Part of a multi-disciplinary team, LDA Design will take the lead role in developing a design strategy for the scheme, to inform the preparation of a turbine layout which positively addresses the site’s topography and landform.

The South Kyle wind farm proposal is set within a former open cast mining area, characterised by steeply sloping hillsides and rounded summits, which support large areas of commercial forestry.

William Wheeler, Head of Wind Energy at LDA Design, said: “Assisting Vattenfall in delivering this important and significant onshore wind farm development in South West Scotland is a significant win for us.  We are committed to help deliver a sensitive scheme that will carefully consider all potential landscape and visual effects so that effects upon the local community are minimised. South Kyle will also make a valuable contribution to helping the UK meet its renewable energy target.”

LDA Design will work collaboratively with other consultants and the client team to prepare the LVIA. The Environmental Statement will be submitted for consideration by the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit towards the end of 2012.

Originally built in 1863, Broadmoor Hospital provides specialist mental health care services within a high secure environment for male patients from London and the south of England. It’s one of three high-secure hospitals in England, and internationally recognised for its specialised work with patients with some of the most challenging mental health needs as well as its research activities.

The redevelopment and planning application lead by Oxford Architects includes 16 wards – ten new, and six existing – providing accommodation for 210 patients within a new secure environment. The redevelopment will also include a new entrance building, central facilities building, a replacement energy centre, new gardens, recreation areas and extensive landscaping.

LDA Design led the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and landscape design work for the redevelopment. This required the coordination of several technical specialists to minimise the impact of the redevelopment on the existing environment and the creation of a new landscape to integrate new buildings into the historic parkland and support the delivery of mental health care.

Peter Norman, Partner at Oxford Architects said: “Our design for the construction of the new hospital, will greatly enhance Broadmoor Hospital’s facilities, resulting in modern wards that will be easier to both maintain and manage. The specific design for these buildings will enable the Trust to continue its nationally significant work in patient care, whilst managing its resources much more efficiently and effectively”.

Mike Foster, Project Director at LDA Design commented “LDA Design worked closely throughout with Oxford Architects and the redevelopment design team ensuring that the final proposals balanced the design, technical and security requirements of the new hospital with the need to minimise environmental impacts.  Our design work will create a strong landscape framework for the redevelopment and the new gardens and landscapes will provide enhanced facilities for patients, visitors and staff.”

Construction of the new building in the high security facility is expected to start in the autumn of 2013 and the new Hospital is expected to open to patients in late 2016.

The project demonstrated a sensitive balance of restoration, sustainability improvements and new design for the centrepiece of Europe’s first social housing estate. The Grade II listed bandstand, the focal point of the gardens has been fully restored. New seating, planting and a rainwater harvesting system were introduced, the planting bringing much needed seasonal colour to this once neglected space.

Sally Prothero, director, LDA Design said: “Arnold Circus highlights successful principles of restoring and revitalising buildings at risk and registered landscapes in a sympathetic way. We restored the built elements as close to their original form as possible, but at the same time introduced subtle design interventions to make the space much more sustainable, usable and attractive for the local community”.

Following the regeneration’s completion, the space is reconnected with the community who use it for a diverse range of events. LDA Design worked closely with all stakeholders including The Friends of Arnold Circus Group who had campaigned for its restoration for several years.

The Sustain Community award is given in recognition of schemes that can demonstrate evidence for the benefits to a Community in terms of sustainability and wellbeing.

Image courtesy of Richard Kearns

LDA Design was the public realm designer for the Porth Teigr project, which means “Tiger Gate” in English and reflects the site’s relationship with the well-known Tiger Bay. It is the last part of Cardiff Bay to be developed, and contains a range of nationally important uses including the BBC’s new Roath Lock studios as well as new public realm and  local facilities. The scheme was submitted by WYG Planning & Design who are the planning advisers to Igloo.

The regeneration of Porth Teigr, demonstrated, according to Jon Fox, the Chair of the judging panel: “a model Welsh scheme demonstrating exemplary standards in stakeholder management, masterplanning, architectural quality, urban design and sustainability.”

