Project: Landscape Masterplanning for Minety Lake, Lower Mill Estate
Client
The Lower Mill Estate
Background
In terms of national awards for design excellence, speed of development and value of sales, the Lower Mill Estate is one of the most successful vacation homes enterprises in the UK. The Landmark Practice has been involved in the development strategy since 1996, providing masterplanning, landscape and ecological services to ensure timely delivery of the programme of high quality and environmentally sound development.
Description
In the 1950s and 60s gravel was extracted from beneath the estate farmland leaving a network of flooded workings amongst the remnant landscape of tree and hedgerow cover. The driving aspiration of Lower Mill Estate was create ‘Britain’s first residential nature reserve’.
The landscape masterplan accommodates 575 large units within a relatively small area focussed on the retained water bodies. These lakes are now of high ecological value, represented by designation of some at Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and others as nature reserves. The brownfield land has been excavated to create further lakes as a setting for a series of discrete villages. The design achieves a high density of development with a strong community ethos set within a striking natural landscape.
Client benefits
Strong top end sales, a great brand, a streamlined phased approach with timely planning consents.
“The Landmark Practice are our environmental partners of choice. Since 2006 we have benefited from their ecology, landscape design and planning services. They are knowledgeable, experienced and evidently care deeply about what they do. They’ve been instrumental in helping us succeed in around 15 planning applications a year. Flexible and responsive, cost effective and easy to work with, this is a long term relationship that works for The Lower Mill Estate.” Will Vicary, Estate Manager, Lower Mill Estate
