Senior Conservative Environment Spokesman visits groundbreaking development in Harlow today

Newhall is one of the ground breaking new estates in Harlow and I am really pleased that Greg Clark, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, will be visiting the area today, to see the remarkable environmental vision behind this development.

Greg will be accompanied by myself, Councillor Tony Hall (Chairman of Harlow Council Environment Committee), and also meet leading figures from the Newhall Projects team.

Mr Clark will be taken on a tour of the development to view the sustainability aspects. The visit will include the reed beds, their significance and other ecological measures.

As an additional part of the visit, the Shadow Cabinet Minister, will visit the show house and get a briefing on the refurbishment of the historic barn on the site.

For background information (provided by Newhall itself), see below:

Protecting the Environment is High Priority at Newhall

Home improvements, such as decking and paving over greenery, is having a devastating impact on wildlife, according to two environmental reports.

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology both recently reported that the trend of paving and placing decking over grass is resulting in the disappearance of birds such as the song thrush, house sparrow, house martin and robin from our towns and cities, together with other animals including hedgehogs, bats and stag beetles.

However, this is not the case at Newhall in Harlow where the development clearly combines a respect for the local environment and wildlife with the construction of well-designed housing.

According to Jon Moen, of Newhall Projects Ltd, the response to the new houses at North Chase was very encouraging.

“This latest phase is using designs from four leading architects, which is very unusual in contemporary housing schemes and the results are as architecturally exciting and innovative as the previous phases,” he said.
“The extensive use of glass, timber and contemporary materials makes the homes feel fresh, spacious and full of natural light. They also loved the amount of green space at the development and its many eco-friendly features.”

Building at Newhall has been planned to minimise its impact on the local wildlife in a number of ways. 40% of the 250-acre development is dedicated to open, green, space, and no home is further than 60m from greenery.
Newhall Projects are also working with local ecologists to reduce the impact of the scheme on the badger population and will monitor the different wildlife found there in the future.

Other eco-features include the planting of 20,000 trees and the inclusion of reed beds, which create a natural drainage system that helps keep the water clean.

Also a long hedge, that needed to be moved, was transplanted whole to another area of the development, thus saving it from being destroyed.

The 127 apartments, townhouses and commercial space within North Chase have been designed to help save water. Dishwashers will have 12-litre cycles, rather than the more usual 15, and the showers have the latest adaptations for greater effectiveness and efficiency.

The timber frames used are made of sustainable timber, and have good insulation properties, reducing the need for central heating and other nergy-squandering devices. These features not only help the environment but they also cut utility bills.

Newhall will eventually have plenty of storage space for bicycles, encouraging buyers to avoid using cars, and the buildings have been orientated so they maximise the use of sunlight, and therefore
rely less on artificial lighting.

Jon Moen also points out that far from sending animals scurrying from the development, they are seeing an increase in certain species.

“We carried out an ecological assessment and found that, because of the reed beds, we’ve seen a big increase in great crested newts, and a large increase in waterfowl, insects and birds that thrive on the waterway. We’ve also brought in a requirement that anyone who has a garden shed has to have a grass roof. The idea is that we replace the equivalent green space that they’ve covered, on the roof!”

FACT SHEET

1) Master Plan – A place to visit
Taking 10 years to develop it follows the principles established by Sir Frederick Gibberd, architect of Harlow new town - open space, 50 people/hectare density, amenities within walking distance, larger
facilities in community centers, total population for each neighbourhood of about 6,000-10,000, and neighbourhoods separated by green wedges.
The master plan aimed to create a place to live that is a pleasure to visit - superimposing street plans of famous cities onto the site demonstrated the possibilities the site presented.
NB - Emphasizing urban design in a Greenfield site master plan is a new idea and was especially so 10 years ago.

2) Master plan highlighted five key criteria in establishing the site:
a) Respect for topography/sense of place, i.e. if you level it, you lose its integrity
b) Need to build sustainable part of the town, not just an estate
c) Finished neighbourhood needs to be a community
d) Need for different character areas providing a choice of places to live and outlooks
e) Architecture needs modernity with plenty of light and energy efficiency.

3) Landscape
Streams, woodland and hedgerow have been maintained and joined with green corridors for a visual structure. The road pattern largely follows contour lines with some diagonal roads running 90 degrees to the contours. All houses are no more than one block away from green spaces.
Environmental measures are important such as sustained urban drainage, channeling rainwater off the new homes via true balancing ponds and reed beds into a balancing lake. This means that 6-7 years ahead some houses will have lakeside frontage.

4) Adherence to PPG3

Newhall embraces PPG3 – although its plans were developed years before the government directive!
There are 4 density bands: 60, 36, 48 and 30 dwellings / hectare - some individual sites are 70-80 dph. The plan does not include a maximum number of dwellings/parcel - the architect can increase the density ensuring maximum privacy and minimum overlooking.

5) Neighbourhood Centre and Resident’s Association

There will be a neighbourhood centre, with a ground floor containing five/work units, shops. There will also be a Resident's Association, key to the social development of the project, involved in managing key facilities.

6) Street Pattern Lay Out

- 55-60 metres road centre line to centre line – convenient for private back gardens

- clear distinction between public frontages to streets and private rear gardens

- no cul-de-sacs

- street structure encourages walking and cycling and range of amenities will reduce off-site travel

- natural approach to traffic calming. To curtail traffic domination at cross roads, street corners and T-junctions where pedestrians want to cross on foot, small courtyards/squares have been created, with trees in the middle of the road. There are no kerbs delineating the route for motorists, so cars have to slow down and pass through with care.
Street tree planting has become a rarity in recent decades with some authorities actually refusing to adopt streets with avenue trees
- at crossroads people given priority and encouraged to play or sit there
- street lamps will be contemporary with pure white light from a ceramic halide.

7) Affecting car usage, not car ownership, the plan offers parking solutions:

- a mews courtyard and courtyard in front of buildings with parking around the edges
- parking behind buildings on some streets.

8) Design Code for Architecture Manual
A legally binding, constantly updated ‘Planning & Design Information’ manual includes a colour/materials palette for floors, roofs, walls, doors and windows by the artist Tom Porter to ensure continuity across all the parcels.
The palette took material and soil samples from the site containing real Welsh slate, clay, weatherboarding, featherboard, render, flint and two approved bricks, one handmade.

9) Layout of Newhall encourages Solar Heating

- many of the terraced houses are on E/W axis where they gain from Southern sun

- streets running N/S have detached houses or towers so the gables catch the sun.

10) Each Parcel has Development Brief
Whilst the lay out can be modified, it must connect at the edges of each parcel. The brief provides build-to lines and build-to zones, with positions identified for corner/landmark buildings.
11) So far the Master Plan has held up and seems to be working:

- Newhall has won two Building for Life Awards from CABE

- Abode won a National Homebuilder Design Award

- Anecdotal evidence to date suggests that the selling

- prices per square foot are greater than an adjoining development in Harlow
- Harlow District Council has worked closely with the preparation of the master plan and design codes and is now able to be granting planning consents quicker.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com