The public realm proposals set out by LDA Design sought to respect the historic dockside character and scale through detailed design using a limited palette of materials with simple junctions, over-sized benches and kerbs, indigenous planting, un-treated weathered timber and a ‘less polished’ finish appropriate to the context. Integration of sustainable design was central to the approach and drove the design at all stages of the project from the layout, use and character of the streets and spaces to the specification of locally sourced, recycled or re-used materials wherever possible.

Neil Mattinson, Senior Partner at LDA Design said: “We are delighted this project has been recognised for the value of our planning and design work. Our deliverable public realm strategy sets a sustainable framework to enhance Cardiff Bay’s landscape.”

Mark Hallett, Development Director at Igloo, says: “Igloo is committed to Footprint^R, our policy of sustainable investment designed to deliver benefits to our four key stakeholder groups (institutional investors; local community; creative industries; regeneration agencies) by generating economic, environmental, social and financial value in edge of city-centre locations. I am delighted that igloo’s commitment to sustainable investment has been recognised by our industry peers. The award has made all the efforts of the key stakeholders in the project team worthwhile.”

We will be part of the London Stand that will feature the London 2012 Olympic Park project. LDA Design was appointed to lead the masterplanning and detailed design for this landmark 21^st century park, Europe’s most significant and sustainable landscape project for a generation.

Our participants this year will be Neil Mattinson, Senior Partner  and Ashley Dunseath, Director, who will be pleased to meet you. If you are interested in finding out more about LDA Design’s diverse offer and how we work with clients to deliver sustainable development and commercial goals, please contact either to set up a meeting in advance.

For further information visit MIPIM http://www.mipim.com/mipim/ or London pavilion programme visit: www.pipers.co.uk/mipim.

We look forward to meeting you for the first time or renewing old acquaintances.

The brief was for an imaginative ‘Magic Garden’ design that will engage, inspire and surprise both young visitors and their families, with the underlying principle of ‘learning through play’.

Hampton Court Palace has an ancient and famous tradition for garden design and innovation, and already possesses magical qualities derived from its stories, legends and mythology, including the Tudor passion for decoration and symbolism, further enhanced by the Stuart fascination with wildernesses and mazes as play areas for the court. 

Our proposals divide the walled garden into a series of garden rooms- the Garden of Secret Chambers, the Garden of Love, the Decorated Garden and the King’s Garden – each with a different mood and each telling a different story related to the palace and its people.

The winning design will go on site this year and should be open to the public by Spring 2015.

To view the shortlist visit Hampton Court Palace website: http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/introduction

Located between the village of Milford and the town of Godalming in Surrey, the 12.8 Ha (31.3 acres) Upper Tuesley site consists of land owned by the HCA that is surplus to requirements of the Milford Specialist Rehabilitation Hospital. While the hospital will continue to operate from its existing site, the surplus land is allocated in Waverley Borough Council’s Local Plan for residential development.

Both the HCA and local authority share the vision for the comprehensive redevelopment of this site to create a sustainable new neighbourhood. Their joint objectives are to deliver a new high quality, sustainable community that comprises homes of mixed tenure, which meet the aspirations of the Local Authority and the surrounding residents.

Colin James, Director at LDA Design, said: “We are looking forward to transforming this site into a sustainable mixed-use community. The team’s design approach will be sensitive to its green belt location and the farmyard clusters that characterise it, and ensure an outstanding standard of design quality and a high level of sustainability, which meets the needs and aspirations of local people and the Local Authority.”

The masterplan project for the Milford site has been awarded through the Parsons Brinckerhoff-LDA Design-GL Hearn long-term framework contract with the HCA which covers development opportunities on a range of government surplus sites. Under the same framework agreement, the consortium is also working to bring forward two other surplus public land sites for the HCA in Essex and the East Midlands.

• Landscape Policy – winner of this category for work on the Leeds City Region’s green infrastructure strategy, which contains a number of investment programmes highlighting the ways in which green infrastructure can deliver a wealth of economic, social and environmental benefits.

• Strategic Landscape Planning – commended for a landscape and seascape character assessment of the Dorset coast providing a robust evidence base for policy and planning.

