architecture planning urban design conservation

Planning

IntroductionThe statutory planning process is the means our society has developed to protect what it has chosen to value and to manage

inevitable change in as fair and democratic a way as possible, for the benefit of the whole community.

Since our establishment in 1988, Nash Partnership has worked on over 1000 projects across south and central England,

dealing with most local Planning Authorities and the wide range of issues that landowners, development and user clients

encounter. Our combined staff of circa 35 includes an integrated planning team, most of whom have the experience of

working directly alongside decision makers in the public sector in development control, forward planning, sustainability and

heritage.

Our Approach

Our processes for engaging with local Planning

Authorities mirror those of the authorities themselves;

in the way sites are evaluated against several layers

of policy, land allocation, special planning guidance or

government advice; in the need for specialist inputs from

consultants or important consultees, on the structuring

and writing of planning reports, and the weighing of

planning arguments.

We also reflect these in the way planning applications are

registered; how the interests of individual offices within

the LPA team are addressed, in our maintenance of long

term records of planning decisions, our access to planning

authorities’ own records and in the administration of

planning conditions.

Our experience and skills are offered to clients flexibly

according to their needs; we offer pragmatic advice, use

of strategic and tactical approaches to maximising the

prospects of successful permissions and experienced

research staff and geographers able to gather data and

build arguments on the strong foundations sometimes

needed to secure support for major change.

Our work in the planning sphere is informed by our

experience in masterplanning and urban design,

much of it involving the Government’s Sustainable

Communities Programme and instructions from the

public sector. We have worked as Architects and

Planners on many sites made sensitive through

heritage, landscape or ecological value.

In project delivery we are experienced in taking

projects from start to completion and occupation and

in the needs of projects small, medium and large.

We monitor closely the way the planning process is

going and how new initiatives, Government guidance

and restructurings are brought to bear.

We also understand the challenges that our client

groups have to work under, associated with the

acquisition of land, the evaluation of risk, the

imposition of financial and other planning obligations

and the rises and falls of investment values.

Our Skills

Our Planning Team is fully embedded within the structure of the firm, working closely with urban design, architectural

and project management staff. But unlike some other one-stop-shop planning and architectural consultancies, our

planners form an independent fee-earning arm. This ensures that they understand and respond to market realities, remain

competitive and deliver excellent value for money. Our team:

• Understandcommercialviabilityissues–inthisrespectwecanoftenprovideathinkinglinkbetweenclients,alltoo

well aware of such things, and Local Authorities, who often understand them less well.

• Arecompletelyfocusedonusingtheplanningprocesstoaddmaximumvalueandincreaseprofitforourclients.

• Understandhowlocalplanningauthoritieswork,fromplanningcaseofficersandotherinternaldepartments,

through to Councilors and committees. We know just where and when the risks and opportunities lie for any

project. Some of our staff have previously worked in the public sector, including former English Heritage personnel,

Local Authority conservation officers and development control planners.

• Understandthepressuresandperspectivesofplanningauthoritiesandhavepersonalcontactsinmanyof

them. Over the years we have worked closely with many Councils and know how to develop positive working

relationships with decision makers; whether through exhibitions, public relations or carefully targeted lobbying.

• UnderstandhowandwhydevelopmentcontrolpoliciesareformulatedatGovernmental,RegionalandLocallevel.

We have an ear to the ground for emerging policy trends, both at Local Planning Authority and Governmental

levels and the Planning Inspectorate.

• Understandtheartofpersuasion;whetherin

community involvement, where carrying people

with you can be politically vital, or in flushing

out concerns before they harden into harmful

objections. To this end we use whatever means

are appropriate to a specific situation, illustrating

and explaining the scheme, sometimes on a

one- to- one basis, with the aid of models,

perspectives and computer visualisations.

• Provideanoverseeingandcoordinatingrolein

project management, linking designers and

Architects with the legal and political framework

they are operating within. This enables the design

team to benefit from up-to-date intelligence and

avoid abortive work.

• Havemulti-disciplinaryexpertiseinhouse,with

excellent and extremely cost effective outsourcing

of consultants via our own approved list when required.

This provides our clients with administrative simplicity

and single contact point.

