Masterplanning and Design

One of the aims of HLC and its urban equivalents was from the outset to supply information to facilitate the sustainable and heritage-friendly planning and design of new development. Early examples can be found in Using HLC and on this web page in relation to Sustainable Communities.

We have also been working in partnership with other government agencies to trial experimental approaches to using historic characterisation as a design tool. We have assisted the Highways Agency to prepare guidance of taking account of historic landscape character during road planning, as part of the suite guidance  contained in Design Manual for Roads and Bridges.

We have also worked with English Partnerships to develop a rapid method of site-based characterisation designed to meet the needs of early masterplanning on sites such as 19th Century hospitals released form the NHS in preparation for regeneration. The pilot for this work was Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester. On the basis of our experience with Graylingwell, EH and EP hope to distil guidance and template for similar work.

The Graylingwell Draft Report, should be treated by readers as provisional and experimental.

Follow this link for a copy of the Graylingwell Character Areas map.

The second report produced with English Partnerships has now been completed on Hanham Hall, Bristol. Download the Hanham Hall Historic Characterisation report.

 Jointly with the Highways Agency, we have developed guidance on designing new highways with respect to historic landscape character. This guidance, 'Assessing the Effect of Road Schemes on Historic Landscape Character' can be downloaded from the HELM website at http://www.helm.org.uk/upload/pdf/Road-Schemes.pdf