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A striking new addition to the suburbs of South West London is now nearing completion. After 11 years of

development, St James will soon hand over the last homes on one of its flagship housing projects – The Hamptons at Worcester Park in Surrey. Since work started in 2001, 645 homes have been built in a distinctive New England style on the 25 hectare mixed-tenure site, ten miles from the centre of London.

One of the most popular aspects of the development is that half of the site has been given over to create the new Mayflower Park. It has extensive wetlands and even an amphitheatre. The landscaping provides green space in a district characterised by dense rows of Victorian and 1930s properties, and yet the development still manages to deliver 40% affordable housing.

Mayflower Park, together with the New England architecture and the project’s impeccable green credentials (car pools and solar panel heating, for example) have resulted in The Hamptons winning a string of awards, including the Evening Standard Best Development Award 2011 and What House Best Landscape Design Award 2011. More importantly, the site now feels like a place with its own identity, embraced both by residents and the community at large.

This is an important aspect of The Hamptons project. As you can imagine, spatchcocking a large new development into a crowded part of Surrey was not without its planning issues. There were times when tensions flared up with existing local residents, particularly over the issue of traffic congestion.

However these difficulties are not exceptional. Development at this scale and within a well-established community will almost always throw up obstacles along the way. So there are lessons in the process for other developers, councils and communities. This story reflects wider planning issues about the question of density in the suburbs and offers insights into how you create and manage public assets. Everyone, of course, wants more and better facilities. The question is who pays for their up-keep in an era of austerity?

The HamptonsA case study about sustainable development in the suburbs

The architect worked with a landscape architect to maximise the effect. The mound is shaped into the side of a bowl on one side, complete with steps cut into the grass to create an outdoor amphitheatre which can be used for community activities.

The idea of having the open space was one of the conditions of gaining planning permission but it undoubtedly added to the attraction of the development. Providing as many homes as possible with close proximity and a view onto the park helped drive up values, as well as improving the sense of security for people using the open space.

“One of the more controversial aspects of the design for local residents was the prospect of The Hamptons containing blocks of apartments. When we told them, there were real concerns raised but once we showed them images of what they would look like, all with their own balconies, people seemed more relaxed.”

The popularity and high quality of the design, executed with high standards of construction and attention to detail in the communal areas and front gardens, stood St James in good stead when it came to an appeal for the last phase of development. “The lessons learnt here is that consistency of good designs works. The appeal was all about the traffic congestion. Looking back to the terrible state of the site when we started, I think we have made a silk purse out of it.”

Darren Richards, Executive Head of Planning, Transportation and Economic Development at Sutton Council, says that the scheme was “large enough for The Hamptons to have a bold design and its own sense of place.”

S tanding on top of the hill in Mayflower Park at The Hamptons, it’s hard to imagine that until a few years

ago, this was nothing more than scrubland and concrete cisterns of the old Worcester Park Sewage Works. Today, from the top of this newly contoured land, you look down onto grassy wetlands or gaze into the distance towards central London and catch a clear view of the Shard.

From this vantage point, it’s evident that the masterplan is a masterstroke for the site. You can access the park from every part of the development with the clapper-board homes and New England barns positioned around the edge, horseshoe-style. Each of the five phases of The Hamptons then has additional green spaces and water features creating a series of smaller and more intimate neighbourhood squares with the water features interlinking to provide a Sustainable Urban Drainage System and flood protection.

The story of The Hamptons begins around the time of the millennium when Thames Water, which owned the sewage works, elected to move this process elsewhere and harness the value of the site for development. It formed a joint venture with Berkeley Homes – St James – which has subsequently become wholly owned by the Berkeley Group.

St James received outline planning permission in 2000 to build 480 homes. This was increased to 498 homes in 2003 following a series of reserved matter planning applications. The final phase of development has increased the number of units to 645.

The first phases of the scheme are modelled in the style of New England Colonial settlements. The white clapper-boarded Maple Lodge Housing Community Centre and gym complete with clock tower and picket fencing, embodies this vernacular.

