Strategic Framework Appointments
Strategic Frameworks in Reading, Hampshire, and for Homes England
James Gross, and now UPL, has been retained to provide in-house design guidance, both in terms of policy tools and development control (DC), on some of the most significant sites and opportunities in Reading, the Silicon Valley of the Southeast, and westernmost terminus on the new Elizabeth Line.
From an urban design framework in the south of the town, co-authorship of tall buildings guidance, both DC and policy advice on the Station Quarter, and now active on the former Civic Centre site, the UPL team has afforded a consistency of staff and approach, rarely seen with UK local authorities.
Furthermore, through our co-working with East Hampshire District Council on the Whitehill & Bordon Project, we are extending this continuous, embedded and trusted role to another area of the Southeast.
As of 2nd February 2019, UPL sits as part of the Aktins supply chain to provide masterplanning and urban design services to Homes England. As individuals, our team has a longstanding association with Homes England in its different incarnations, whether through the wholescale regeneration of Basildon or coalfields in the Northeast for English Partnerships, as part of the team running engagement workshops on Grazeley Garden Village with the Homes and Communities Agency, or now as lead designers on a number of Garden Community proposals, alongside direct commissions for Homes England, we are long-standing partners of this lead Government Agency.