30 CASE STUDY
ONCE COMPLETE, WICHEL FIELDS WILL INCLUDE AROUND 400 HOMES, RANGING FROM ONE BED APARTMENTS TO THE FOUR BED TOWNHOUSES WHICH LINE THE MAIN STREET
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well as those for the local water voles. The importance of the canal as a home for both protected species and the population of ducks, swans and herons that inhabit its waters has been bolstered by attenuation ponds and new waterbodies developed by the JV. Within the homes themselves, boxes for swifts and bats, as well as ‘hedgehog highways’ have been specified to ensure wildlife remains welcome with the built areas too. “As Wichel Fields is built out,” Pavely says, “the site will also include a new section of the Wilts and Berks Canal, which, in combination with swales and ponds, will provide both an attractive feature and a large-scale sustainable drainage solution.”
PRIORITIES
In terms of enabling infrastructure, the priority works included the construction of a new roundabout on the existing highway, allowing the primary street to be constructed.
In order to mitigate noise from the M4, a six metre noise bund is also being built, providing a soft landscaped boundary to the south of the site.
Where areas did need to be cleared, the
timber has been reused in other parts of the site to create a ‘hibernacula’ where local wildlife can take shelter. The site included an existing area of hedgerow which held a number of distinctive trees; the ‘short-lived’ poplar trees present have been felled, but this has “opened up the hedgerow to allow the feature oaks space to grow and include a path through this space now known as Wichel Wood,” says Pavely.
“Where tree stumps can remain they have been cut to create opportunities for bat roosts. Thousands of trees have also been planted to mitigate those lost both in the landscaped areas surrounding the site and in the form of street trees.”
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES When it came to the homes themselves, according to Pavely the strategic planning framework for the site was laid down at the outline planning and design coding stage, where a few “key challenges” were reported. These related to the site’s relationship with the existing primary infrastructure, and led to a restriction on the number and location of access points into the site.
“This did however provide an opportunity,” says Pavely, with homes able
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