Longbridge
Longbridge is part of a £1bn, 468 acre mixed regeneration site for which St. Modwen Homes is the developer and joint landowner, with the Homes and Communities Agency (the national housing and regeneration agency) also owning 34 acres. The overall scheme will create over 3,000 jobs through construction and permanent employment opportunities. The initial client briefing for landscape development was essentially simple, to design a scheme which encapsulated the positive aspects of phase 1 and aim to improve this within subsequent phases to ensure the overall scheme was of the highest possible standard given the strict budget.
Park View was the first St. Modwen Homes development, built on the former MG Rover site, started in 2011 and home already to over 100 families. Working closely with the architect and client, Liz Lake Associates helped to develop a comprehensive planting plan which related to the previous phase and local distinctiveness. Residential and regeneration landscape developments require both imagination and sensitivity to local surroundings. Groups of native, semi-native and ornamental planting were designed for separate character areas which would help unify the overall scheme but also give local character where required. A significant part of the landscape design needed to embrace a large retaining structure. Liz Lake Associates designed this as a feature on arrival into the scheme and as an attractive outlook for the proposed blocks of apartments.
Liz Lake Associates has now completed detailed designs for Phase 2 with approval now achieved with Birmingham City Council. The next phase of development which encapsulates leisure and retail facilities and over 300 houses and flats is being worked up to complete this sustainable scheme.
