Stanton Cross
Realising the delivery of a new garden community.
Services: Planning, Masterplanning, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture
Location: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
Date: 2011 - present
Client: Bovis Homes / Vistry Group
Deliverables: Development Plan Representation, Masterplan, Landscape & Visual Appraisal, EIA, Design & Access Statement, Development / Design Briefs, Outline Planning Application, Reserved Matters Submission
Stanton Cross was first conceived as a sustainable urban extension to Wellingborough in the late 1990s. The creation of a new garden community with over 3000 new homes in this location has always had wide support from key stakeholders, both locally and nationally, recognising the socio-economic benefits that strategic growth in this location close to the train station and town centre would bring to the town.
However, the severance created by the Midland Mainline and the Rivers Ise and Nene, acute environmental constraints, required strategic infrastructure delivery and associated viability pressures has made its delivery challenging.
An Iterative Assessment and Design Process
The creative and iterative EIA and masterplanning process undertaken throughout the life of the project together with the seamless management of the planning process has sought to address those challenges. The development scheme has been shaped and refined to embed primary mitigation measures, define the optimal response to the planning policy context and site-specific opportunities and constraints, and ensure the swift implementation of the planning permissions that have been secured.
The resultant Masterplan builds on the historic radial structure of the town by bridging the rail and river corridors and creating strategic movement green infrastructure corridors that directly reconnect the site to the town. New railway station facilities are to be provided at a transport interchange on the principal Midland Road connection that is now open between the town centre and neighbourhood centre. The new road crosses the Ise Valley where a new Town and County Park is being created to provide a strategic recreation and environmental resource for the town and beautiful setting for the development.
Delivery
The first phases of residential development have proved to be extremely popular and are progressing quickly on site. A thriving community within Stanton Cross is emerging and the focus is now on accelerating the delivery of further phases through the preparation of design briefs and reserved matters submissions for the residential areas, key community facilities and green infrastructure in and around the neighbourhood centre to provide multi-generational live, work and recreation opportunities.
Station Island
Station Island is a unique development opportunity within Stanton Cross. It is ideally positioned to provide the handshake between the town and new community, but is also subject to a wide variety of acute constraints.
The approved Design Brief establishes a framework that will facilitate the creation of a vibrant and prosperous neighbourhood with a rich variety of residential, employment, commercial and community premises and a true sense of place that draws on both its heritage and dynamic nature close to the new railway station facilities.
Project Updates
August 2020 - Design Briefs Approved
The Council has now approved 3 Design Briefs that we prepared to facilitate the delivery of the next phases of development at Stanton Cross. The Briefs all focus on establishing placemaking design principles that link the original Masterplan Vision to the detailed design process.
The brief for the Neighbourhood Centre provides a framework for its delivery that reflects the shared aspiration for it to become a vibrant civic centre for the development. Subsequently, a detailed planning application by the contractor for the delivery of the first primary school has also been approved
December 2020 - Development Brief Approved for Station Island
Station Island is a unique development opportunity within Stanton Cross. It is ideally positioned to provide the handshake between the town and new community, but is also subject to a wide variety of acute constraints.
The Council has now approved our Development Brief that establishes a framework that will facilitate the creation of a vibrant and prosperous neighbourhood with a rich variety of residential, employment, commercial and community premises and a true sense of place that draws on both its heritage and dynamic nature close to the new railway station facilities.
September 2022 - Nene Valley and The Ridge Design Briefs Approved
The Council has approved 2 further Design Briefs that we prepared to facilitate the delivery of the next phases of development at Stanton Cross. The Briefs all focus on establishing placemaking design principles that link the original Masterplan Vision to the detailed design process.
The brief for the Nene Valley Area focuses on the need to positively respond to the area’s landscape character and environmental context, providing a community focus at the area’s interface with the wider Nene Valley landscape.
The Ridge Area is an important part of the Stanton Cross scheme that is strategically positioned between a Neighbourhood Centre, Local Centre and the reserved secondary school site. The brief provides the framework for delivering a new neighbourhood with housing and community facilities, interconnected by green corridors and the East Ridge Recreation Hub.
Project Team
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Mark Rose
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
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Kirstie Clifton
DIRECTOR
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Emma Horton Smith
URBAN DESIGNER
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Mike Fenton
SENIOR URBAN DESIGNER / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
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Sam Perkins
SENIOR URBAN DESIGNER