Newtown Works

Ashford, Kent

Developer/Landlord	Quinn Estates
Architect	Hollaway Studio and Clague Architects
Engineer	Stantec

The proposals seek to reflect and extend the unique heritage of the site, whilst simultaneously capturing the imagination of potential future users. The designs are playful, yet not overstated.  Our scope of landscape input included Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment (TVIA) – for Environmental Impact Assessment, Verified Views and Landscape Design.

The exciting proposals will provide a new urban network of spaces for residential, commercial, health, and the creative industry, specifically a film studio.

The scheme was granted planning consent in April 2020.

The landscape architecture of this unique place ‘Newtown Works’ takes reference from the historic railway uses, including maintenance of locomotives. Our designs would create a wide range of public spaces, to facilitate everything from larger gathering events to more private and intimate outdoor dining or sheltered reading spaces that are located away from the main flow of pedestrian traffic, providing respite amongst lush planting and beneath tree canopies.

The exciting proposals will provide a new urban network of spaces for residential, commercial, health, and the creative industry, specifically a film studio. Our design also considers factors such as wind, plant diversity, and desire lines. The proposals are playful but not overstated. The banding within the façade of the locomotive shed is extended into the paving, and the design maintains the long, focused views along the tracks, emphasising the space’s scale. The raised planters of trees are a playful nod to the carriages that would once have been here and emphasise the linearity of the space.