Nash Partnership Senior Living Brochure

SENIOR LIVING

Creating positive change for people, places and buildings

We are leading and award-winning consultants in Planning, Architecture, Heritage and Placemaking. We blend our skills and put context, collaboration and creativity at the heart of all we do. Nash Partnership was first established in 1988.

Nash Partnership

Buildings are big investments for whoever commissions them – for institutions, businesses, commerce, industry, for health, for leisure and for living.

It is important that buildings work and serve their owners and users well. An architect’s role is to engage with clients to explore and articulate their needs, leading them through the complications of bringing something new or much remodelled into existence. Architects draw in, brief, manage and coordinate the inputs of a diverse range of specialist consultants. We look to test options, balance aspirations with budget and value for money, ensuring that, in use, each building will perform and mature well.

But buildings do not happen in isolation. A large part of what architects do is show that new buildings and major changes to existing structures would not be detrimental to the values our society seeks to protect through the statutory planning process.

We have never really been sector specific in the work we undertake. However, since the practice’s inception in 1988 we have been passionate about how people live, and carry decades of experience of all scales of residential work and residential-led

mixed-use schemes. It is no surprise that residential work, which includes senior living development; formed a great deal of the early growth of our work.

As our residential projects grew into residential-led mixed-use larger projects, we have grown other sectors. From ‘live’ came ‘work’, with our high density projects incorporating other uses such as cafés, health facilities, food and beverage, retail, all of which are connected to the Senior Living development and what people want in their retirement years. Our developed interest include how people experience the transition from their daily work how they want during their latter stages of life.

Through these mixed-use schemes again, and through our Bristol office and HQ based in Bath – two cities that heavily depend on tourism – our projects have explored how people ‘play’. So, our interests in the leisure and tourism sector has grown naturally and at speed. Our work includes Hotel’s, spa’s and health facilities, all of which draws upon our specialism of being able to deal with the future of retirement living on sensitive sites where these developments are often located.

So at Nash Partnership, we focus on how you live, work and play within all of our high density and mixed-use projects. That’s not to say we don’t have experience of other building typologies, as well as including science and education. But we are proud of the way our skills have grown over three decades of project work and where we add value, joy, and substance to our designs to date.

Within this, we have developed specialist teams that champion knowledge across the RIBA plan of work, so we are able to successfully deliver not just the design but a conscious one which can be built efficiently and to the important standards set. We don’t just design to regulations but also to Sustainable Development Goals and Building with Nature that we must all play a part in taking seriously. This is across the public, private, and charitable client groups.

Of course, we cross over with our experienced urban design team, our planning consultancy, and our conservation team as necessary to really get under the surface of your projects.

Practice Overview

Nash Partnership is a built environment, regeneration, planning and design consultancy. We are proud of the wide range of skills our practice has built. Working together with our clients we combine our Architectural, Heritage, Planning and Placemaking skills across various scales of work to

help creatively and responsibly shape the built and urban environment.

It’s really important to care about what you do. At Nash, we strive to ensure we push on each time we undertake a project. We are agile, and light on our feet in engaging, learning, responding, and sharing in our areas of expertise.

Communication and motivation

We like to talk. We like to work in teams. We embrace, manage, direct and inspire the many people and formats of communication a project needs to get the most out of it. We don’t sit behind an email address; we are involved and motivated.

We bring together a blend of professional skills and experience in how the built environment and urban neighbourhoods work, and how they can be changed for the better.

We believe making it work well takes understanding and

collaboration across the various built environment disciplines.

By sharing diverse skills within our team, we are well equipped to listen and learn from so many others about what an area is like to live in, what to value, and about

health, education, inequality and opportunity too.

We are a team of creative individuals who enjoy what they do. Our approach is friendly and personable and our blended skill set allows us to bring a broader perspective to the conversation.

Geography

Our HQ office is located in Bath plus we have an office in Bristol within the vibrant central Finzels Reach area of Bristol.

We are also about to open an office in Paddington, London. During our 35 year history our projects have covered the whole of the south west region,

along the M4 corridor and into London. We also have projects in South Wales, North of England and Scotland.

HQ Office, Sydney Buildings, Bath

Bristol Office, Generator Building, Central Bristol

London Office, Kingdom Street, Paddington Central

Business Resource & Project Team

Internal collaborative working - ensuring our client needs are met

Our structure entails staff being placed within the four working teams at Nash Partnership - Architectural, Heritage, Planning and Placemaking.

However, our culture is to continually develop our staff skill set within all of the fours teams, thus giving us the unique ability for staff to easily

‘slide’ between teams. In such a busy world and marketplace, this allows us to resource projects effectively, giving our clients the re-assurance that their projects have the resource they need plus the specific project skill set required at both planning and construction stage.

To ensure this is achieved we undertake the following key Project Team Management actions........

