Vision and Design Principles
PUBLIC CONSULTATION – STAGE 1
The first of our comprehensive four stage public consultation programme, which took place between 27 November 2024 and 6 January 2025, was focused on gathering feedback on our vision for Dalton Barracks including core design principles as well as welcoming your ideas and feedback on the site and how it best fits within, and supports, the surrounding context.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the consultation: your feedback will contribute to the shaping of our masterplan for the site. We are now analysing the feedback we received and planning some community workshops for early 2025. We plan to share details of the workshops soon.
Our Vision
Through a clear vision and by developing core design principles, we will translate that vision into a comprehensive masterplan, which outlines the components and distribution of development; to shape and ultimately create all the elements of the ‘place’.
Placemaking is a collaborative innovation process that focuses on understanding and addressing community needs and aspirations at its centre.
“Our vision is to transform the barracks site into a sustainable, and inclusive mixed-use development, with a vibrant community that reflects the past and looks to the future. This Garden Village will blend residential, commercial, and recreational spaces, creating a thriving place where people live, work and relax. Honouring the site’s heritage, we aim to foster a sense of belonging through innovative design, extensive interconnected green space, and modern infrastructure. Our vision is to build a neighbourhood that promotes wellbeing and healthy lifestyles, that serves both the new and existing community.”
Developing our design principles
We’ve used the Government’s guidance on what makes a truly well-designed place, which is summarised in the diagram opposite from the
National Design Guide.
The guidance states: ‘Well-designed places have individual characteristics which work together to create its physical Character. The ten characteristics help to nurture and sustain a sense of Community. They work to positively address environmental issues affecting Climate. They all contribute towards the cross-cutting themes for good design set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.’
The guidance sets out ten characteristics of well-designed places, revolving around three core themes of Community, Character, and Climate. These characteristics and core themes are summarised in the diagram here from the National Design Guide.
We’ve been looking at the Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and each of the national design guide characteristics of well-designed places, to develop a set of core design principles as a basis to the proposals.
The 10 characteristics of a well-designed place from the National Design Guide âNational Design Guideâ (page 8), âMinistry of Housing, Communities & Local Governmentâ.
Context
A well-designed place responds positively to the features on the site. This includes careful consideration of features of heritage interest, working with the current landscape structure of the barracks area, and placing development in the right place in response to site features.
Identity
Creating an identity that both reflects the current attractive and distinctive features on the site and surroundings, and also has a positive and coherent identity that reflects a new Garden Village character that is of high quality.
Built form
Our design principle:
The proposals are to have a coherent pattern of development including development parcels with buildings that seek to define streets and spaces. Legibility within the public realm is important, with clearly identifiable features such as avenues and focal buildings which make the place easy to navigate and varied. The proposals include the concept structure of three neighbourhood mixed use centres, as the heart points of surrounding housing and employment space.
Movement
Our design principle:
The Garden Village needs to be accessible and easy to move around for all user groups, prioritising non-car modes of transport including walking, cycling and public transport. Concepts include green links that have dedicated walkways and cycleways connecting the different areas of the scheme together and with the parkland to the west and existing community to the east. Access by car to properties will remain important, but the scheme will encourage other sustainable forms of movement and will reduce car speeds through design. Historic links that were ‘stopped up’ with the imposition of the military base will be opened once again to improve public walking and cycling connectivity.
Nature
Our design principle:
Living close to nature and outdoor space contributes towards people’s quality of life and is a key component of the concept for the site. The concept masterplan vision for extensive areas of open space that include green links radiating from the heart point of the scheme and pocket parks. These will ensure that everyone living in the Garden Village will be within a few minutes walking distance of a green space and within easy walk of the expansive parkland to the west and north. These spaces will seek to maximise habitat creation and biodiversity, whilst also retaining existing habitats where possible.
Public spaces
Our design principle:
As with nature, access to public open space has proven health and well-being benefits, and it is important that good quality and varied spaces are provided for a range of activities and functions. The scheme will include a wide range and significant quantum of public open space, making previously restricted or secure land accessible to the public after the MOD leaves. Open spaces will be social, inclusive and well designed, with a landscape-led approach to the scheme overall. This will also include formal play areas and sports pitches.
Uses
Our design principle:
Providing a mix of uses is important to ensure that people have ready access to everyday needs to create a sustainable place. Each neighbourhood would have its own mixed-use centre at its heart to include a central play area with green and mixed uses. This may include a primary school, community uses, and commercial premises such as cafes and shops. In the central mixed use centre consideration is being given to retaining the medical centre. The scheme will include a secondary school. There are to be employment areas that would provide local job opportunities and incorporates the concept of refurbishing the Officer’s Mess.
Homes and buildings
Our design principle:
Housing and mixed-use commercial buildings will be functional, accessible and sustainable. The scheme will provide much needed housing featuring a mix of various tenure types and a significant amount of affordable housing. The architectural style and look of the scheme will incorporate local character features and be ‘of the place’, whilst also acknowledging the future and creating a contemporary, high-quality place. The mixed-use centres, will feature a vertical mix of uses, with mixed uses at ground or lower floors and residencies above to create activity throughout the day and the evening.
Resources
Our design principle:
The scheme will conserve natural resources where possible, and be designed to be efficient and resilient, which includes incorporating renewable energy such as solar panels, and minimising water usage. All aspects of the scheme will be reviewed in terms of environmental performance including air and noise assessment and mitigation. A ‘fabric first’ approach will be adopted to building design, to ensure homes and buildings are well insulated and ventilated.
Lifespan
Our design principle:
Homes and buildings will be designed to last, and public spaces will be of high quality and pleasant to be in, to ensure owners and occupiers have a strong sense of stewardship for not only their homes but also the wider public realm. This will foster the development of robust community connections and facilitate integration with the current community.
Our Concept Masterplan Vision – Bringing it all together
Our Concept Masterplan vision
Taking the specific site features and surrounding context, together with the core design principles and with our key placemaking themes, we’ve been developing some ideas around a comprehensive masterplan, which is our Concept Masterplan Vision diagram.
This is a high-level representation that focuses on identifying land uses, open pace, historic links mature tree retention that also provide structure to the potential masterplan and baseline movement strategy. The key elements of the overall scheme are explored below through our placemaking themes.
Concept Masterplan Vision diagram