• Heritage and Conservation – highly commended for work on the Boundary Gardens at Arnold Circus on the Boundary Estate restoring neglected gardens and bandstand in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, making them a community focus again.

Hosted by Tim Smit KBE, Chief Executive and co-founder of the Eden Project, the Landscape Institute Awards were set up to encourage and recognise outstanding examples of work by the landscape profession. The awards aim to bring greater awareness of the best contributions from Landscape Institute members in creating an improved environment..

Neil Mattinson, senior partner of LDA Design said: “These awards not only recognise the importance of good landscape planning and design to people and places across the UK, but are also a testament to the team’s hard work on a range of disciplines – from strategic green space planning and assessment to sensitive historical restoration.”

LDA Design also sponsored one of the four Future Vision Awards, an awards scheme for students that aims to find ideas for making villages, towns and cities better places to live. The Open Spaces Award was won by University of Sheffield student Jotaro Tokunaga for his work on transforming neglected urban spaces into corridor parks. Jotaro will receive a four-week work placement with LDA Design.

Other winners were: Jack Champs, University of Brighton (Future Buildings Award), John Killock, University of Westminster (Future Communities Award), and Gerrit Kaiser, Royal College of Art (Future Green Thinking Award).

Senior Partner Colin Goodrum will be presenting: “Onshore Development – Public Perception of Turbines in the Landscape” on Day 2 of the conference. To see the full conference programme and to book: Renewable UK Conference Programme.
Visit us at our stand 290 to take part in our popular ‘Balloon Buster’ competition, meet our wind team for the first time, or catch up with us and renew acquaintances and share a glass of ‘Sea Breeze’.

LDA Design is an established and respected consultancy that has been working in the renewables sector since 1995 where we have been able to apply our considerable environmental expertise and design skills. We work throughout the UK with developers in the energy and construction industries, landowners, local authorities and communities to help them identify, plan and implement energy projects. Our energy team expanded in 2010, marking 15 years in the sector. We have a range of UK and international clients and are helping to deliver over 2 million homes equivalent of wind energy across the UK. We are constantly seeking opportunities to introduce the benefits and possibilities of integrating renewable energy technologies into other types of development including housing, new communities and as part of regeneration schemes so that our clients can work together to build developments that meet Government targets and address the challenges of climate change.

If you want to have a look at some examples of our work in the wind energy industry in advance then visit the Renewable Energy section on this website featuring: Onshore wind farms – North Pickenham, Keadby and two of our offshore wind farms:Thanet and Gunfleet Sands.

If you want to get in touch in advance of the event contact:
Colin Goodrum T:01733 310471 or
William Wheeler T:01865 887050

Hope to see you there.

The scheme, at Marston near Grantham, Lincolnshire, comprises 19,500 photovoltaic (PV) panels covering an area of 12.2 hectares and will generate 4.5MWp of electricity. This is enough to power 1,200 homes over the course of a year. It was commissioned in July and is now feeding renewable electricity into the National Grid.

The project was undertaken on behalf of Lark Energy, a specialist energy division within the Larkfleet Group of companies, who took the bold decision to press ahead with the project when the Government announced an early review of the Feed-in Tariff, the funding mechanism which supports such projects. The solar farm had to be commissioned and connected to the electricity grid by 31st July 2011 to avoid a 72% cut in funding.

LDA Design’s role included planning consultancy, landscape and visual impact assessment, ecological assessment and mitigation, and negotiation of planning conditions. LDA Design worked with the local planning authority to reduce the timescale of the planning process, preparing and submitting additional information to avoid the need for pre-commencement planning conditions.

Charles Crawford, Director of LDA Design, said: “We are delighted to be involved in the birth of a new sector of renewable energy projects in the UK. Due to the changes in the Feed-in Tariff, very few solar farms will be constructed this year and we are pleased to have played a part in delivering one of the largest. The way the project was delivered so quickly, with widespread public support, demonstrates the potential of solar PV to make a major contribution to reducing the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels.”

Jonathan Selwyn, Managing Director of Lark Energy, commented: “The delivery of the solar farm within a very tight timescale required 100% commitment from a wide team of specialists. LDA Design played a major part in helping us meet the deadline and deliver the project.”