Hertfordshire

Key Facts

2008
Designed
164,300 ac.
Project Size
University of Hertfordshire
Client

About Hertfordshire

One of DPZ’s most innovative regional planning studies, the Hertfordshire Guide to Growth was commissioned to help envision the shape of new growth predicted for the county north of London. The need to accommodate 83,200 more dwellings by 2021 had been identified by a local planning study. DPZ employed a scenario planning approach and arrived at six potential growth models. BRE, a senior scientific research institution, was retained to evaluate each of the scenarios objectively on the basis of eight sustainability criteria. The eventual Guide provided a ballot illustrating the six models which was to be used by the Councils to engage constituents and survey their preferences.

Renowned for its landmark garden cities of Welwyn and Letchworth, and officially designated about seventy percent Green Belt, the County nonetheless was plagued with traffic congestion and an overburdened transit system. At the time of the charrette it was generally regarded that construction within the green belt was all but inevitable.

DPZ’s designs offered a range of approaches from large to small scale, and away from the single-use-sprawl patterns that had become overly commonplace in the UK.