Delivering an innovative, adaptable master plan to facilitate a successful major urban expansion

Linmere

Lands Improvement Holdings and their partners, collectively known as HRMC, sought to develop Linmere, a new community with social value, health, and wellbeing at its core. To bring Linmere to life, they needed experienced professonals to develop a flexible, adaptable master plan for an evolving neighborhood. Enter our team to help.

As lead designer for this major sustainable urban expansion, we focused from the outset on engaging with the local authority, statutory bodies, key stakeholders, and surrounding residents to nurture bonds that would enable the existing community and its new neigbhors to flourish together. Our master plan and design codes encourage creative and innovative design that enables Linmere to evolve and adapt with ease. Walkable neighborhoods were a key element, anchored by co-located community, social, and recreational uses that serve as focus for social interaction and exchange.

Since gaining outline planning permission in June 2014, we have continued to work closely with HRMC to produce a sitewide design code that covers five character areas, access strategies, landscape, public realm, and built form and encourages creative and innovative designs. HRMC has also retained us to work with house builders to maintain consistency with our original brief as the master plan progresses.

Linmere will provide over 5,150 new homes with over 30 percent  of the greenbelt site allocated to park land.  retail, leisure, and employment spaces and a community hub are strategically located to foster the link between new and existing residents, while the new school shares its campus with the existing primary school.