Newcastle Great Park Town Centre (2)

Newcastle

Residential scheme on a greenfield site, with offices, shops, leisure uses, academic uses and student housing. Designed by IDPartnership - Northern and Persimmon Homes.

We also reviewed this scheme on 30 January 2008.

Throughout our involvement with Newcastle Great Park, we have emphasised the importance of the town centre’s successful integration into the wider project. We are pleased to have the opportunity to comment again on the progress of the development, but while we recognise the amount of work that has gone into the analysis and detailed description of the proposal, we are concerned that the scheme will not achieve the intended quality.

We would expect to see a clearer strategy determining the proposed layout of the town centre and its relationship with adjacent residential areas. We do not think that the proposal’s current character, akin to an out of town industrial estate surrounded by large car parks, will create or support a vibrant community. We think the team needs to reconsider the layout of the town centre and the extent of surface car parking in order to realise some of the positive elements that we appreciated when we first reviewed the Newcastle Great Park project.

Town centre character

In our opinion, a well designed town centre development at the heart of Newcastle Great Park could become an interesting destination for both local residents and from other parts of Newcastle. It will offer a mix of attractive facilities and services. We regret to say that the present proposal does not make the most of this potential.

Instead of creating a coherent town centre with well defined spaces, the scheme appears as a collection of unrelated building blocks, separated by large car parks. This piecemeal approach does not seem to follow a clear design strategy and, while we appreciate the amount of information and detailing in the accompanying documents, we do not feel that the proposed town centre manages to create a cohesive, legible environment.

Layout of the town centre

The discrepancy between the original aspiration and the final design is most apparent in the layout of the town centre and in the manner in which it was presented. We are disappointed that, at this point of the design process, we did not see a drawing that clearly indicates vehicular and pedestrian routes through the town centre including a precise representation of road intersections and buildings.

While the crossing of two main roads could provide an interesting structure for the town centre as demonstrated by many historic examples, we do not think that this potential has been fully exploited. Brunton Lane, the main east-west route, misses the opportunity to create a real urban character. Its street frontage is poorly defined with large gaps between the buildings giving access to the car parks.

In terms of the north-south axis, we do not think that the current proposal is a successful interpretation of the original Simpson masterplan which proposed to link the business centre on top of the hill and the market place in the town centre. The proposed route does not fully link into the wider road network, particularly at its southern end where it is interrupted by the proposed market square and then not directly joining the connecting road into Cell G.

We also think that moving the market square closer to this central crossing would be beneficial for the whole scheme in terms of bringing life into the community. The current isolated location of the market at the far end of the town centre is unfortunate and we are concerned that it will be impossible to fill this space with activities.

The undefined character of the town centre with freestanding building blocks and large open spaces is likely to create difficulties in terms of determining the fronts and backs of buildings. The urban ambition of the town centre suggests that the buildings’ main entrances will address the central pedestrian route. We think, however, that most customers will use the back entrances, appreciating the easy access from the car park.

To maximise activity in the central pedestrian space, we think it would be helpful to better integrate the proposed supermarket into the overall streetscape. We also question whether the supermarket needs to address the pedestrian space along its entire length, or whether turning it by 90° with additional shops flanking the supermarket entrance would be more appropriate.

We would suggest that the team should consider a more compact, less extensive layout for the town centre. Shorter distances across the site and a reduced amount of surface car parking would help to achieve a dense urban fabric, strengthening the urban character. We think that a more diverse, less permeable structure would allow more intensive urban experience than the wide, potentially wind swept spaces of the current proposal.

Character zones and phasing

We think that the success of the town centre does not only depend on a convincing internal organisation but also on how the interface with the adjacent residential areas is treated. The information we have seen gives us little confidence that the two sides of the perimeter roads have been considered as a whole.

In our opinion, the masterplan policy for the town centre should set clear design principles for the quality of these perimeter roads. The remaining blocks within the town centre would then be able to evolve in a more logical way supported by the framework. This would also allow individual architects to interpret these guidelines.

The phasing of the town centre development is also of great importance, particularly in light of current economic pressures and the slow down of the construction industry. From the outset, it is necessary to ensure that every phase of the development can exist independently from the next phase being built. For this purpose, it is also essential to define precisely which function is located where. We recommend that the team concentrates on a smaller part of the town centre in order to make it work before the rest comes forward.

Sustainability

By virtue of its long timescale as well as its scale and the mix of uses proposed, there is an opportunity for the Newcastle Great Park scheme to become an exemplar sustainable housing development. This will require a clear approach to strategic sustainability, and this is not yet evident in the material presented for review.

We think considerable further work will be required to demonstrate strategies for reducing carbon emissions and facilitating waste and water recycling. The use of Combined Heat and Power should also be investigated, as a measure with considerable scope to minimise carbon emissions associated with developments of this type. Comprehensive development of the site creates an opportunity to put in place such infrastructure. We urge Newcastle City Council to take a leading role in this respect and to develop clear environmental targets for the project.

Conclusion

To conclude, we are disappointed that the concerns we have raised previously have not been addressed. We continue to think that the proposed town centre, based on a collection of buildings between vast car parks is unsatisfactory. It fails to achieve the intended urban character and we cannot see any attempt to establish a convincing relationship with the adjacent residential cells. A fresh approach is necessary in order to create a vibrant heart for Newcastle Great Park.