Bruce Calton

A long time ago as a young part 1 student I had the privilege of working for a Polish architect who was crippled by arthritis. His daily scribbles were illegible but after an early morning briefing, I began drawing either a retail park, business park, housing or large-scale mixed-use masterplans – aiming to include the design, parking, landscape and ideas Jerzy had been trying to draw. The deadlines were always the end of that day which helped develop a speedy yet accurate drawing style. Speed, drawing accuracy and place creation drawn at 1:1000 scale masterplanning of many sites ultimately became a career.

Now, 30 years later, have things changed much? – my speed and accuracy (even at 1:2500 scale) of drawing is recognised and has become the corner stone of my work and a real passion and driver for enjoying urban design, creative masterplanning and considering what each pen stroke means, as a new environment emerges through the design and planning process; understanding that these pen strokes ultimately end up as places real people will eventually work, live and enjoy. I also realise these projects are all very long-term commitments - not designed and built in 18 months but having the timeframe spanning across a decade or more to see each project through to approval - the UK planning process at its best, as we all know.

Looking back, it is humbling to consider the many and various environments I have had the opportunity to masterplan. These have included:

Portishead Quays, a 1,000 waterfront home scheme, comprising contemporary retail, apartments and Danish style townhouses.

Upper Heyford, a 1,036 home scheme converting a former American Air Force base to a new piece of settlement based around the original parade ground.

Working alongside the Crown Estate, masterplanning East Hemel, a legacy project comprising 3,065 homes and 55 ha of employment space.

West Bersted, working with the Church Commissioners to masterplan 2,500 homes. Narrative was a key driver, where we uncovered WWII runways, lost field boundaries and ancient woodland, and developed an identity around these characteristics for a new settlement, that is currently in for planning.

Deal Ground and May Gurney, comprising 1,750 town centre waterside homes, uncovering historical characteristics and maintaining meadow floodplain to shape a new district.

Home of Production Film Studio, comprising over 1 million sqft of film and television production space. The scheme was cited as best in class, leading the way in a new wave of film and television studio campuses and achieved planning consent in 2022. 

Project Thrive, comprising over 3 million sqft of logistics scheme, bringing a new wave of urban design strategy to logistics parks, including strategic landscaping and community amenity.

Alscot Estate, comprising 2,500 homes and over 1.75 million sqft of industrial space as a sustainable new town, where community life is prioritised over vehicular movement.

So far....