Thriving Communities

Creating better places for our customers to live

“Placemaking is about how we plan and design happy and healthy places to live – places that complement the surrounding community and support nature. This is fundamental to our business model and our trusted position in the marketplace.”

Rose Sandell

Group Communities Director

Better places to live

Create beautiful, sustainable and inclusive places for wellbeing

Delivering a better quality of life makes our places as attractive as possible for our customers.

Designing sustainable communities

Listen to learn
Keeping it local
Easy to get around
Places to go & things to do
Nature for people
Streets for life
Homes for all
Built to impress

Listen to learn

By listening and engaging with local communities and others at an early stage means we can consider how local views should inform our proposals and shape the vision for the new development. We use various methods to capture the views of the local community including design workshops, public exhibitions and digital consultation methods. Listen to Learn is also about listening to our existing customers and collating feedback on our homes and the design of our places which informs the design of new places in the future.

Keeping it local

Understanding the unique and important characteristics of the site and its locality helps us create a distinctive and responsive new community that knits into the wider area. This is done by retaining and incorporating important feature such as mature trees and other landscape features in to the new development as well as by using locally distinctive materials on our homes. Wherever possible we will also strive to create connections to the local area for pedestrians and cyclists to help tie the new community into the locality and make it easy to reach local destinations.

Easy to get around

We aim to provide well-connected new communities that provide for a range of ways of getting around including walking and cycling. This provides the opportunity to make sustainable transport choices as well as benefit health and wellbeing. Wherever possible we integrate new foot and cycle paths with green corridors and spaces so that the routes are as attractive as possible. Making our places well-connected and easy to navigate makes them accessible to everyone.

Places to go and things to do

Wherever possible we strive to deliver a range of destinations within our new communities. On larger developments this may include new facilities such as a school, shops or a pub and on smaller sites it may mean a walking loop, nature pond, seating area, wildflower meadow, community orchard or allotments. Having a place to go of something to do gives our new places focal points for activity and helps to deliver a sense of community and belonging.

Nature for people

Enhancing existing and creating new wildlife habitats and connecting people to these places through thoughtful design enriches the environment on so many levels. By retaining and enhancing natural assets such as trees, hedgerows and water features and making them accessible we are creating attractive spaces and places that enhance health and wellbeing. Wherever possible we will incorporate natural spaces and wildlife habitats within a network of green infrastructure that is connected by footpaths and cycleways.

Streets for life

By designing streets as spaces and places for people we can create a network of safe and attractive routes for pedestrians and cyclists. Safe, attractive and welcoming streets help to create a sense of community as well as making it easier to live a healthier lifestyle. We aim to create a clear hierarchy of streets from tree-lined avenues down to quieter ‘shared surface spaces’ all of which are enclosed and defined by our attractive homes.

Homes for all

We strive to create balanced and thriving communities which contain a range of house types and sizes. These include 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom homes as well as bespoke accommodation such as homes for the elderly and bungalows. Our Heritage Collection range includes a wide range of house types and sizes in an attractive and timeless style that creates harmonious and interesting street scenes.

Built to impress

We aim to create instant ‘kerb appeal’ and pride in the home and the street it is on with our beautiful homes and landscaping. Impressive entrances to the home, the street and the community as a whole are important in creating a ‘sense of arrival’ and the notion of arriving home. When all of our placemaking principles come together the overall effect and impact is greater than the sum of the parts to create truly impressive, thriving communities.

Click each of our eight design principles to find out more information

Community engagement

Our placemaking principle ‘Listen to Learn’ recognises that an important element to creating a successful place is that it responds to the needs and aspirations of the new community (our customers), the existing local community and other local stakeholders.

Sustainable transport nodes

During our 2022 financial year, 47% of our developments had initiatives to reduce personal car dependency. Many of our developments have a ‘Travel plan’ in place at the point of planning permission and this sets out the initiatives and planned infrastructure improvements to encourage sustainable or active travel modes, for example cycle paths, vouchers for new bikes, subsidised bus services and new walking and cycling connections. This ensures our development and surrounding communities are provided with a choice to use more sustainable transport modes.

Other pages you may be interested in

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