Written by:
Jane Carpenter,
Planning Director for
Redrow in South Wales
Life is much simpler when you’re well-connected to the places you want to go.
Creating new walking and cycling routes so that our customers can lead a happier, healthier life are a fundamental part of our commitment to placemaking and that starts with the very initial design of our developments.
Redrow 8 is our innovative placemaking framework. It sets out eight design principles that define how we achieve sustainable development on all of our sites. Active travel is of critical importance; encouraging and providing realistic and appealing options with clear, direct and attractive routes for pedestrians and cyclists
That’s why we work hard to create a development structure that is easily understandable with a clear hierarchy of spaces and distinctive streets; incorporating focal buildings and ensuring attractive landscape features that encourage a healthy lifestyle by making it easy and enjoyable to walk and cycle.
Importantly, we also manage vehicle speeds through street design – we’re not giving up on cars just yet! However, we are increasingly giving priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport in line with local transport plans. For example, Plasdŵr has a network of footpaths and cycle routes that have been carefully designed to connect Cardiff’s £2 billion, 900-acre garden city, therefore helping to reduce dependency on private vehicles.
Well-designed and safe active travel routes connect to the wider active travel and public transport network, and public transport stations and stops are positively integrated with three new super cycleways running through the site, connecting to the Taff Trail and the Ely Trail when Plasdŵr is complete. Buses will also run up to every five minutes serving the proposed development, and people will be able to connect between buses, between bus and rail, and bus and bicycle. It’s a great example of planning for active travel.
Here at Redrow, we are committed to supporting the Welsh Government’s vision of walking and cycling becoming the preferred ways of getting around. The Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 has certainly set Wales on a path to help transform our country into an ‘active travel nation’ and we’re doing what we can by planning and designing our developments in a way that helps make people and communities feel more connected.
In fact, at the start of the last financial year we were rated as a Top 3 Housebuilder in the UK for Sustainability and have since won a gold award for the fourth year in a row by the Next Generation benchmark. The Benchmark rigorously evaluates the annual progress the homebuilding sector has made in delivering sustainable development and recognises our sustainability strategy, management and progress. We were also awarded the Next Generation Innovation Award for our research into social value and our new social value calculator.
We know that active and social places are those that are well-connected and promote well-being. That’s why we choose our sites carefully and design our developments to support healthy lifestyles and access to nature while making the most of renewable and low carbon energy. It’s a proactive approach that is creating sustainable places that offer a better way to live with award-winning homes and neighbourhoods that are designed to perfectly complement the lifestyles of our customers.
