Masterplanning and Urban Design

This concept design for a responsive masterplan comprising 800 new homes and associated community facilities aims to exploit the opportunities inherent in a unique string of connected sites to address some of the town's existing transport and housing issues. The masterplan seeks to strengthen the town’s ill-defined periphery with an urban extension that is consistent [...]

Figure/Ground Architects are currently working on the creation of a sustainable garden village to the north of Harlow New Town on behalf of Briggens 1 Ltd. The masterplan is for a residential led mixed-use development providing 1,500 new homes on an approximately 120 ha site, as well as flexible workspace, a health centre, a primary [...]

This competition-winning design for the regeneration of a 3.5 hectare industrial site in central Stalybridge arose from two primary objectives: 1) to secure the future of the surviving Grade II listed cotton mill buildings through viable new uses and sympathetic alterations, and; 2) to strengthen and revitalise the wider town through the creation of an [...]

This complex site had been previously identified by LTGDC as having strategic importance within the A12 - Lea Valley corridor. However, its numerous constraints combined with several failed attempts to deliver anything tangible had hampered progress. Engaging in fresh, constructive collaboration with stakeholders, we accumulated a wealth of knowledge to evolve previous work into a [...]

The brief for this 180 hectares site to the south west of Canterbury town centre called for the scheme to be “an exemplar of sustainability and eco-sensitivity, whilst taking account of wildlife, archaeological and landscape opportunities”. Analysis of historical maps showed that the site was predominantly used for fruit production until the mid-20th century with [...]

This masterplan for approximately 500 new homes on the site of a disused golf course was an exercise in finding and telling the story of the site by identifying, preserving and enhancing local features and assets. The scheme engages with the old fairway structure and existing mature landscape and establishes long views through the site. [...]

The challenge presented by one of the largest regeneration sites in the South of England was to create a place of real character at an appropriate scale within a vast, 500 hectare, windswept chalk quarry. With an outline masterplan serving as the foundation for further detailed work, our team (three architecture practices and over 20 [...]

This study in regenerative place-making aimed to answer the following questions: What makes Rochester unique and how can the urban qualities of the existing town inform the design of a significant new waterfront development? Rochester’s crooked, medieval High Street, linked to intimate, interconnecting courtyards, along with the narrow slipways of the former boat yards lining [...]