Land on Thornbury's western edge had outline permission for up to 595 homes, won at appeal by the landowners. A housebuilder asked whether all 595 would fit its own house types. We plotted them, 208 affordable, in about two weeks.
Our coverage plan, revision e, August 2023: the 595 homes plotted in the housebuilder's own house types. A feasibility drawing, not an approved or built layout.
Outline permission for up to 595 homes on 35.97 hectares, won at appeal by the landowners in February 2023. A housebuilder then asked us to test the number against its own house types.
The outline permission was the landowners', won at appeal in February 2023 with every matter but access reserved. We made no planning application here, and our layout was a feasibility test, not an approved scheme.
The outline fixed the land uses and a ceiling of 595 homes, 35% of them affordable and 5% self-build plots. It did not show whether the housebuilder's standard range would plot to that number.
The brief: a CAD layout and an accommodation schedule in about two weeks, ready for its engineers.
From our accommodation schedule, revision e; indicative at feasibility stage.
Dates from our project correspondence.
The open space, school land and allotments were fixed by the outline. With the ground plan full, the extra homes came from three-storey apartment blocks.
All 595 homes plotted in the housebuilder's own house types. The 208 affordable homes, shaded, sit in eleven of the twelve parcels, with an accessible M4(2) type where the brief asked for one.
Coverage plan, revision e. Not to scale. Zoom to read it.
Density came from height. Three-storey apartment blocks, darkest, carry it where the ground plan was full; the homes elsewhere stay at two and two and a half storeys.
Storey heights, July 2023. Not to scale. Zoom to read it.
The outline fixed four kinds of open space. We measured each against its figure, from 3,000 m² of allotments to 120,800 m² of natural open space, and drew the street hierarchy to the outline's design and access statement.
Open space and streets, July 2023. Not to scale. Zoom to read it.
595 plotted, 208 affordable.
The housebuilder's own range carried the full outline number, the affordable mix and every open space figure, on a layout its engineers could plan roads and drainage from.
Testing a site? Ask us
The outline set a ceiling. The test was whether the housebuilder's own product reached it inside the land the outline left for homes.
The land west of Park Farm, on the north-western edge of Thornbury in South Gloucestershire, was granted outline permission at appeal in February 2023 for up to 595 homes, land for a primary school, a retail and community hub and a network of open spaces. The appeal was the landowners', and every matter except access was reserved.
That June a national housebuilder asked us to test the number against its own product: plot 595 homes in its standard house types inside the outline's parameter plans, with 35% affordable and 5% self-build, and send a CAD layout with an accommodation schedule in about two weeks.
We agreed the net and gross areas with the housebuilder's design team first, leaving out the open space, school land and allotments and counting roads with homes on one side at half, so the density figures were consistent. The first plotted layout went out on 12 July. Where the affordable homes needed an accessible type, the schedule used an M4(2) house type, so the count and the standard were met together.
With the ground plan full, the extra density came from height: three-storey apartment blocks rather than a wider spread, so the open space stayed whole. Revision e of the layout and the schedule went to the housebuilder on 2 August 2023 for its land decision. Our role ended there, and we made no planning application on the site.
We measured the developable land, plotted every home in the housebuilder's range, and scheduled the mix, the areas and the open space for its land and engineering teams.
Agreed with the housebuilder's design team.
First layout issued 12 July 2023.
Feasibility only. We made no planning application.
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