Collaton Cross, South Devon

PROJECTS

Collaton Cross, South Devon

Project: 125 residential dwellings and 12 commercial units
Location: Newton Ferrers, South Devon
Client: Pillar Land Securities Ltd
Services: Flood Risk, Infrastructure

A group of school children are on a school science trip to a pond outdoors. Here they use nets to catch bugs

What it was trying to achieve

A long-abandoned RAF station on the outskirts of Newton Ferrers, South Devon, sat on the boundary of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and was proposed for redevelopment as 125 residential dwellings and 12 commercial units. Pillar Land Securities Ltd wanted a development that would integrate into the surrounding landscape and deliver genuine amenity and biodiversity benefit. The site’s former use, its AONB context and its challenging topography meant the drainage requirements, the contamination management and the visual integration ambitions had to be resolved together, not in sequence.

What made it complex

Existing drains serving surrounding properties ran through the site and had to be accommodated within the proposals. A Flood Risk Assessment and Drainage Statement were required to demonstrate that surface water would be managed without increasing flood risk on, off or downstream of the site. The proximity to the AONB created a design constraint beyond the technical requirements: drainage infrastructure that would be visually intrusive was not acceptable in this context. The brownfield history of the site required a Materials Management Plan to characterise and handle contaminated ground while minimising off-site vehicle movements. The site’s topography had to produce both adoptable highway gradients and usable garden depths simultaneously.

What it produced

Planning permission was granted for the scheme. The drainage strategy, contamination management and highway design were agreed with the relevant authorities. The development was designed to deliver multifunctional benefit in an AONB context, meeting the technical planning requirements and the client’s ambition for a development that added to the landscape rather than sitting awkwardly within it.

How we thought about it

We approached the drainage design as a multifunctional element from the start. Water managed well is a community asset, and on this site it was also a design asset: drainage infrastructure designed with care could contribute to the amenity and ecology of the development rather than be concealed within it. The AONB context made this not just desirable but necessary. We devised a Materials Management Plan to characterise and manage the contaminated and reworked ground, minimising off-site vehicle movements to waste facilities. We modelled the cut and fill balance to produce adoptable highway gradients and usable garden levels within the topography that existed, rather than the one we might have preferred.