URBAN PLANNING

� ARCHITECTURE � PL ANNING � URBAN DESIGN � CONSERVATION � ECONOMIC REGENER ATION �

T hroughout the world the way the built environment is conceived, expanded and

managed affects the quality of life of its residents, how they relate to their society and how they identify with their nation. It determines the relationship towns and cities have with the natural environment and how their economies can grow.

We have learned that many different skills need to be brought together in order to understand the pressure placed on the environment by mass urban living. This includes geographers, economists, historians, planners, urban and landscape designers, architects and regeneration experts. Drawing on these skills, Nash Partnership has developed the Design Management and coordination skills required to progress and deliver complex urban projects. We are experienced in managing a wide range of specialist

technical and consultancy inputs and aligning them with the underlying public sector policy objectives.

We understand the dynamics of built environment change and the dynamics of urban renewal – what we call the ‘regeneration dynamic’ – including how drivers of value growth can be captured in order to attract investment capital and to create new social, cultural and economic values.

Africa is developing fast. Through the quality of its settlements and the vitality and sense of community of its people it has the opportunity to build towns and cities of high quality in the 21st century. We believe that making public places and social and cultural institutions of which its citizens can be proud is essential to its future prospects. We look forward to sharing what we know of European practices, and learning what we know Africa can teach us.

Introduction

N ash Partnership is a multi-disciplinary design management practice

committed to delivering sustainable, successful and rewarding places across all aspects of the built environment.

Established in 1988 by Senior Partner Edward Nash, the company has grown and diversified into a thriving practice of more than 35 staff.

We strive to design beautiful and functional places and address all the issues currently facing society at home, work and play. Context is central to our approach, seeking to learn our lessons from those that created the buildings and communities of the past, while utilising the tools, materials and technologies of the future.

Our team has the skills required to take development projects from inception through to completion, encompassing Urban Planning, Regeneration, Urban Design, Masterplanning, Architecture, Conservation, Environmental Sustainability, Project Management, Construction Services and Research.

About Nash Partnership

n the UK, as in many other parts of the world, urban areas often go through cycles of prosperity

and decline. This can leave once vital and prosperous communities suffering from deprivation and social exclusion. Regeneration should be a process through which those same communities renew and reinvigorate themselves.

Nash Partnership has a long track record of developing lasting interventions to reverse the fortunes of such communities. Central to our approach is developing an understanding of how places evolved and how this can provide clues for addressing current and future challenges and opportunities. We combine this knowledge with an appreciation of bigger picture issues, in order to deliver projects that contribute to achieving sustainable places designed to

meet the challenges that face the modern global community.

Our skills have been acquired, tested and developed in a variety of projects involving the revitalisation of many large former industrial complexes, often involving heritage assets. We have also acted on many large former governmental assets, military establishments, hospitals and education sites, creating new patterns of economic, social and cultural life.

We are now advising the public, private and charitable sectors on strategic development and regeneration concept models. Often such projects are based around demonstrating how previously developed land of low economic, social and environmental value can become valuable through delivering new social, economic and environmental agendas.

Regeneration and upgrading of urban areas

U rban design is about shaping a successful physical, economic, social and

cultural environment for people. Central to this objective are the streets and spaces that make up the city. This starts at the city-wide level, down to the scale of the site and is determined by the inter-relationship between spaces, uses and built form.

Nash Partnership have an extensive track record in the shaping and delivery of successful places within both the UK and Asia. Our portfolio ranges from small-scale ‘infill’ sites up to developments of 250 hectares incorporating homes, business uses, schools and other essential community facilities. We have a particularly strong track record in delivering large-scale housing projects in a range of

contexts, from the inner city to urban extensions on previously undeveloped sites. This includes the upgrading of St Paul’s Estate in Cheltenham (winner of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s national award for ‘exemplary planning to deliver housing’), the regeneration of Bradford-on-Avon town centre, planning new communities, such as Locking Parklands in Weston-super-Mare and the development of a design ‘code’ for a new settlement in Qingdao, China.