As successive phases were built, the style of architecture developed thematic variations, ranging from mews houses with brick and render, to pastel-coloured terrace homes

that take their cue from the Norfolk Broads. In the later phases, some rustic cottages are redolent of the Suffolk wetlands. Five storey buildings, split into apartments, are placed around the site, the cladding varying in colour and style.

The mixture hangs together well. Architect Fred London, a partner at John Thompson and Partners, which created the masterplan and detailed design, explains that there is a unifying theme to it, based on observation of many other settlements around water. “We were trying to create unity without uniformity.”

He says that the style was intended to create a sense of fun and give the development its own identity. “The surrounding areas lack a unique or unifying character we could draw upon to inform our design, so it seemed to make sense that we do something different which still sat well in this landscape.”

The landscape has been moulded from spoil generated from the construction process. Due to site constraints it would have been difficult to take these thousands of tonnes of earth away”, he explains. “So rather than treat it as a problem, we treated it as opportunity.”

Masterplanning masterstrokes

Sustainable suburbs

From the creation of a five-hectare wetland habitat for protected newts and bats, through to a residents’ car club and renewable energy, great attention has been given to the Hampton’s green credentials. The highlights include:

• Installation of photovoltaic and solar thermal panels on the final phase of 184 units, reducing projected carbon emissions by 20%.

• New park land providing a recreation area, play equipment for children, tennis courts and viewing platform.

• A new ecological conservation area, formed around three small lakes, provides a habitat for wildlife including protected species such as bats and slow worms. A special bird hive has been constructed to allow public viewing.

• A car club (operating two cars) for residents.

• Improvements to the public bus service as well as new footpaths and cycle ways with the aim of reducing the number of car trips in peak hours by 10% over a five year period.

• The improvement of cycle parking at Worcester Park Station, discounts on bike purchases for residents and a cycle hire scheme.

2. Paying for public assets

A second lesson from The Hamptons relates to the provision of open space. Successful placemaking always demands careful thought about the management of public space and who covers the cost. In particular, the question about who takes responsibility for public space which is not restricted to the use of residents but open to the community at large.

At The Hamptons, service charges go towards the Maple Lodge and Mayflower Park and wetlands. Once St James has left the site, the upkeep and maintenance will be run by a management company which reports into a Residents’ Association. This gives the residents a controlling influence over public space on the development.

The arrangement works well but has come under pressure when the volume and cost of public amenity increased. Plans to create a new children’s play area in the final phase of development proved contentious because no one felt able to pay for the upkeep. The council did not want to take responsibility for maintenance and neither did the residents, who said they never asked for it.

This highlights how important it is to establish at the beginning of a process what is going to be delivered and how public assets will be managed. Purchasers can then understand and buy into the proposition from day one.

At the Olympic ‘Athletes Village’ in Stratford, for example, the development includes 10 hectares of parks, open space and wetlands. The plan is that once residents begin moving in and the new landlords take ownership in 2013, they will take over the up-keep of this public space, much of which will be accessible by the general public. Whether or not it proves successful, there is at least real clarity at the start.

If circumstances change and a Planning Inspector or any other public body requires more provision of public amenities in the latter phase of a development, it is crucial to recognise the implications for their ongoing management. In reality, it might be better to fulfil part of an enhanced requirement off-site, helping to support the upkeep of existing council assets, rather than create new responsibilities for a public service that is already overstretched.

3. Community engagement

In 2011, the Localism Act made community engagement from an early stage in large scale development government policy. Some of the tensions over traffic congestion that cropped up at The Hamptons provide a reminder of just how important an open, two-way dialogue is at every stage from planning to occupation.

Hugh Bryne is Chairman of the Residents’ Association and has lived on The Hamptons since 2005. He rented at first before buying a property in June 2006. Born in Worcester Park, he’s a big fan of the development.

A second lesson from The Hamptons relates to the provision of open space. Successful placemaking always demands careful thought about the management of public space and who covers the cost.

1. High density in suburbia

One of the controversial aspects of the development has been the increase in the number of dwellings

from 498 consented in the outline planning permission to the eventual 645 that have been built. The argument came to a head at the final phase of the development.

