Our services

Masterplanning

Spatial masterplans need to be underpinned by technical strategies that support the delivery of sustainable places, communities and estates over the long term. Our masterplanning services help support your planning and investment framework, taking a comprehensive approach to sustainable placemaking. We work collaboratively to build support from key stakeholders. Our interdisciplinary team knits together technical solutions with urban design, green and social infrastructure.

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Our work in masterplanning covers a whole range of large scale planning services from city scale retrofit, estate management, urban regeneration and development in a rural context. It spans from supporting local policy setting to delivery of planning applications. For each project we develop a site specific response, routed in context and responsive to the global climate and biodiversity challenge.

Regenerative places

We are inspired by Kate Raworth’s Doughnut economics and often work with clients to frame a sustainability vision which puts back more than it takes away. Regenerative design creates value by thinking differently about how to approach masterplan designs. We support teams in the early stages of concept development using a tool kit developed over many years of practice. We can quickly appraise early massing options to ensure passive and resilient homes and buildings. Resource flows are mapped to inform renewable energy, material reuse and water recycling strategies with associated spatial implications.

Future-proofed

Large scale developments and estate renewals are typically delivered over several years and decades. Our strategies are developed to be future proofed, avoiding technology lock in through scenario testing and mapping emerging policy and technology. We identify fixes and flexes to create solutions which are adaptable should key assumptions change. Phasing interfaces are especially important and often overlooked.

Deliverable in practice

Our Masterplanning service helps support your planning application and estate investment strategy. We provide you with everything you need to bridge the continuum between early concepts and approvals. The Expedition team frames your development opportunity and creates an evidence-base to gain stakeholder and investment support before it gets to planning.  A key strength is working with technical stakeholders to build support for specific approaches. With land and resource costs at an all time high, it is also critical that we work with investment teams in evaluating whole life value. Creating a sustainability case is of increasing significance for institutional investment and also in support of additional funding streams for key infrastructure.

Specialisms

Sustainability

The development and implementation of a sustainability strategy. We develop an overarching sustainability framework to support the masterplan — setting a holistic vision, objectives and targets. This responds to the national and local policy context, the specific opportunities and constraints of the site and embeds best practice. We prepare sustainability strategies to support planning submissions, integrated with other design strategies and defining a key implementation plan.

Zero Carbon / Zero Energy

The development of a route map to Net Zero Carbon. We create an energy strategy that is integrated with the environmental design of buildings to maximise passive design opportunities. We conduct feasibility studies of the site energy system, latest-generation heating networks, ground-source heating, micro-grid and smart management systems. Our services include investigating renewables strategy and electricity storage, minimising the embodied carbon of construction, and carbon off-setting and in-setting.

Microclimate & 3D Parametric Modelling

We support the development of a spatial masterplan and 3D massing by assessing performance against a range of environmental and wellbeing criteria, including internal comfort (thermal comfort, daylight, solar access, views, air quality), energy efficiency, external comfort (wind exposure and solar access), as well as the urban heat island effects and its mitigation. We use the latest 3D parametric tools to provide rapid and integrated feedbacks on environmental performance, working closely with architects and urban designers, and allowing the seamless testing of a wide range of massing options.

Circular Economy

We develop circular economy policies to feed into local development frameworks. We also produce Circular Economy Strategies and Circular Economy Statements for planning, using our established circular economy toolkit. We embed circular economy design principles into our approach to subjects such as sustainable design, Net Zero Carbon strategies, waste minimisation, and water footprint — and can draw on expertise from within the Trust to help with specific opportunities offered by the site.

Operational Waste

We support our clients plan for sustainable future operational waste management, considering building and public realm design, user behaviour, and advancements in waste management infrastructure and logistics.

Water Sensitive Design

We develop water-sensitive design and sustainable drainage strategies, integrated with landscape, place making and biodiversity and aiming to achieve multiple benefits. We also bring expertise in water efficiency and closing the water loop with harvesting of rainwater and water recycling. We take a specific approach to each site and its water resource context, balancing minimising of the water footprint with whole life cost and carbon considerations.

Flood Risk Management & Riverside Development Configuration

We are experienced in understanding flood risk and its complex mechanism on riverside or coastal sites. We develop flood defence design that achieve the requirements of the key technical stakeholders in terms of robustness, long term maintenance and resilience, considering also whole life cost and carbon. Our flood defence strategies are integrated with landscape proposals, amenity drivers of riverside development and enhancements of river or coastal ecology.

Earthworks & Complex Topographies

We undertake high level and detailed earthworks studies to support the development of a masterplan, responding to complex site topographies. This aims at minimising earthworks and associated costs and embodied impacts and is sensitive to the landscape character and potential visual impacts. We use a range of advanced 3D parametric tools to rapidly explore a range of options and optimise the design.

Modern Methods of Construction

We bring expertise on timber, modular and other modern methods of construction to the development of a masterplan and how this can influence the building massing. This can play a key role in minimising embodied carbon emissions and construction waste.

Utilities Strategies

We are experienced in integrating utilities into the development of a masterplan, including coordination of utilities within different street typologies, capacity studies, diversions, build-over and more detailed 3D coordination on constrained sites during the delivery of a project.

Key People

Key People