Grange Farm Country Park
Client:
Urban&Civic
Area:
63 ha (115 acres)
Location:
Cambridgeshire
Type:
Parks & Public Realm
1,500
new homes
20
ha of existing & proposed woodlands
views
sensitively mitigated
The Country Park at Grange Farm provides the opportunity to transform an area of agricultural farmland into a new parkland destination for both new and existing communities to enjoy.
Grange Farm is part of the wider Alconbury Weald development at Huntingdon, north of Cambridgeshire and benefits from direct linkages to the A14 and the A1(M). BMD have been working for masterdeveloper Urban&Civic for over a decade on the wider Alconbury Weald site and in 2018 began a process of design and consultation to develop this new Country Park, one of the four key strategic open spaces at Alconbury Weald.
As the Country Park will bridge new and existing residents, several months of interactive workshops, design sessions and exhibitions have been paramount in influencing the physical layout and the preservation of public space. This consultation work is captured in a Design Brief along with design fixes and guidance to ensure the highest standard of design is delivered and long-term management and stewardship is considered.
Image caption: Grange Farm Framework Plan. © BMD
Healthy Infrastructure
The overarching vision for the Country Park is underpinned by the positive impact that the outdoors and nature can have on our mental health and emotional well-being, through the notion of 'creating Healthy Infrastructure' delivering 'a park for life'.
Good health and wellbeing are fundamental to enable us to live an active and fulfilled life and plays a role in our local communities. The healthy living design principles underpinning the Country Park Framework will work harmoniously to positively impact upon residents mental and physical health, bringing people closer to nature.
Four underlying interventions which underpin the Country Park Vision and start to form the landscape framework include, Diverse Landscapes, Active Landscapes, Community Landscapes and Productive Landscapes.
Image caption: Health and Wellbeing model for the Country Park. © BMD
Heritage
The Country Park framework plan draws upon inherited features to craft a new special place with a distinctive character and a strong community focus.
Prestley Wood sits at the heart of proposals and forms a key destination for the Country Park. The woodland will be carefully opened up to the public over time to encourage a sense of ownership and stewardship amongst the community as well as retaining its status as an important ecological asset and prominent landmark.
Prestley Wood; a scheduled monument is a moated manor site and remains one of the best preserved monuments of its kind in Cambridgeshire.
Close consultation with Historic England led to an agreed proposal of meadows, woodlands and grasslands that provide a suitable setting for the Monument.
Image caption: Grange Farm heritage features. © BMD
Sustainability
During the Covid-19 outbreak, parks were the first places people could visit and begin meeting friends, family members and loved ones.
The pressure that the pandemic put on our health and wellbeing highlighted that we need our parks more than ever before.
The Country Park will be protected as an open space in perpetuity through use of binding Section 106 agreements and restricted covenants that ensure the land can only be used for a Country Park.
To make such commitments BMD ensured a strong landscape led vision to demonstrate that it is truly sustainable - both environmentally and commercially.
Image caption: Country Park Vision. © BMD
