Portman Road Urban Design Brief Strategic Urban Design Framework Ipswich Village/Cardinal Park Area

IPSWICH PORTMAN ROAD URBAN DESIGN BRIEF STRATEGIC URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK IPSWICH VILLAGE/CARDINAL PARK AREA FINAL REPORT OCTOBER 2005 IPSWICH PORTMAN ROAD URBAN DESIGN BRIEF STRATEGIC URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK IPSWICH VILLAGE/CARDINAL PARK AREA 01 Introduction . .5 02 Planning Policy Context . .6 03 Area Appraisal . .10 04 Strategic Urban Design Framework . .29 05 Implementation . .36 contents Appendices A Urban Design Brief Portman Road B Urban Design Brief West End Road Car Park C Corridor Improvement Initiative Project Director: Simon Carne Urban Initiatives 1 Fitzroy Square London W1T 5HE tel +44 (0)20 7380 4545 fax +44 (0)20 7380 4546 [email protected] www.urbaninitiatives.co.uk Wolsey Theatre Ipswich Town Centre Civic Drive Recreation Ground Urban Design Brief ay Portman Road amsey W Sir Alf R Prortman Road Ipswich Town Football Stadium Ipswich Village rinces Street P a Russell Road Cinem Cardinal Park West End Road Commercial Road Urban Design Brief West End Road Car Park River Orwell Ipswich Railway Station Figure 1: Study Site Area Key Site boundary Strategic Urban Design Framework Site boundary Urban Design Brief Corridor Improvement Initiatives Development blocks 01 INTRODUCTION Ipswich is a place undergoing major changes. Whilst it has not suffered the loss of prestige that other historic towns have suffered, it was nevertheless for much of the industrial revolution, a town that lost rather than gained in significance, when set against the expansion of major cities in the north and midlands. This is now changing and Ipswich is growing fast, not just around the attractive Waterfront area, but also within the wider urban area. The opportunity for this expansion however is only one part of the story. The other aspect of Ipswich as a town is that there are large significant opportunities for the creation of a greatly enlarged urban centre located between historic town centre and the railway station. This area known as Ipswich Village already accommodates a number of important Ipswich institutions, most notably the Ipswich Town Football club. In November 2004, Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) commissioned Urban Initiatives to prepare an urban design brief for a number of sites surrounding Ipswich Town Football Club. Initial site analysis revealed the significant development potential throughout the entire Ipswich Village and Cardinal Park district. Equally the need for an overarching development framework was recognised, which would help the establishment of a legible and integrated urban structure and give guidance on appropriate forms of development. Such a document would form the baseline for the preparation of more detailed and site-specific urban design briefs. This methodology was acknowledged by the IBC, and the brief was extended to cover the entire Ipswich Village and Cardinal Park area. The following document reflects this approach. It comprises four stand-alone documents that are brought together within a single report. Strategic Urban Design Framework (SUDF) It comprises an outline of the planning policy context and a comprehensive analysis of the Ipswich Village and Cardinal Park district, with particular focus on development potential, local assets, linkages and qualities of the pedestrian network. This forms basis for a development vision, which identifies the key elements of a future urban structure that would become the underlying framework for the successful development of the area. Furthermore it outlines urban design principles to guide a coherent development of the built form and help the establishment of an attractive and safe pedestrian environment. Below this umbrella document the other studies are attached as Appendices. They include the following: Appendix A: Urban Design Brief Portman Road Area Within this document the recommendations of the SUDF are further developed into a site-specific urban design brief. It lays out an urban structure with indication of streets blocks and development plots, and makes recommendations on land use, development height and massing, configuration of frontages, landscaping and public realm. Two development scenarios for a site east of Portman Road are developed, one as a location for a large-scale entertainment or leisure venue, the other as finer grain mixed use development. Appendix B: Urban Design Brief West End Road Car Park This document addresses a potential development site at the river that is owned by Ipswich Borough Council. The Council plans to replace the current surface car park at the site with a multi-storey solution and free up space for supplementary development. This document lays out a development structure, height and massing of buildings and new public spaces. Further it includes an option appraisal of different car park arrangements in terms of their capacity and impact on the urban environment. Appendix C: Corridor Improvement Initiatives This document was prepared to inform the preparation of Local Transport Plan II by Suffolk County Council. It analyses the pedestrian environment in the study area and identifies two key pedestrian corridors that require improvement. It assesses these corridors in terms of pedestrian safety, environmental quality, legibility and directness of these routes, and makes suggestions for junction improvements, public realm treatment and the creation of new public spaces. 