Case WorkThe following examples illustrate the range of our planning past and current project work:

Urban RegenerationBradford on Avon town centre

We have acted over a number of years as planning consultant

for three adjoining former industrial sites forming the heart

of this immensely attractive historic Wiltshire town, in all

involving14acresof landstraddlingtheRiverAvonatthe

settlements’ centre.

Our work to secure planning permission, conservation area

and listed building consent has secured over £50m of new

investment in the town, and the restoration and reuse of 12

historic buildings. The largest of the sites, Kingston Mills,

passed through the hands of 3 developers and several

professional teams, all of which failed to bring a scheme to

fruition.

The site was an extremely challenging and sensitive one.

It suffered from appalling vehicular access, high traffic

volumes and severe flooding vulnerability. It was located

within historic and attractive townscape, carried with it

issues of ecology and contamination, and possessed a

vocal community, keen to have their say at every stage.

A large part of the challenge was that the Local Planning

Authority was itself at odds with the community,

discouraging the creation of new employment on the site

which our proposals have delivered.

With our Urban Designers, Heritage and Architectural

teams, having evaluated all relevant issues and inputs,

we worked closely with the Prince of Wales Foundation

in a structured critique of the emerging design. As this

evolved over an 18 month period, we won over many of

those initially opposed. Many of the town’s community

groups gradually became ambassadors for the scheme,

promoting and explaining it to the town’s population over

the course of several public exhibitions using large scale

physical models to help evaluate its impact and present

design options. We engaged with Planning Committee

members and eventually gained their support too.

After many years in the doldrums, and after the massive

loss of manufacturing economic employment that the

town suffered in the 1980’s, our work has contributed

considerably to the regeneration of Bradford, which

bubbles with a diversity of privately managed shops and a

healthy market, good restaurants, and a very lively cultural,

artistic and musical community.

Longford’s Mill

Longford’s Mill was one of our most challenging planning projects,

promoting the viable re-investment in a 19 acre industrial conservation

area in the South Cotswolds. When several centuries of woollen

processing came to an end in 1991, 38 listed buildings of the 18th,

19th and 20th centuries were left in urgent need of new uses. The

site faced several design challenges, the greatest of which was its

situation immediately below the dam of the 15 acre Gatcombe water,

part owned by HRH, The Princess Royal, through the Gatcombe

Estate. Narrow steep roads and high ecological interest were further

complications.

But the real crux of the project lay in the issues created by the planning

process itself. The large site straddled the boundary of two different

planning authorities, each of which had to determine the entire

application as a separate authority, with its own consultees, officers,

committees and ideas about the site. We were also saddled with a

design brief the authorities had not tested for technical or investment

feasibility. Similarly, a local conservation group had strong ideas about

the site, but had not submitted their aspirations to any sort of viability

appraisals before seeking public support for them.

We played the multi-faceted role we have now enacted for many

landowner clients, first identifying the challenges, next teasing apart

the complexities and then finding answers.

Our long experience with commercial property meant

that we were able to keep a weather eye on budgetary

constraints at the same time, enabling us to deliver a

scheme that was not only ingenious, but also financially

realistic and profitable. After an initial, politically inspired,

planning refusal the scheme headed for appeal. We kept

up the pressure of reasoned persuasion. The Councils’

Planning Barrister urged the Councils to abandon many of

their refusal reasons, and gradually, key players, such as

English Heritage and local parish councils, came to see the

wisdom of the proposals; 12 months apart, the Councils’

Planning Officers and their committees agreed.

Now, after several years of work, both before and after

each committees’ decision, Longford’s Mills picturesque

juxtaposition of historic woollen industry buildings, cottages,

woods, and water courses are thriving, with new mixed

residential and workspace use with sensitive, contextually

designed new development replacing the large 20th century

factories that once swamped the more human scale of the

18th and 19th century historic structures.

Cheltenham College

Cheltenham College is among the famous group of public

schools established early in the 19th century to prepare

its scholars for the demands of running an empire. Its fine

buildings, (many Listed Grade I), define a large swathe of

Cheltenham’s central conservation area and include fine

founding buildings in Gothic style, a lofty chapel, its colourful

sports pavilion and the private picture gallery of Lord

Northcroft, Thirlestaine House.

