Community led master planning and urban regeneration
Building the future of Frome
Saxonvale is the last part of Frome’s town centre that can provide much needed employment space in addition to a diversity of housing and recreational uses reflecting the needs of Frome. Mayday Saxonvale came together in unity against district council proposals to develop the whole site as a monotonous and generic housing scheme.
‘Landstory represents the future of landscape architecture for UK development and construction’
Damon Moore, Director, Mayday Saxonvale
The Brief
Working within a complex urban site that included heritage assets, natural springs and gradient issues, Landstory were commissioned to support the client and project team to deliver an outline planning application. The scheme had to be developed within a very quick timeframe due to political pressures surrounding the project.
Our Approach
Access to site was restricted and information limited so we prepared topographical base plans and 3d models created from a drone survey. We also mapped historic elements throughout the town, identifying the uniqueness and character of place. These elements fed into the design process and allowed us to steer the design team and client team to optimal solutions around water management in the urban environment.
The Challenges
The challenges to this project were the political factors surrounding the Story of Saxonvale (read more here). This led to time pressures to turn the planning application around as well as budgetary constraints of working with a lean community-led organisation.
The Outcome
Our work helped to raise the project’s profile, giving it fresh momentum with and aligning the design team. The project won the appreciation of the community who have now become ardent supporters of the project now and into the future.
The Future
Mayday Saxonvale has the potential to transform the future of Frome. By creating the UK’s first community owned and run urban regeneration scheme, the project will create community owned assets, long-term revenue models that add to the viability of the town centre into the future.
Landstory will be running an integrated community design process if Mayday are successful in acquiring the site.
The project in numbers
Project supporters
Design team meetings
public presentations
Planning application (the first of its kind in the UK)
Films
Damon Moore
Director
Mayday Saxonvale
Landstory’s approach maximises the overall benefit to development schemes.
They have the ability to design successful consultation exercises for medium, large-scale and complex sites in particular and to explain sustainable environmental methodology simply and clearly to the non-expert. They have made a very valuable contribution to our emerging masterplan with a focus on teamwork and envisioning the public space return.
Both in the standard of excellence shown by Landstory and their team and by their regard for biodiversity at this critical time convince me Landstory represents the future of landscape architecture for UK development and construction