Masterplan for wholesale redevelopment of a large country estate
A few miles from Maidstone, listed Leybourne Grange was an early 19th century country estate of some 80 acres. Its principal house incorporates the shell of an 18th century manor at its core. In the 1930s the ornamental grounds and farmland had been developed into one of the rings of large isolated mental hospitals that served London, which were targeted for closure by the government’s Care in the Community Programme.
We were commissioned by the National Health Service to develop a masterplan for wholesale redevelopment principally for housing ahead of release of the entire site to the market. This pattern of reuse would involve a much higher suburban density than the hospital which had scattered building blocks spaciously. The masterplan needed to identify what was significant about Leybourne’s development history and how this could remain legible in a denser redevelopment with suitable control through the use of good urban design principles.
The resulting outline planning application was challenged by two large greenfield housing projects. All were called in by the Secretary of State. We gave evidence to the resulting long-running public enquiry, leading to a successful grant of planning permission and disposal of the site to a national housebuilder who has worked according to these parameters.