The announcement that the plans for Devonport had scooped the Sustainable Communities Award was made at a lunchtime ceremony hosted by the RTPI in London to celebrate the best in planning achievement.  Urban design practice Matrix Partnership was presented with the award.

Throughout the design process, local people helped to shape the new mixed-use neighbourhood, renamed Vision@Devonport, which is the largest area to be redeveloped and will feature more than 450 new homes, shops, offices and community facilities.  National regeneration agency English Partnerships has been working with the Housing Corporation, Matrix Partnership, Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership (DRCP) and Plymouth City Council on plans for the 7.3ha site.  Developer Redrow Homes has already started the demolition process and submitted a detailed planning application for the first 65 new homes in October last year.  

David Warburton, Area Director at English Partnerships said, “This is a tremendous accomplishment that recognises the quality of our proposals to reunite Devonport.  We continue to work with local people to ensure the new neighbourhood meets their needs and I’m thrilled by the progress being made to turn the vision into reality. 

“We would also like to thank our partners for their support and I hope this award-winning project will set a precedent for sustainable regeneration in Plymouth.”

Matt Lally, Director for Matrix Partnership, responsible for preparing the Devonport Development Framework on behalf of DRCP, as well as the detailed Masterplan for the former South Yard Enclave, said, “The New Deal for Communities initiative is an experiment in local democracy that puts residents in the driving seat.  This just goes to show what can be achieved when the local community, government agencies and developers pull together with a common plan.  It has been a tremendous project for us to have been involved with. Great things are happening in Devonport – and long may it continue!”
Redrow Homes’ new information centre, due to open next month, will be a place where people can find out more about the houses to be built, community facilities and employment opportunities offered by the development.  People can register their interest in Vision, either by calling 0845 676 0328 or logging on to the website at www.vision.redrow.co.uk. 
ENDS

For further media information contact: Judith Hewitt, English Partnerships on tel. 07979 516 809, email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or Matt Lally, Matrix Partnership on tel. 020 7655 4540, email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Notes to editors
English Partnerships is the government’s national regeneration agency delivering high quality, sustainable growth in England. We do this by developing our portfolio of strategic projects and acting as the government’s advisor on brownfield land. We also ensure that surplus public sector assets are used to support wider government objectives, especially those contained in the Sustainable Communities Plan. English Partnerships helps create communities where people can afford to live and want to live. Information on projects and programmes can be found at www.englishpartnerships.co.uk

Matrix Partnership is a leading urban design practice that blends architecture, planning and landscape design as the basis for wider collaborations on a range of urban projects. Through a proactive and participatory approach to urban design, Matrix Partnership delivers robust masterplans, development frameworks, codes and other design strategies at varying scales. Our approach is founded on the belief that co-operation between different disciplines at the earliest stages allows specific constraints and opportunities to be identified to produce thoughtful and often ingenious solutions. Working out of two offices, in London and Dorset, Matrix Partnership has completed projects throughout the UK and Ireland. The scope of our work ranges from masterplans and development frameworks to smaller townscape studies and site appraisals in a variety of contexts from inner-urban settings to new settlements. For more information please go to: www.matrixpartnership.co.uk

Once a prosperous community, Devonport was badly damaged during the Blitz and walled in after being taken over by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in the 1950s.  An ambitious programme was launched in 2001 to turn the area’s fortunes around, with the help of £49m of Government funding under the New Deal for Communities programme, spearheaded by the resident-led Devonport Regeneration Company Trust.

Following intensive consultation with the local community, the Devonport Development Framework was prepared in 2003 by urban design practice Matrix Partnership on behalf of the Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership, working closely with English Partnerships, Plymouth City Council, South West Regional Development Agency and other partners.  This established a jointly-owned blueprint for taking forward the regeneration programme.

Since this time, implementation of the plan has gain momentum, with construction of a new sports hall and the first housing project at Gun Wharf receiving many accolades for its high quality design including the Building for Life Gold Standard.   

In 2005 a detailed Masterplan was prepared by a team of consultants, including Matrix Partnership, appointed by English Partnerships for the largest area to be redeveloped, dubbed the ‘South Yard Enclave.’  Formerly Devonport’s town centre, this land has in recent years been used by the MoD for storage, but following its acquisition by English Partnerships in July 2005, Devonport has been given the opportunity to thrive once more.