Our founding partner, Edward Nash, chaired the Board established by the Council for the World Heritage City of Bath to advise on the economic, social, cultural and environmental revitalisation of its 36-mile river corridor. He also sits on the Bath and Bristol Local Enterprise Partnership.

Masterplanning and urban design

E conomic development underpins the creation of successful places.

Nash Partnership has developed a comprehensive approach to bringing about the revitalisation of depressed urban economies - something we call spatio-temporal economic modelling (STEM). This builds on our

understanding of different economic models, combined with our spatial planning and design skills, in order to target key interventions in the built environment to bring about lasting change.

We have used this ‘toolkit’ of approaches to change the fortunes of places across the UK. This

includes the development of space for creative industries (such as arts and media companies) in a former paint factory in Bristol, developing a strategy for the reinvention of the riverside of the historic city of Bath and the development of a new business park at the Royal Albert Dock in London.

Developing local economies

C ultural heritage is central to our identity as a society. It tells the story of how our

communities have developed and come to be the way they are. Within the UK, the protection, interpretation and re-use of our historic built environment are central to the mandate of the planning system. However, weighing these issues with the multitude of built environment objectives is a complex challenge.

Situated in the World Heritage City of Bath, Nash Partnership is no stranger to the subtle art of balancing the protection of built heritage with shaping the places of the future. Heritage often forms a central component of the work we take on, governing the political and policy context of much of this work. Our goal is securing the creative and robust re-use of historic ‘assets’. In any project, we place a high value on learning from the past, whether this

is from understanding the evolving patterns of use in a building or area, or from analysing historic construction materials, techniques and forms.

We have an extensive portfolio of heritage projects, including the regeneration of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site (the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and winner of the European Community Heritage Marque Award). This portfolio also includes a number of projects in Bath, including the renovation and extension of the American Museum and the conversion of the Grand Parade Undercroft, located adjacent to Pulteney Bridge, for a range of public uses.

The quality of our conservation work has been recognised in our appointment to the UK Homes and Communities Agency’s Heritage Advisory Panel. We also have staff on the Royal Institute of British Architects National Conservation Register.

Cultural heritage and tourism

U rban or ‘spatial’ planning frameworks provide a policy-based strategy for

managing the development of land. They bring together public functions, private business interests and the community in order to facilitate the creation of a unified vision and objectives for the development of a place. This then provides a policy framework to guide decisions

on planning applications and infrastructure delivery.

Nash Partnership has extensive experience of helping to develop, shape and refine planning frameworks. This has included advocacy on behalf of public landowners, private interests and non-governmental organisations, through to promoting large sites for housing development through

the plan-making process, such as Starvehall Farm, RAF Locking and the Bath southern urban extension.

Edward Nash is on the panel of the Local Enterprise Partnership, helping to shape the sub-regional planning agenda within the West of England. Our team also has experience of developing planning frameworks within developing countries, including within China and Zambia.

