Jonathan Smales joins Norwich housing debate

Norwich

Beyond Green executive chairman Jonathan Smales recently contributed his thoughts to an ongoing discussion regarding housing needs and development strategies in Norwich.  37,000 new homes are planned in and around the city by 2026, with 10,000 of these being allocated within the “growth triangle” to the north-east of the city. Our Broadland project is situated within this growth area, which has become a key focus of debate within the Norwich community.

This past Friday, Chris Hill, a rural affairs correspondent for the Norwich Evening News, wrote a constructive and balanced article on the growth triangle and its various critics and supporters.  Smales was given a fair portion of the article to defend the idea that greenfield developments should not automatically be written off as destructive.  He went on to say:

“The population of the UK is growing rapidly and we are very sympathetic to the notion that the priority must be to build on brownfield sites. But the idea that a boundary of a town or city should never change is a weird notion.

“We would be fossilising the boundaries of all places if we never had any greenfield development.

“In certain situations where you can mend an urban edge and put systems in place which are intrinsically sustainable, then it is not only defensible, it can be a very good thing.

“I am not for a second decrying the environmental campaigns but neither would I want to be in a camp that says we should never build on greenfield land under any circumstances. You cannot tar every project with the same brush.”

Mr Smales said the development would increase public access to open spaces including Beeston Park and Red Hall Farm, as well as providing more trees and natural habitat within the planned open spaces.

For a link to the article in its entirety, please click HERE.

Posted 22 November 2011 by Joshua

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Feedback from Broadland Workshop

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A month ago in mid-October, the Beyond Green design team hosted a series of workshops and exhibitions for stakeholders and members of the public to discuss the draft plan, concepts and designs for development at Broadland.  Many valuable ideas were brought forth that has since helped us make our draft masterplan stronger and more aligned with community needs. The key issues that were raised at these workshops and our initial reactions to them can be viewed by clicking on the following link (PDF).

Broadland October Feedback

Anyone who wasn’t able to attend the sessions can view the exhibition boards presented at the workshops HERE.

Since beginning exploration of development opportunities in Norfolk, we have made it a priority to be open and engaged with the greater community.  The following clip captures some very promising messages that articulate how our approach thus far has been valued by varying local stakeholders.  A special thank you goes out to Bruce Bentley, Jason Kidman and Will Harvey who shared their thoughts with us.

Posted 16 November 2011 by Joshua

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Broadland Workshop & Exhibition Recap

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The Beyond Green team spent much of last week in Norwich engaged in a series of public workshops and exhibitions surrounding developments in our Broadland project.  Since the last public exhibitions held in June, our design team has been busy drafting a masterplan for the site, delving deeper into the spatial geography of the area, running ecological and hydrological studies, and looking into how the development could best integrate within the surrounding infrastructure.

On Wednesday the 5th and Friday the 7th of October, we were joined by key stakeholders from over 35 different organisations for a series of workshops exploring key aspects of the project’s development, such as green infrastructure, water, energy and waste management, components of a successful high street and various delivery strategies.  On Saturday and Sunday, we hosted a public exhibition and were joined by 100+ individuals from the immediate community.  Together, these events provided invaluable feedback for determining the next steps for the project.

To those who made it out for the exhibition and workshops, thank you kindly. Your feedback and insights were very much appreciated. If you didn’t get a chance to join us, you can keep up to speed on the project by looking through the exhibition boards (PDF) that were on display at the events.

In the video below, Beyond Green’s Executive Chairman Jonathan Smales briefly discusses the aim of the workshops and the value they bring to the development process as a whole.

Posted 13 October 2011 by Joshua

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Public invitation to design workshops in Broadland

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We specialise in projects that redefine how people can live high quality lives with low environmental impacts, so it’s great to be able to work in places where there’s a chance to put important principles into practice on a significant scale. And a key factor in making any project like this a success is making the most of the know-how and expertise of the people who live and work nearby.

In Broadland, Norfolk, we’re working in partnership with a number of landowners to bring forward proposals for a high-quality development on land adjoining the built-up fringe of Sprowston and Old Catton. Our aim for the project is to deliver new homes and jobs in a place that offers the highest quality of life with the lowest carbon footprint in Europe.

In June and July we held a series workshops and exhibitions with local residents and other stakeholders (link to report HERE). Since then we’ve been working with our design team to draw up a series of plans and associated strategies.

On Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th October we’re hosting a weekend of public exhibitions and workshops at Sprowston Parish Council on Recreation Ground Road (map HERE) that bring together the know-how, skills and experience of our design team with the passion and local knowledge of residents and stakeholders to review the designs so far and discuss and help shape our plans going forward.

If you live or work nearby we do hope you’ll be able to join us – and please let anyone you think might be interested know! – more details can be seen HERE.

Posted 21 September 2011 by Joshua

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Beyond Green go to Copenhagen

pedestrian friendly Copenhagen waterfront

For the last few months the Beyond Green design team has been busy developing a masterplan for our project in Broadland, an authentically sustainable new community to the north of Norwich.

Last week a small team of us travelled to Copenhagen to see Gehl Architects – leading design practice with a people-first approach to planning and the built environment – who are heading up the work on our public realm strategy at Broadland. We had two days of workshops with their head of design, Oliver Schulze, and architect, Jacob Blak, getting into the detail of the public spaces, parks and streets in advance of a series of design workshops for stakeholders and members of the public in Broadland.

