This project addresses two, parallel questions regarding town centre development; how to create a scheme that successfully enhances a future masterplan while simultaneously improving urban flood resilience.

Once complete, the Station Road development will provide 14 bright, spacious and sustainable homes as well as 120m² of commercial space and a new community centre for Paddock Wood.

We worked closely with Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) planning authority and the Environment Agency to successfully secure full planning consent. With DPP Planning and Gillespies Landscape Architects, we developed a scheme that would provide a green and high-quality element of public realm for Paddock Wood. The new scheme would integrate fully into the future masterplan for the town.

Working with RSK and Abstruct Consulting, our engineering team, we developed a strategy that enabled us to maximise the potential of the town centre site, while providing excellent flood mitigation in this Zone 3 area of high flooding risk.

The design of the new buildings referenced the brick patterning prevalent throughout Paddock Wood, while gently increasing the massing and density from the surrounding context without any adverse impacts on the townscape setting.

Given the town’s location relative to London, we think this scheme is an excellent prototype for how to increase housing provision in a sustainable way within our provincial towns, even in the most challenging of sites.”