The critical first planning condition for development of four individual sites edging Millbrook Proving Ground in Central Bedfordshire has been discharged by Central Bedfordshire Council. The Design Code, prepared with be1 Architects, is accompanied by a set of regulating plans, the purpose of which is to coordinate the many design considerations and strategies required to enable development in a single consolidated document.
Outline planning permission was granted in April 2015 for the scheme, led by DLP Planning Consultants, incorporating up to 25,900 square metres of commercial space (B1a, b and c uses) in four separate sites within Millbrook Proving Ground. Landmark’s landscape team supported the planning application with a combined Landscape and Visual Assessment of the four sites, all of which are set in a visually prominent setting close to to the Greensand Ridge National Trail with long distance views to and from the site. The sensitive setting demanded a landscape and ecology led design approach, and the first of a suite of complex planning conditions to be discharged required submission of a comprehensive Design Code document for the scheme.
The Design Code will guide the design and treatment of the public realm at the sites, together with development of landscape character areas, to manage visual impact and integration of the scheme into the surrounding countryside.