The College exists in a strongly competitive environment in

which they have to develop a market for a particular brand of

education, alongside a range of facilities that parents readily

compare with those of other schools.

In 2005 we were appointed, via a competitive process, to

guide the College in securing planning permission for a large

range of new facilities, buildings and improvements, in parallel

with a revitalisation scheme involving a capital programme

of £25m. Our Architects and Master Planning teams have

done much more than provide architectural ideas.

They have helped the College Executive understand how the

existing buildings could be better utilised, where new development

might best go to meet new needs and enhance rather than detract

from the individual character of their highly visible campus.

Commercial concerns have been considered in parallel.

As ever, we made great efforts to carry with us the Local Planning

Authority and key consultees such as English Heritage. Front

loading the process in this way always proves more efficient in

the long run, and was essential here, where the alteration of many

listed buildings within the conservation area was bound to come

under piercing scrutiny.

Our task as Planning Consultants has been to create a masterplan

framework for the College’s 15 year Management Plan, which all

key stakeholders support, so that as each individual project (the

new science block, arts centre, or social centre) comes forward,

the way is cleared for rapid acquisition of planning permission.

Littlecombe, Gloucestershire

ThetownofDursleynestlesbelowthewoodedescarpmentoftheSouth

Cotswolds. Its visible history embraces the post medieval woollen

industry and a major phase of 19th and 20th century engineering

development, largely around the substantial factories of Lister and Petter,

whose engines have served the maritime and motor industry throughout

the World for many decades. When the firm relocated overseas, virtually

the whole valley was left in need of a masterplan to direct remediation and

new use. Funding was found through bodies such as English Partnerships

andtheSouthWestRegionalDevelopmentAgency.

Nash were appointed to act as Planning Consultants and

Architects for the first two of the many development phases.

Acting for national house builder Bloor Homes, we have submitted

theReservedMattersplanningapplicationfortwozonesofbespoke

new housing, on sloping sites flanking the restored river that has

emerged after the removal of 19th century culverting.

The housing always had to be much more than just another development.

Drawnfromthecontext,thedesignwilleffectivelyexpandthehistoric

conservation area of Lower Cam. Public consultation, landscape,

car free accessibility, bio-diversity planning and the quality of public

realm and play facilities have all been important aspects of the

scheme. Sustainability, a speciality of ours, was also key, with a CHP

plant and Code For Sustainable Housing Level 4 construction being just

two aspects of this.

Littlecombe,DursleyDesignStatement

The Park, Cheltenham

When, under the Private Finance Initiative land in south

central Cheltenham was released for re-development by

the relocation of the Gloscat College, we acted as Planning

Consultants, Masterplanners and Designers for Taylor

Woodrow, in taking the redevelopment forward across this

12 acre site and a further 3 acres on an adjoining site for

RedrowHomes.

As the site was in local authority ownership, outline planning

permission was readily granted. Our phased Reserved

Matters planning applications needed to consider flooding,

ecology, archaeology, underground services, and traffic

issues with care. We have some expertise on these issues in

house, out-sourcing only when required.

Being able to combine both planning and design services

made our input cost effective and permissions were achieved

with few meetings with the Local Planning Authority.

Retirement and Care Villages; Gloucestershire, Wiltshire Somerset and Hertfordshire

The need to accommodate the growing population of older people is starting to have a major impact on the development

industry. Having had early and extensive experience in this emerging and potentially large market we are now able to offer

a comprehensive service capable of delivering innovative and profitable projects to clients.

Despitethegrowingneedforsuchdevelopments,LocalAuthoritieshaveyettorecognisethisandallocatesitesintheir

Local Plans. From the beginning, therefore, there is a policy gap. Bridging this needs front-loading of the application

process with a heavy enough weight of original research to give planners the confidence to take a step outside their

established policy cocoon.

CareVillagesareperhapstheultimateexpressionofthenewcaremodel–asitewherecareisavailablewithinacommunity

of over 55’s at a range of levels from intensive nursing to semi-independent housing. Often, facilities ranging from medical

care and therapies to restaurants are part of the package, with high quality surroundings and proximity to beauty and

nature. Such schemes need buildings of a scale untypical of suburban areas and yet, from a sustainability point of view,

this is precisely where they are best located.

