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FOURFIELDS

fourfields, Broxbourne

The new proposals form a Reserved Matters Application for 15 new homes and associated landscape on a 0.49ha site, recently submitted for Planning in April 2022. These Reserved Matters address an earlier Outline Planning consent from 2015. R-LA lead the Masterplan design which allowed priority to be given to nature-based SuDS features.

Formally the site of Fourfields care home, in Cheshunt. The site has gentle falls from the western boundary to the southeast, although the existing buildings do cut into the landscape creating steep banks to the northern boundary and a flatter central area. The underlying soil structure has a low rate of permeability and currently there are no SuDS features. Stormwater run-off discharges into Rags Brook, which is located about 15m to the south, flowing in a west-east direction.

Naturalistic SuDS features were considered at the start of the design process, which began with an extensive assessment of the relationship of the site with its surrounding environment and urban context. The outcome was the immediate production of a very early sketch design revolving around a strong nature-based SuDS strategy. The design development was achieved through a coordination of multidisciplinary teams, with early involvement of each discipline focusing towards achieving the same cohesive goal.