North West Sector, Horley
Client: Miller Strategic
Role: Masterplanning and Urban Design
North West Sector, Horley, is one of the strategic sites identified by Reigate and Banstead Council to provide much needed new housing in Surrey. The masterplan, for a consortium of housebuilders, has been developed from a framework plan developed by LDA Design in discussion with the borough council. The scheme, for 1,570 homes of mixed tenure, neighbourhood centre, primary school and open amenity space, is designed as a sustainable urban extension to Horley.
The masterplan responds to the characteristics of the site, in particular the cellular quality of small scale fields divided by strong hedgerows and a number of constraints and opportunities that include the flooding of the River Mole, an oil pipeline, overhead power cables, historic buildings, important views, existing rights of way and a mature landscape of trees and hedgerows. The development has a clear local identity and sense of place by forming a crescent between the raw edge of Horley and the river floodplain. Greenways extend from the riverside green corridor into the development including north/south and east/west axial routes passing through the neighbourhood centre.
The masterplan framework is in the form of a grid that creates a permeable layout that offers a choice of routes from place to place by foot, cycle and car. This form of layout encourages a reduction in car use and has inherent traffic calming benefits. It is based on a 'distorted' grid which provides visual closure (whereas an orthogonal grid leads to long straight vistas which are appropriate in the creation of formality and grandeur). The informal layout takes its character from many traditional Surrey and Sussex settlements which are typified by frequent visual closure.
The layout is characterised by a clear division between the public and private realm. The housing and ancillary buildings are designed with a public elevation at the front, providing an active frontage, and private face to the rear. The fronts overlook the streets, squares and open space to create spatial definition and a human scaled sense of place that offers natural surveillance. The backs face one another, which improves privacy and security and removes visual clutter from the street scene.