By 2008, St James had completed 461 of the 498 homes allowed under the outline permission. However, there was still 3.68ha of developable brownfield land available to accommodate the final 37 homes. St James was confident that the final phase could easily accommodate 184 homes in the density and style that had received planning permission on earlier phases.

St James argued it would have been detrimental to the site if the style and density suddenly altered. However, this represented 147 more homes than had received outline planning permission in 2001. The council refused the application largely on the grounds of traffic and congestion. This was then overturned on appeal and at 50 dwellings per hectare, the final density is now no different to that of Worcester Park as a whole.

Sean Ellis, Chairman of St James explains: “Building to a higher density is often a good use of land and increasing the density of development does not necessarily mean compromising on the quality of design. The Hamptons represents a great example of how to deliver significant numbers of high quality homes in a highly sustainable place.”

“Strategically, there are difficult choices we all need to make – to accommodate the number of homes that everyone needs, we have to build at relatively high densities on brownfield land or create increasing pressure on the green belt”.

The final quid pro quo saw the council receive a high proportion of affordable housing, a children’s playground and enhanced environmental performance, all of which benefit the local community as a whole. Building more homes on the site also spread the cost of paying for communal areas, including those open to the public, not just to people that live on the development.

Dilemmas around density confront many developments. In the 2010 London Plan, guidance switched from maximising what you can be built on a given site to the idea of optimising delivery. This change in emphasis was accompanied by stronger encouragement to reflect the character of existing areas and a more graded approach to density.

In practice, concerns about density are often prompted by fears about congestion or sheer numbers of people. Optimisation partly reflects an attempt to balance these tensions between density, character and local services. The Hamptons is important not least because it shows how these concerns can be resolved. It is a relatively high density scheme. Its character is markedly different to the surrounding area.

In one sense, density is simply a calculation. What matters is the quality of the place.

Lessons for the future

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“It’s very pleasant and particularly good for young families. One of the best things is that it provides 30 acres of green space for the residents. By working with one of the local special constables, we’ve just started a wetlands and fisheries club and we’re encouraging all the local children to take part.”

Mr Byrne says that there is a good community feeling about the place, but acknowledges that it’s taken hard work to get there. He believes that negative press about the relationship between the social tenants and the owners of private homes could have been avoided if the two sides had fostered better relationships and communication from the outset.

Mr Byrne has made it his job to ‘cement’ a greater understanding with local groups and organisations, such as councillors and the police, which has also helped integrate The Hamptons into the wider community.

“With hindsight, St James could have ensured there was more communication with the wider community outside of The Hamptons,” he says. Mr Byrne also believes that if channels of communication had been opened directly between the residents of the private housing and housing association, the few problems that have arisen between them could have been avoided. Instead, all communications were channelled through the landlord, Thames Valley Housing Association.

“The overwhelming lesson here,” he says “is that you must bring people along with you. You have to get local people to buy into the concept.”

The development of The Hamptons has also been a learning curve for Sutton Council in the way it communicates with local residents. Darren Richards, the Head of Planning, gives this advice to councils and developers involved in large-scale placemaking:

“Communicate the benefits that new development brings. In the case of The Hamptons, it’s been high-quality housing, excellent new amenities, open space, and support for local businesses. Promote the positive – here we could have made more of the things that were being done to tackle congestion, like car pooling. And be bold in terms of design: having a character of its own is no bad things. It is possible to look modern and still work well in an existing area.”

The creation of The Hamptons started in an era when the economy was on the rise. The urban Task Force

was promoting high density housing and the political clamour for high quality design was still very much in its infancy. CABE itself was not established until 1999.

Today the world is very different but there are enduring ideas that will always be valid. New development will generate concerns but these can be allayed if within The Hamptons the benefits are communicated effectively. Good design pays dividends and will ultimately be more acceptable to planners and the community. Mixed communities create tension in the short term which needs to be managed until more social cohesion is established in the long run.

The Hamptons experienced all these aspects of placemaking and out of it has come a high quality development, that has already matured into a highly desirable neighbourhood, with a wealth of lessons for everyone involved in the future of developing in the suburbs of our capital.

Summary