We have become expert in justifying such ideas, gaining acceptance of them by planners and local communities, and

have acted for regional, national and internationally based providers in Bath, St. Alban’s, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and the

North of England.

TypicaloftheseconstructionshasbeenourworkforRoberts

Walsh Projects, the development arm of Gloucestershire

providers, Blanchworth Care. In the small historic Cotswold

town of Wotton Under Edge, our clients acquired an

otherwise ideal site, which was unfortunately allocated for

protected employment use. Our research team built a case

proving that there was already an adequate supply of such

land, that the proposed site was in fact unsuitable for many

employment uses and that the proposed new use would

generate many jobs. Further research bolstered the case,

demonstrating through demographics, that there was a

strong case of local need.

We engaged specialist consultancies in relation to the

assessment of flooding risk, services infrastructure, ecology,

traffic and access, then stitching the information together in

a single document that was easy for decision makers to use.

On the fringe of a conservation area, heritage issues were

significant and a Conservation Area Appraisal was carried

out by our own qualified staff.

Overlooked and surrounded by established residential use,

the scheme might have been sunk by an anticipated wave

of public opposition. However, through exhibitions and one-

to-one meetings with owners of the properties most affected

we were able to win many of them over.

St Albans

Here, on a large retirement village complex involving over 55’s

age adapted housing, assisted living, close care, a nursing

home, and community facilities, we successfully fought an LPA

refusal at Appeal, for a scheme made before our involvement on

an outline application basis only. By showing how a scheme of

this scale could actually complement the character of a rather

ordinary suburban area, and create elements of public realm

character, the appeal inspector accepted there were no valid

grounds to oppose it.

Berryfield House, Wiltshire

On this former local hospital site in Bradford on Avon, we

had to achieve a suitable standard of design and setting for

a large listed building in well established landscaped grounds.

The closure of the hospital was strongly resisted by the local

community and creating new community healthcare as part

of a development plan was an important dimension of the

site’s mixed use re-development. Through a carefully planned

programme of planning consultancy work involving character

appraisal, historic study and extensive public consultation, we

secured permission at LPA level for all elements of the reuse.

Woodstock House

Our clients own a large rest home involving listed buildings

in the grounds of Blenheim Palace with, inevitably, stunning

views of the Palace and its lake, woods and monuments.

Having considered the feasibility of expanding the floor space

into a retirement complex, our clients concluded conversion to

a boutique hotel will best capitalise on the qualities of the site.

We are progressing the necessary consents for conversion,

change of use and extension to release value and create

funds for our clients care village expansion programme in

partnership with the operator.

Sunrise Senior Living

For international assisted living providers, Sunrise, we have

provided expert local context design advice and Conservation

Planning advice on how the large built form such a complex

requires, could be articulated and designed to sit well within

a particular landscape context on a site within the South

Cotswolds. Our scheme drew heavily on our long experience

in dealing with historic buildings, drawing inspiration from

the historic precedent of woollen mills of the 18th and 19th

centuries evident in the Stroud Valleys and the wool trade

towns of West Wiltshire.

Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site

WehaveactedasPlanningConsultant,DesignManagerand

Architect for two major projects in the WHS where our client has

been the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust. The Gorge is the

birthplaceof the IndustrialRevolutionandcontains ten linked

museums. Our first project secured planning permission to

create a new urban setting for one of these, the famous Coalport

China factory. This project involved the creation of a new street,

expanding Coalport by some 60%. There were many issues to

deal with before this could be realised however, contamination,

a high perceived risk of flooding, landscape and ecological

issues and the need to respect the setting and secure the future

of several historic buildings within the site, its conservation area

and World Heritage Site.

The significant initial hostility of the local community was

addressed through a high level of public consultation and the

results of demographic housing stock analysis, which showed

the community how their limited housing stock was making it

impossible for older people to move from their homes but remain

among the community, and therefore release homes for younger

people. We targeted the design of new dwellings to meet these

needs. The scheme secured a European Community Heritage

Marque Award.