Copenhagen has long been an inspiration to Beyond Green and is well known for its success at challenging the dominance of the car. Over a period of 40 years its taken a series of complementary actions – major investment in cycle lanes, a reduction in city centre car parking, shared surface streets with pedestrian and cycle priority, and investment in public transport – to transform the city to one of the world’s best for cycling with 55% of commuter journeys in central Copenhagen made by bike.

Sadly there wasn’t much time to see the sights of Copenhagen in the short time we were there, but Oliver and Jacob made sure we sampled some traditional Danish food. Make sure you visit Frida’s next time you’re there and try the Pariseboef. Word of warning though – it’s not for the feint hearted (or those on a first date).

Now we’re safely back in the office we’ll be working up the public realm plan and strategies with the Gehl team in time for the Broadland design workshops in October. You can find more information on our work in Broadland including the public realm strategy HERE.

Posted 19 September 2011 by Susie

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Broadland Community Planning Workshop Report

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In June, Beyond Green invited a broad range of professional stakeholders to a series of thematic workshops exploring key issues relevant to the Broadland project in Norwich. 115 people from over 45 organisations joined us to examine the potential for development on this site. During June and July we also talked with over 200 members of the public who visited our exhibition at St Cuthburt‟s Church, Sprowston Fête, Spixworth Fête and the Old Catton Flower Show.

The discussions at these events – the outcomes of which are contained in the main report and summarised HERE (PDF) – established the key principles that will inform the development of specific propositions and proposals for how we might design and deliver a development that will offer the highest quality of life with the lowest environmental footprint in Europe.

A further round of consultation events are scheduled for October 2011. These will provide an opportunity for stakeholders and the wider public to review and refine draft design and proposals.

For further information, please email broadland@beyondgreen.co.uk

Posted 7 September 2011 by Joshua

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Your chance to complete the Broadland stakeholder questionnaire

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If you didn’t have the chance to complete the stakeholder questionnaire at one of our recent Broadland public exhibitions you can now fill this out online here.

This survey will help us get a better picture of the local area and the people who live in it. Understanding more about the good and bad points of the place as it is currently will help us to plan a new place that benefits the existing community.The survey is designed to be completed whilst reading the Broadland exhibition


Posted 29 July 2011 by joanna

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Beyond Green in Broadland survey now online

Following a series of public consultation events we held in Broadland (north of Norwich) in June, we’re encouraging local residents to get involved in discussions via an online survey. Mirroring a successful interactive exhibit at our workshops, the survey looks at eight different aspects of life to explore what people want from a community in the future.

If you’d like to take part in the survey, please click on the link below. The survey will run until September 2011 with the results feeding into the next stage of our design process.

Click here to take part in the survey

Click here to see Norwich Evening News’ article about the survey

Posted 15 July 2011 by Susie

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Beyond Green survey highlights local desire to live more sustainably in the future

Sprowston Fete June 2011

People in Broadland and Norwich see themselves walking and cycling more, shopping more locally and living greener lifestyles. This is according to a survey conducted this month by Beyond Green about what people want from a new community.

Around 100 people responded to the interactive survey at public exhibitions at Sprowston Fete and St Cuthbert’s Church and professional workshops at Norwich Cathedral’s Hostry. In all, the consultation events were attended by 115 professional stakeholders from 45 organisations, and by over 150 local residents.

Commenting on these results co-founder of Beyond Green, Joanna Yarrow, said that they were “both fascinating and extremely helpful in planning and designing a new place. They give a really good steer about what people think would make a thriving community.

“I’m delighted that there seems to be such an appetite for walking and cycling, driving less, for parks and green spaces and for changes in behaviour to save resources. This is extremely positive and gives us good clues as to what to design for. It also makes me think that maybe the tide’s turning in favour of greener, more sustainable, options –and that people are starting to see that a greener way of life can have the triple advantages of saving much-needed cash, being better for you and saving the planet.”

For further information and a full breakdown of the results, see below. If you would like to be kept informed about our consultation programme, please email broadland@beyondgreen.co.uk asking to be added to our mailing list.

Beyond Green press release 30th June 2011
Beyond Green interactive survey results

Posted 4 July 2011 by Susie

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Broadland Young People’s Forum, Saturday 18th June

Broadland Young People's Forum

As part of Beyond Green’s week of community events in Broadland, a Young People’s Forum for 11 to 21 year olds will be held on Saturday 18th June at OPEN, 20 Bank Plain, Norwich NR2 4SF.

Jonny Anstead, Director of Beyond Green Developments said “This will be the first event in a programme of activities aimed at engaging young people in Broadland and Norwich and will be a great opportunity to get involved in shaping their area’s future. They’ll have the opportunity to talk to members of our design team first-hand and help us create a place that offers the highest quality of life and the lowest carbon footprint in Europe!

“We hope the event will be a way of starting a longer dialogue and we will be asking young people next weekend how they would like to be involved in coming months – whether that is working with their schools or other organisations, running further events of this sort or any other means.”

If you would like to attend the Young People’s Forum please register by emailing broadland@beyondgreen.co.uk. Further details can be found in the leaflet below.

Young People’s Forum leaflet

Posted 10 June 2011 by Susie

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