ƒ Weekly team meetings

ƒ Team and practice resource schedules

ƒ Fortnightly business meetings with senior staff

Design Quality Project Leads

Individuals responsible for quality audits at Nash

All project stages - planning & construction

The quality of our designs, our drawings and our reports are all fundamentally important to us. To ensure our quality standards are met, we hold regular internal project

crits and audits including technical (regulations/standards plus software Revit protocols) as well as design sign off stages led by assigned members of staff.

Below are key members of staff and their roles which includes the importance of following our in-house BIM (Revit) protocols.

Jon Cheek ASSOCIATE Standards & Regulations Audits

Paul Miller DIRECTOR Standards & Regulations Audits

Richard Mather-Jones ASSOCIATE Revit Standards / Protocols & Output Audits

Jonathan Gomes ARCHITECT Revit Standards / Protocols & Output Audits

Amanda Taylor DIRECTOR Design Quality Lead

Collaborative Partnership Working

Internal planning team structure

An important part of our practice wide skill set offer is planning consultancy. This allows us to:-

ƒ Test and interrogate constraints and opportunities to achieve cost effective and high-quality solutions for our clients

ƒ We proactively engage with clients to accommodate their needs

ƒ We are experienced at navigating the planning process with award winning housing designs and new communities

ƒ With our architecture team in support we have significant experience in stakeholder engagement

Below are members of our planning team.

Mel Clinton DIRECTOR OF PLANNING

Alison Lugsden ASSOCIATE PLANNER

Stephanie Massie PRINCIPAL PLANNER

Verity Beament PLANNER

Building with Nature

Creating a sustainable future with nature at the heart of every development

Placemaking is at the heart of every project we do and we believe that creating a high quality landscaping concept / approach is critical to the success of the project. How residents interact and connect with nature is especially important for Senior Living developments. Alongside the climate and habitats emergencies and biodiversity net gain which have been endorsed by national and local Governments, we also believe Building with Nature standards should be employed within Senior Living developments.

Building with Nature puts nature at the heart of new development in a way that’s good for the residents and for wildlife. This is achieved through a framework of principles – the Building with Nature Standards - that provide planners and developers with evidence-

based, how-to guidance on delivering high-quality green infrastructure. The framework of principles are a proactive approach to nature-friendly development, that’s sensitive to location and context, and that cares about longterm maintenance and management. To enable developers to demonstrate that they have met the Building with Nature Standards, there is the accreditation scheme via a network of Approved Assessors, of which Nash Partnership are part of via Amanda Taylor, who is our Urban Design Director, recently qualifying as a Building with Nature assessor.

The Building with Nature approach works because it draws on evidence and good practice guidance, having been co-developed with local authorities, private sector developers, people and communities.

The Standards have been tested and refined in multiple locations from Cornwall to Scotland, with inner city regeneration projects, major urban extensions and strategic allocations, smaller in-fill development, and commercial facilities, demonstrating how using the Standards can deliver multiple benefits to both people and the natural world in a range of contexts.

Amanda Taylor, Director of Placemaking

© Oakfield, Swindon © Oakfield, Swindon

Bore Hill Farm, Warminster

Client Legal & General Modular Homes

We were commissioned by Legal & General Modular Homes (LGMH) to support a planning application for a new residential neighbourhood on the outskirts of Warminster. The site was already identified as suitable for housing in the 2020 Wiltshire Local Plan.

The challenge? To design a characterful and attractive neighbourhood using only three of Legal & General’s factory-produced modular house types. The layout needed to reflect Warminster’s

character and show sympathy to neighbouring residents while responding to the site’s constraints including topography, drainage and biodiversity.

The masterplan, for 84 modular homes including car parking and landscaping, features a mix of house types. These range from two-bedroom starter homes to three-bedroom family houses and town houses.

Warminster’s history and its influence on the town’s architecture, streets and materials played a part in the how the

buildings are arranged in the plan and the materials selected. We used some guiding principles from the Warminster Conservation Area Assessment to shape the plan and give the new neighbourhood a sense of place.

The site’s natural topography, which gives it a sense of enclosure, is retained as far as possible. We designed the layout around a hierarchy of green spaces and areas to create a streetscape that’s got character and is easy to navigate.

The landscape around the site has been respected and new open spaces have been created, including a village green and a car-free mews with windflower planting and fruit trees. These provide opportunities for drainage, wildlife, seating and play, all overlooked and integrated within the housing layout.

The use of innovative modular construction will deliver affordable, high quality, low carbon homes. The housing will be built quicker than using traditional methods of construction. Tall ceilings provide high levels of natural daylight in the homes and the plans meet Nationally Described Spaces Standards.

All of Legal & General Modular Homes’ offer Net Zero Regulated Carbon homes which will be 73% cheaper to run than a standard new build home, significantly reducing future residents’ energy bills. High levels of insulation, air source heat pumps and solar panels will reduce the carbon footprint of the proposed development. Gas boilers will not be used within the development and the removal of spoil is minimised by carefully balancing the cut and fill of the site’s sloping topography.

