Loftus Garden Village, Newport

Following a design competition Alan Baxter were commissioned as lead consultant and masterplanner by Seren Group (Pobl), a Registered Social Landlord, to prepare a vision for the former Pirelli factory site. The masterplan and planning application approved in 2013, delivers 250 homes, 60% of which are affordable.

Alan Baxter’s approach has been to take the best of the Garden City movement – designing for a community, putting the landscape first and taking a long-term view in investment and management – and apply these principles to post-industrial Newport. Inspired by study visits with their client to successful Garden Cities, like Letchworth, Alan Baxter has worked with the local community to create a place that is leafy and attractive, with the distinctive but simple design of the Arts and Craft movement.

The main characteristics of Loftus Garden Village are two parks and kitchen gardens arranged within a linear street pattern which is integrated with the surrounding street network. Working with this efficient layout, the masterplan creates a green development with gardens for every house, and tree lined streets with verges and hedges, while delivering a density of 40 dwellings per hectare and attractive levels of car parking.

The scheme was awarded the Best Residential Development of the year, at the Insider Wales Property Awards, 2016.