community to engage with the process rather than resist change. The process began in 2012, and ten years on we are now in the fourth phase of housing and working with the Parish Council, alongside the CLT, to design a new Village Hub on the site, to include a village hall, start up business units, a social venue, meeting rooms and possibly a future GP surgery and health centre.
Almshouses, Great Shelford Client GSPC
This housing project of twenty-one almshouses was developed with the client, a local almshouse charity, on a site they owned on the edge of the village and in the greenbelt. The Masterplan began with an eighteen month process of engagement and consultation with the local community, including the delicate subject of relocating existing allotments. The Masterplan was integral to the landscape design, by landscape architect Emily Haysom, to ensure that the generous open spaces would connect with the local surroundings and ecological corridors from the outset. At the Planning committee meeting, the Chair of the Parish Council and the Local District Councillor volunteered to speak in favour of the proposal. The scheme was awarded unanimous consent.
Self Build Development, Great Dunmow
The proposal at Great Dunmow was an opportunity for us to test our ideas of masterplanning for slow incremental open-ended growth. An early analysis of the landscape determined the least ecologically sensitive areas where the housing should be located taking into account the topography and views into and out from the site. As an entirely Custom-Build development, purchasers could develop their own plan from a selection of house forms which could be configured according to each plot orientation and the purchaser’s individual needs.
Community Land Trust Development, Wilburton
The engagement for this site began with an analysis of how the village of Wilburton had evolved over the last 100 years, and we were able to identify from the local residents which patterns of development were liked and which were less liked. The more recent estates were regarded as less favourable, whereas the pattern of the high street was much preferred, with close grained compact houses lining the street, and narrow alleyways leading to various yards, courts and commercial spaces behind the frontage. The other pattern identified was the rural farmstead, with buildings of various sizes and scales, from sheds through to large barns and manor houses, all clustered around central courts.