1735 STRATEGIC URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK IPSWICH VILLAGE/CARDINAL PARK AREA 5 02 PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT In 2003 Ipswich Borough Council prepared an Area Action Plan (AAP) for the town, which extends over 280 hectares and includes the Town Centre, Ipswich Village, the Waterfront and Suffolk County Council and College sites. The AAP addresses land use, transport and design guidance for emerging developments on the Waterfront together with a framework for the town that envisages future developments emerging from the Council's Urban Renaissance objectives for the Town Centre. These are to: 1. Provide a framework for investment, which will create and sustain social and economic regeneration and the integration of new and existing communities; 2. Promote redevelopment, which will preserve and enhance the character of the Waterfront area; 3. Integrate the Waterfront and town centre by reducing the detrimental impact of the Star Lane gyratories and creating safe and convenient pedestrian and cycle routes; and 4. Integrate the Ipswich Village Quarter and the town centre by achieving attractive green routes linking them and improving pedestrian and cycle connections. The overarching aims of the AAP are to create direct and legible routes to connect the various Quarters within the town centre, and to encourage development in a manner that is appropriate to the character and predicted uses of the different Quarters. Potential key projects included the development of bus interchange(s), new mixed use Quarters (eg. Ipswich Villages and the Mint Quarter), the incorporation of an Education precinct and the development of better cross town links to provide for the needs of pedestrians as well as vehicles. In taking forward the aspirations of the AAP the following urban design qualities, essential to making successful places, should be integral to the design of all new developments in the town. The following qualities are set out in the recent DTLR / CABE Publication 'By Design': • Character and distinctiveness: through the enhancement of the character of the area by respecting its locally distinctive patterns of development, sense of history, culture and traditions; • Continuity and Enclosure: through reinforcing the continuity of street and the enclosure of space by development, which clearly defines private and public areas; • Quality of the Public Realm: through the quality of the space between buildings by providing spaces and routes that are safe, uncluttered, active and identifiable; • Connectivity and Permeability: through high accessibility and local movement by making places that connect with each other and are easy to move through; • Legibility and Identity: through ease of understanding through development that provides a system of recognizable routes, nodes and features to orientate users; • Diversity and Choice: through a mix of compatible uses that work together to create vital and viable places, and meet a wide range of local needs; • Adaptability and Robustness: through development that can easily respond to changing social, technological, economic and market conditions, and • Integration and Efficiency: through sustainable development, which integrates land uses, transport and the natural environment, promotes walkability and reduces the need to travel. 6 Area Action Plan: Artist Impression- Development Option of Cardinal Park and Waterfront 1735 STRATEGIC URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK IPSWICH VILLAGE/CARDINAL PARK AREA 7 The translation of these qualities into the spatial structure and appropriate form of development for particular development sites is expressed in this document in terms of: • Urban structure; • Urban grain; • Density and mix of uses; • Height and Massing; • Façade and interface, and • Landscape and public realm. Ipswich Local Plan The First Deposit Draft Local Plan provides a framework for investment in Ipswich Village with a number of policies seeking to ensure that the area is easily accessible and develops in a sustainable, mixed use way. It also seeks to do this by enabling a high quality environment for residential, employment and leisure activities. The Plan identifies that fundamental to achieving a sustainable urban

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