32 CASE STUDY
buying a new house. According to This Land, this is partly driven by the fact people are spending more time at home working, making peace and quiet increas- ingly important.
As such, the team soon realised that the proposed ‘indicative layout’ of the devel- opment – as is now shown on the Development Framework Plan approved at the outline application stage – would have to take residential amenity into consideration. It would also provide a landscaping buffer adjacent to the existing properties.
This Land proposed using ‘Melton Fields’ for this purpose – between the existing farm and the properties. At the detailed design stage, the team also carefully considered the layout and orien- tation of the buildings close to the farm.
EXCAVATIONS
style, with the company more focused on embracing a sustainable approach to building. This reportedly includes creating places that benefit the community and people living in them, as well as those that will use them in the future. Despite this somewhat agnostic approach to style, the company does embrace traditional designs where appro- priate. Due to Millstone Park’s edge of village location, this project is set to be of a more classic design that is intended to align with and enhance the distinctive character of Burwell.
DIALOGUE With a design in mind, research was conducted to support a planning application for the ambitious new development, designed to understand buyers’ thoughts, views, and factors that influence purchasing.
WITH AN ABSENCE OF EXISTING [SERVICES] INFRASTRUCTURE, THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL FOR THE PROJECT TO INCREASE THE VISUAL IMPACT ON VIEWS
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The research included a series of face- to-face focus groups, which saw dialogue with potential home buyers about the proposed scheme. Providing the team with valuable insights to help shape the scheme, potential buyers were interested in a “deviation from the traditional in terms of layout and facade material,” said the developer, and were “highly focussed on the relationship of the homes with the open spaces, and the implementation of roads and parking especially.” While the group brought up a number of other criteria, such as sustainability, gardens, built-in technology, low mainte- nance, and energy efficiency, interestingly it was acoustics that were one of the most talked about criteria when looking at
Before the team could begin construction, however, an archaeological dig being conducted during the design and planning processes unearthed significant findings dating as far back as the Bronze Age. This didn’t take the team entirely by surprise; the site had previously been identified as a possible Bronze Age settlement, and therefore an archaeological dig was required from the very beginning. Following the extensive excavations across the site over a nine month period, however, archaeologists discovered two complete human and horse skeletons as well as a vast number of post holes, pits and pieces of pottery which date from 1200-350 BC.
This indicated that a large and estab- lished community used to live at the site, while the holes’ layout implies the timber structures would have been both round and rectangular in shape. The team also uncovered a substantial number of pits containing animal bones and broken pottery, suggesting they had been used for throwing away unwanted food remains and other goods. With the fieldwork now complete, there will be a programme of post-excavation assessment and analysis of the artefacts and environmental samples which will be recorded and followed by a full publica- tion of the results. The information will be built into a ‘story of the site’ and archived, and the artefacts will be donated to Cambridge County Council and made available for public viewing.
BUILDING APPROACH With the dig nearing completion, This Land is now looking forward to beginning construction.
In line with one of the company’s approaches to designing schemes, the company also veers away from a ‘set’
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