Urban planning frameworks

The Starting Point:- The Previous Plan

Vision and ObjectivesWhat we want our place to be

Preferred Option:The basis of our spatial strategy

Delivery Policies / Strategies

Technical studies

Spatial Option 1

Strategic policies /

objectives

Strategic

Detailed

Strategic

Detailed

Key diagram

Place-making policies

Site brief Site allocation

Proposals map

Spatial Option 2 Spatial Option 3 Spatial Option 4

Public Sector

Public Engagement

Private sector

Third sector

Engagement

Higher Level policy

Understanding community issues and aspirations

SpatialPolicies

Engagement

Engagement

The Plan-Making Process

Definition Developing

the strategy

The Planning

Process

Solution

Delivery

Problem

Ar c h i t e c t u

re

D e s i g nC o n s u l t a n t

s

Planning

Rege

neration

ExternalUrban

S t r a t e g

y

Co n s e r v a t i

o n

S t r a t e g

y

Feasibility

Testing

Development

Framework /

Brief

Masterplanning

Landscape

Architecture

Spatial

Analysis

Masterplan

testing

Building

Design Interior

Design

Feasibility

testing

Heritage

Statements

Conservation

ArchitectureRegeneration

Story

Spatio-Temporal

economics

Project

ManagementPolicy

development

and

interpretation

Environmental

Impact

Assessment

Consultation

Strategy

Strategic

Thinking

DES

IGN M

ANAGEMENT

P R O C E S S

P lanning systems perform a complicated role. They have to simultaneously

manage a range of competing social, economic and environmental factors, balancing the public interest with the rights of the private individual, with the ultimate goal of creating a better built environment. Invariably this takes place within the context of often-conflicting political agendas. As a result, the planning process can be complex and difficult to negotiate successfully.

Our Planning Team specialises in steering complex development projects through the planning process. We view planning as a tool for making things happen. Through our enlightened, creative and evidence-based approach we aim to demonstrate how clients’ projects deliver the objectives behind planning policy and standards, or, where necessary,

make the case for exceptions. We do this within the context of a strong value framework - we will not take on projects we do not agree with. The members of our team come from a mixture of public and private sector backgrounds and have skills in development control, spatial planning, international development, conservation, sustainable development, geography, research and commercial viability.

Nash Partnership has a long track record of steering proposals through all stages of the UK’s highly-politicised planning process. Such projects include: the recently completed UK headquarters of Hitachi Capital in Trowbridge; a range of city centre projects helping to transform Bath; and the development of new communities on large urban extensions or previously developed land throughout the south of Britain.

Development planning

T he art of planning, designing and constructing buildings is an important role in any

society. It is no coincidence that buildings are often viewed as cultural symbols or works of art - a role to be taken seriously. Many such buildings are essential to raising the regional and international stature of towns and cities, instilling pride and growing community values. Architecture in the UK has a long and proud heritage, with architects from the UK regularly undertaking work in other parts of the world. We are no different.

Nash Partnership has been undertaking award-winning building and renovation projects for more than 25 years. It is the cornerstone of the practice and our ability to

steer a project from inception through construction and planning to completion is what sets us apart from many consultancies of our size. In undertaking any architecture project we:

� Value the past for what it can teach us.

� Understand that what we do will, and should, reflect the culture of our time.

� Know the impact of man on the natural environment must be sustainable in the future.

� Believe our designs should inspire and improve the lives of those they affect.

Nash Partnership’s architecture is characterised by simple innovative

ideas and well-crafted detailing, giving careful consideration to the use of materials and the character of the surrounding context. All our buildings will seek to integrate practical lifestyle and place-making choices.

Our approach is reflected in our work. Our portfolio encompasses a variety of challenging and interesting building types and in recent years our portfolio has included a new hotel in Scotland, a restaurant and schools, as well as more familiar residential and heritage work. We have also undertaken work abroad, including a bespoke retail development in America and a large mansion for a member of the Qatari Royal Family in Lebanon.

Architecture

The team

Edward NashSenior Partner

Conservation Architecture, Regeneration and Urban Design

Robert LockePartner and Technical Director

Architecture and Construction Design Management

Kevin BalchDesign Director

Architecture and Conservation Architecture

Daniel LugsdenDesign Director

Architecture and Urban Design

Amanda TaylorUrban Design Director

Housing Design, Urban Design and Masterplanning

Justine LeachUrban Design and Landscape Director

Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Masterplanning

Mel Clinton Director of Planning and Regeneration

Town Planning and Regeneration

Mike FoxPlanning Director

Town Planning, Urban Design and International Development

Bruce ClarkHead of Conservation

Conservation Architecture and Environmental Sustainability

Bath Office: 23a Sydney Buildings, Bath BA2 6BZ, UKBristol Office: Prudential Buildings, Wine Street, Bristol BS1 2PH, UK Website: www.nashpartnership.com Phone: 01225 442424Email: mail@nashpartnership.comTwitter: @nashPLLP