Always on hand to provide guidance on issues as they arose, their sensitive approach and steadfast commitment allowed us to unlock the development potential.
Acorn Property Group
Development Manager
SECTORS
Health & Wellbeing
What this sector is trying to do
Health and wellbeing development ranges from GP surgeries and primary care centres to large hospital expansions, care homes, supported living schemes and specialist wellness facilities. The planning challenge they share is that standard guidance handles their transport and infrastructure profiles imprecisely. Trip generation tools calibrated on conventional residential or commercial use produce outputs that do not reflect how medical, care and wellness facilities actually function. The planning case has to be built from first principles.
The recurring constraints
A care home with a high proportion of residents with mobility impairments generates a different parking profile from a standard residential development. A wellness village with community health facilities alongside residential accommodation generates a trip pattern that cannot be read from any single use class in the standard reference data. The accessibility design requirements for people with mobility, visual and cognitive impairments are set out in guidance that most highway authorities apply unevenly. Each of these requires evidence assembled specifically for the scheme rather than taken from a standard template.
Where accumulated knowledge matters
The work done at the Sunnyside Wellness Village in Bridgend — designing to the specific accessibility needs of a resident population that standard Local Highway Authority adoption criteria had not been written to address, and demonstrating a transport profile built from the actual resident mix rather than from proxy data — has become a reference methodology for subsequent health and care applications. The accessibility argument developed in this sector informs how Calibro approaches pedestrian design, blue badge provision and active travel in residential and leisure schemes where the same standards apply.
The experience to keep innovating
We’ve been involved in a number of innovative and socially important projects in the area of health and wellbeing, most notably:
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Where we work
We work across residential, commercial, health, education, infrastructure, renewables, retail and leisure, and wherever work takes us beyond that list. Every project builds on an established body of knowledge: how to use the planning system to a client’s advantage, what creates places that hold their value, and where early decisions protect against risk and leave a legacy that matters beyond completion.
Those learnings cross every sector boundary. What we take from a residential scheme shapes how we approach a commercial one. What we learn in one planning authority informs how we navigate the next. That accumulated intelligence is what you’re drawing on, whatever the brief.
The sector shifts. The thinking doesn’t.
Residential
We’re often involved early in projects, supporting site-finding activities, and moving on to the masterplan process. Schemes range from a few dwellings with simple access and layout considerations, through to large, mixed use schemes requiring modelling of the wider network and strategic infrastructure improvements.
Renewables
We support development for wind, solar and energy-from-waste projects throughout the UK. This includes large scale wind farms to expansive solar schemes in areas of risk of flooding. As a corporate IEMA partner, we understand the specific legal requirements of environmental impact assessment.
Commercial & Industrial
Whether it’s transport planning or highway design, flood risk or drainage strategies, we understand the nuances of industrial and commercial development. We can take a lead role in optimising the masterplan process, support planning with robust evidence, and provide accurate, cost-effective construction designs.
Retail
We’re a trusted partner for a number of regional and national developers, bringing extensive knowledge of commercial development. We enable a scheme to be commercially optimised, understanding the importance of maximising passing trade; while also minimising the severity of associated traffic effects.
Health & Wellbeing
Our team of experts has extensive experience of advising on all types of health and wellbeing facilities. We provide transport planning, highway, flood risk and drainage input across a range of developments, including primary and secondary schools, GP surgeries, pharmacies and dental practices.
Leisure
Every leisure development is different – whether it’s a new campsite, gym or stadium. The journey through the planning system is just the start. We ensure that fundamental engineering principles are ingrained in our solutions, to expedite the design and approval stages, and get contractors on site sooner.
