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Being an Appledore based architecture studio we get to enjoy walking around the village seeing how the spaces change over time. We believe that this provides us with a unique insight into how the village works and we hope it provides us with an improved understanding in how we design schemes that will form part of the changing landscape of the village.
In a recent public consultation for a housing scheme, we were approached by local residents who discussed how they wanted to positively engage with developers to help shape their village and cited the example of the docks at the heart of the village as a prime opportunity. It is often difficult to balance the commercial pressures of development with the desires of local residents to find a scheme that all parties are happy with, and as a result the planning process can be a challenging affair for all involved.
The docks are a great location in the heart of the village and provide space for a wide mix of uses, residential (affordable and open market) commercial and retail spaces along with the ability to create a new piece of public realm that connects into the existing waterside promenade.
As such, it was encouraging to hear a pro active approach on how the local community could be invested in a development and it got the team thinking of how we could help. Whilst any scheme would need wide ranging public consultation and the need to balance the commercial pressures of the site, as architects and urban designers we also know the benefit of an initial idea to get the discussion going.
A such the attached are some initial thoughts on how a scheme could be developed around a new area of public realm focused on a refurbished dock.
We hope that when a new purchaser of the dock is ready that they will engage with the local community to help them develop designs that will receive support and benefit the local needs as well the developers aspirations.
