Green dream becoming reality at Wynyard Park

Plans to create an eco friendly mixed-use development at Wynyard Park are gathering pace.

Since the start of the year the owners of the site have been working closely with a top firm of visionary urban designers to create a new masterplan for the prestigious 700-acre site.

Wynyard Park Ltd has briefed North East company, _space, to produce a sustainable community incorporating a mixed use to meet a vision of a site that facilitates work, leisure and living and provides for a high quality of life and well-being.

Now the masterplanning process being headed up by _space Director Richard Elphick is moving ahead to the next stage following the appointment of a team of leading industry representatives to advise on crucial aspects of the planned development.

“What we are focussing on is creating a distinctive development with a real sense of place,” Richard commented.

“We want to surpass the Government’s aim of creating a healthy community that supports a sense of well-being for those that live and work there.

“What we are aiming for is a truly sustainable community that balances a wide choice of housing alongside a wide-range of commercial space to support inward investment.”

The team now working with Richard consists of specialists in executive planning, planning policy, transportation, landscape design, urban design and architecture, health, commercial architecture, housing, ecology, hydrology, wildlife, civil engineering and services engineering.

Richard commented: “We now have a team of people in place who we believe are all the best in their field.  The next step is to visit some exemplar developments after which we will reporting back.”

He added: “It is a visionary process that is aspirational and we have to set out the ground rules that will govern the future of the site over the next 20 years which is a exciting challenge!”

Chris Musgrave, Wynyard Park’s Chief Executive, said he was impressed by how quickly the masterplanning process was taking shape.

“We appointed  _space as they have a fantastic vision for sustainable communities which is just what we want for Wynyard Park and it is very exciting to see the progress that they have made already.”

At the end of 2007, Wynyard Park Ltd announced plans for the creation of a 2000 home eco-village – in addition to £450M investment in sufficient office space to anticipate demand over the next 15-20 years.

Chris Musgrave added that the long term aim was always to provide a side range of housing because such a mix was vital to the sustainability of the community being created on the site and now the time was right for a new masterplan to reflect this.

_space has worked on masterplans for several multi-million pound schemes including Trinity Gardens in Newcastle. It is also currently drawing up details for a £250M development in a conservation area in the same city.

“Our particular slant is not just the implementation of a masterplan that satisfies the environmental and planning requirements of a site but which also focuses on the community that will be using it and looks at their needs too,” explained Richard Elphick.

“This means that the masterplan design and vision for environmental sustainability must also have a deliverable commercial sustainability to ensure that the environment that is ultimately created is also well-managed and offers a quality of life,” he added.

Chris Musgrave said he was delighted to be working with  _space.

“They have a fantastic vision for sustainable communities which is just what we want for Wynyard Park. The fact that they are based in the North East and understand our local community is even better.”

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