Forward Planning

PromotingnewsitesthroughtheRegionalSpatialStrategyandLocalDevelopmentFramework

As development land for building new housing is now closely

restricted to within existing settlement boundaries, planning for

future housing needs has become a vital task for Local Planning

Authorities. Central Government decides broadly where, throughout

theEnglishRegions,newdevelopmentneedstooccurthroughthe

RegionalSpatialStrategy.Developersbuyorsecureoptionsforsuch

land and then promote its merits to the prospective Local Planning

AuthoritiesundertheperiodicLocalDevelopmentFrameworkreview

process, seeking to establish appropriate land supply for a period of

5/15 years.

All landowners keen to see their land allocated for development, whether

for housing, industrial of other non-agricultural uses, need to participate

in the LDF allocation processes. We have considerable experience in

promoting land for development in this way, advising clients (whether

landowners or developers) of the specialist consultancy inputs they need to

support their case, whether to join with other landowners in such initiatives

and how to proceed tactically to maximise development value.

Typical of such schemes has been our work at Liphook in

Hampshire. Here, a site of 100 hectares is well placed to take

housing and mixed use development to allow the expansion

of Liphook and contribute to the housing numbers the

county’sRegionalSpatialStrategyrequires.

An initial study investigated the impacts on archaeology,

ecology, traffic, the setting of the town and the nearby

listed buildings and was supported by the Local Planning

Authority. Therefore the site now forms part of the Council’s

own preferred allocation strategy and LDF process. In the

next stage, we and the LPA will jointly promote the virtues of

thissite,alongsidetheclaimsofthelandowners,toanLDF

Process Planning Inspector who recommends the best sites

forallocationwithintheLDF.

We handle many other such sites at various stages of the

allocation process and can advise on the development

prospects of land securing permission for new housing.

Occasionally large, but rurally located Brownfield or

previously developed sites can be considered in this way.

BeinganintegratedpracticeofArchitects,UrbanDesigners

and Planners, we are able to give substance to design and

evaluate development risks efficiently at all stages of such

work.

Planning Research Department

We never like to take ‘no’ for an answer when working on behalf of clients. The only way to ensure that we rarely do is to buildrock-solidcasesthatwillbreakdownresistancebyvirtueofqualityandstrengthofargument.Usingthismethodwefind that many previously impossible-seeming cases can be led through to permission, whether at the LPA or at Appeal.

Forming a good case means good research and analysis, especially where proposals are likely to breach established planningpolicyor landallocations. OurResearchOffice includesaPlannerandformerLocalAuthoritySustainabilityOfficer, and a Geographer and Energy Analyst, who have considerable experience of using documentary, web and original site based research to good effect including:

• DemographicandSettlementhousingstockanalysistobuildcasesofneed.

• Demographicresearchtosupportspecialcareneedshousinginthecontextofexistingfacilitiesandrising expectations for delivery standards.

• Trafficimpactanalysisanddatamanagement,includingGreenTravelplanswhereahighsustainabilityprofileneeds to be established.

• Premiumhousingmarketanalysis;establishingwherepremiumvalueswilllieinrelationtopotentialhousing typologies for any site and location.

• Analysisoftheimpactofrenewableenergyoptionsandcostbenefitanalysisforenergyconservationoptionsonall types of buildings, technologies and sites.

• AnalysisofRegionalmarketsinelementsoftheeconomysuchasfoodsupply,constructionmaterials,employment, energy and waste handling as part of sustainable settlement planning to guide where both public and private sector investment can be justified.

In all such work we take much satisfaction in entering into the planning process well armed with the kind of facts, figures

and solid argument that can overcome even ingrained resistance.

Other Planning Services

Ourplanningteamareabletoadviseonmanyotherproblemsthatclientsmayface–suchas:

• CertificationofEstablishedUse

• FinancialobligationsandLegalAgreements

• CertificatesforimmunityfromListing,applicationstolistorde-listhistoricbuildingsandotherheritage

evaluation issues

• Sequentialtestingofsites

• Dischargeofplanningconditionsparing several spatial energy and CO2 parameters in siting, construction and long term use options, from a Geographer’s perspective.

architecture planning urban design conservation

Nash Partnership23a Sydney BuildingsBath, BA2 6BZ

www.nashpartnership.commail@nashpartnership.com

T (01225) 442424F (01225) 442484