Design codes as a collaborative tool
At Upton, design codes have been used to raise the standard of housebuilding and encourage developers to explore the Northamptonshire vernacular rather than to prescribe architectural style,say Guy Briggs and Giles Thomson
Project background and context
Upton forms phase one of the South West District, the designated expansion area within Northampton. The urban extension on 44 ha (108.7 acres) of greenfield land is within 20 minutes walk of the railway station and a 10-minute bus ride of the town centre. When complete, Upton will comprise 1,382 homes, a local centre and a primary school.
In 2001, a consortium of English Partnerships (the landowner), The Prince’s Foundation and Northampton Borough Council embarked on the Upton project to demonstrate and promote sustainable urban growth. This new urban extension was to involve innovative stakeholder engagement as an integral part of developing the spatial plan.
Back in 1997 a conventional, car-oriented, residential layout had been granted outline planning permission for the Upton site. However, a consultant team led by EDAW challenged the principles and design of this permission at an Enquiry by Design (EbD) workshop in 2001. This team was then appointed to work with the local community.
Following the EbD workshop, a new framework plan was developed based on design principles agreed with the stakeholders. A design code was used to maintain quality throughout implementation. This code is used as a tool for collaboration with the major housebuilders, with the objective of raising the standard of UK housebuilding based on traditional placemaking principles and high environmental performance.
The development of Upton’s masterplan has taken an integrated and holistic approach to sustainability, seeking to balance environmental, economic, ecological and social issues. This is reflected in strategies that:
- reduce resource consumption and the production of waste;
- enhance the site’s biodiversity;
- increase the efficiency of infrastructure provision;
- balance provision of homes with local jobs and amenities;
- create a distinctive and identifiable place.
Environment and ecology
Environmental sustainability is integrated at every level. It informs the layout and urban design of the masterplan through building orientation, rainwater management and street network and by minimising the carbon footprints of the buildings.
The masterplan creates a compact urban form that encourages residents to walk to local amenities and reduce their dependence on cars. Orientation of streets and buildings maximise natural lighting in buildings, and increases the efficiency of rooftop photovoltaic cells. At the same time, care has been taken to ensure that a strong sense of place is well integrated with the overall environmental strategy.
The masterplan provides an extensive landscape network that incorporates green space and sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) measures. This extensive and accessible landscape network re-engages residents with nature, promotes a more active lifestyle and encourages biodiversity.
The SUDS incorporates green swales into the streetscape that help manage surface water drainage and encourage on-site infiltration. This provides an excellent network for local wildlife, in turn promoting biodiversity for the wider area. The use of SUDS is also incorporated into the two neighbourhood squares, local play areas and playing fields. Excess water is gravity-fed through the SUDS network to the Nene Way long distance footpath and Upton Country Park before finally draining into natural watercourses.
Alongside the site-wide measures, all buildings in Upton will achieve a minimum BREEAM Excellent rating, which is equivalent to Code 3 or 4 under the recently published Code for Sustainable Homes. The ratings will be achieved through a holistic approach to green building design and planned layout, as well as environmental technologies such as photovoltaic cells, wool insulation, solar hot water systems, micro wind turbines, micro CHP, green roofs, rainwater harvesting systems and locally sourced building materials.
Economic sustainability
The average net density of 45 dw/ha at Upton ensures the efficient use and viability of infrastructure including the local centre, public transport and community facilities. Shared amenities are important tools in creating social bonds and promote equity within the new community. The local centre has been carefully planned to meet resident needs by offering shops, offices, a pub, a nursery and live-work units. The inclusion of workspace and flexible building forms encourages working from home.
The masterplan design guidelines specify high-quality public realm design and architecture to retain long-term investment value. The establishment of the Upton Management Company will provide stewardship and maintain the public realm, SUDS, neighbourhood squares and playing fields.
Consultation and engagement
Momentum generated by the EbD workshops has been maintained through the Upton Steering Committee, which meets every six to eight weeks, with membership drawn from local residents, Upton Parish Council, NBC Council, project partners and key consultants.
Quality landscape and architecture design, building up the Northamton vernacular
A range of architectural styles
Terrace house with clearly identifiable front doors and passive surveillance of public space
Dwelling ovrelook the multifunctional public realm that includes green space and SUDS network
SUDS wetland manages runoff and creates wildlife habitat
Follow-up workshop sessions have promoted dialogue between key stakeholders and residents from adjacent farmland. This collaborative approach helps build trust within the existing communities and establishes buy-in for detailed decisions during implementation. These decisions range from the gradient of SUDS channels to the choice of solar-powered, real-time display at bus shelters. The Upton Management Company will take an active part in the development of the local community. In addition to its management obligations, it will also play a key role in initiating community events. On completion of development, the management company will be transferred to residents’ control.
The importance of placemaking
The physical framework of Upton aims to establish a distinct local identity for a new community through the use of firm and clear design guidelines, masterplan and development principles.
The masterplan establishes a structure of streets – rather than roads – with a clear hierarchy. Different street types such as a main street, urban mews and country lanes create different character areas within the urban form. Development is laid out as perimeter blocks, with identifiable front doors and rear courtyards, to distinguish public and private space. Orientation of windows allows natural surveillance of public areas, while semi-private courtyards provide a safe environment for children to play.
The design codes promote legibility at Upton by identifying focal points at key locations. Importantly, they do not prescribe a particular architectural style, but encourage developer teams to explore and interpret the Northamptonshire vernacular. This has helped in the development of a place that, while expressing no uniform architectural language, nevertheless has overall cohesion.
Guy Briggs (director) and Giles Thomson are urban designers in EDAW’s London office. The Upton project has been led by Andrew Jones and Rosanna Law at EDAW for English Partnerships
Key points
The development team has:
- helped the community to understand development in a semi-rural environment
- encouraged developers to meet the spirit of the code rather than dilute their scheme to meet the letter of the documents
- ensure that professional design teams were working to the same ends
- led mediation with stakeholders: the Environment Agency, the local education authority, county highways authority and community groups
Lessons learned
- The involvement of Northampton Borough Council and Northampton County Council in the design code’s development ensured that code-compliant detailed planning application would gain approval swiftly
- The use of a two-phase bidding process ensures that shortlisted schemes are high quality design, though it is a resource intensive exercise that placed a financial burden on both the developers and the enforcers of the design codes
- To ensure that high quality is implemented, it is important for design champions to be involved in the delivery process, and not only at scheme design stage
- Design codes ensure a degree of project continuity, particularly when there are changes of personnel within the organisations involved over a seven-year period
- The order and phasing of delivery between infrastructure, housing and community facilities needs to be considered as part of the sustainable community plan. Upton has demonstrated how local amenities can be delivered in good time to support an emerging community
L:Assembly of Urbansim
R:Axon diagram