LGMH’s vision for the Bore Hill development is to create a sustainable community that’s a desirable place to live as well as a step-change in the

model of residential project delivery in the UK. The design solution outlined in the application, which is currently being considered by the Council, carefully considers the site constraints whilst leveraging the benefits of off-site manufacturing.

This project shows how modular housing can be successfully integrated into a site and have local context-based quality and character. At Bore Hill, this is combined with a placemaking approach to deliver efficient homes within an attractive and distinctive neighbourhood.

Engaging with Client needs from the Outset

Feasibility/Concept

Engaging with our clients at the initial feasibility stage forms a key part to our approach to unlocking the potential of a site. We understand the commercial risks and challenges our clients must make when submitting bids for a site or talking direct to landowners. Early engagement with our clients to understand their aspirations in parallel with undertaking a due diligence process forms our strategy to understanding and realising the true value potential of the site.

At the initial feasibility/conceptual stage of a project, we bring together our architecture and planning skill set to fully investigate and interrogate the site, not only in terms of what the site could deliver in terms of built formquantum and potential uses - but also

establishing what the perceived risks could be. This allows our clients to formalise their strategy for taking the site forward via a de-risked approach. Every site is unique and will have specific challenges and complexities that we feel need to be established and challenged from the outset in parallel with how we can achieve our client’s goals. These challenges and complexities are not limited to the only physical nature of the site and its immediate and local context, but also the potential challenges with local and national planning policy.

Below are examples of sketches from a series of case studies that showcase our approach to feasibility/concept we take which aims to give our clients the assurance of having the ‘full picture’ to what could be achieved.

“We take the briefing process very seriously and work with our clients to get to the essence of what they are trying to achieve. It means that when we put pencil to paper, it already has great purpose behind it.”

John Everett, Director of Bristol Design Studio

Making Complex Simple....

The planning process....strategy & risks

We believe planning should be a positive and pro-active tool for making things happen, an attitude that permeates all our architectural and planning consultancy work. Ascertaining the project specific planning strategy and risk mitigation strategy at the very start of the design process with our clients is fundamental to delivering our client’s aspirations and site potential within a defined programme.

These range from domestic projects and listed building applications, city and urban extensions, major mixeduse high density developments and senior living projects which this brochure focuses on. While our planning services can be provided separately to our architectural services, we add value to every project we

work on by working with our in-house Planning consultancy colleagues to bring a broad understanding of the wider context, both local and national. Examples of this include the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), building with nature, the nationwide climate emergency and biodiversity net gain requirements. We see our clients and user communities benefit from our unique blending of skill sets offer and varied professional perspectives of regeneration expertise. This daily shared working experience helps our architecture team to understand the perceptions of others, including local authority planning and advisory officers.

The experience gained of working together on projects then helps our

team engage with the many different stakeholders our projects affect.

Planning strategies and risk mitigation always include the key ingredient of good consultation with project specific stakeholders in addition to the local authorities; and speaking with those that will be affected by large scale urban change and regeneration.

“Planning is about providing a framework for positive change in the built and natural environment. Central to our approach is people –we facilitate, collaborate and mediate to make this change happen.”

Mel Clinton, Associate, Director of Planning

Understanding Project Costs, Values and Risks....

Construction procurement

At Nash Partnership, we are proud of the way our skills have grown over three decades of project work and where we add value, joy, and substance to our designs. As part of this, we have developed specialist teams that champion knowledge across the RIBA plan of work, so we are able to successfully deliver not just the design but a conscious one which can be built efficiently and to the important standards set. We don’t just design to Building Regulations and Warranty Provider standards; but also, with

Our construction delivery team, led by Jon Cheek, ensure our planning designs have been critiqued throughout the planning RIBA stages with reference to the technical delivery RIBA stages. These important critiques are in addition to our design quality critiques and we welcome all parties – design team and clients – to engage with this process. This collaborative approach is at the heart of everything we do and allows us to understand and engage with our clients and our Quantity Surveyor and Project Manager partners on key project

supply chain delays; a collaborative team approach has never been more important to ensure the successful procurement and delivery of projects that are on time and on budget.

We are proud of our ability to deliver projects successfully at construction stage throughout our 30+ year history. Due to our projects covering a range of sectors and skill sets, including the delivery of complex heritage and large-scale re-generation projects, we have developed a wealth of knowledge and experience of the procurement and contract administration process in addition to understanding what is needed technically to deliver the project that most importantly aligns with our client’s brief and requirements.

Colwall, Malvern Client Blue Cedar Properties

Nash Partnership was commissioned by Blue Cedar Properties to create design proposals for a mixed-use development on a former bottling works site in Herefordshire.

The scheme promoted sustainable communities and living through the mixed uses including: 12 purposedesigned homes for older residents, a nursing home, private market homes, affordable homes and a village shop.

Located within the Malvern Hill Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the landscape setting along with a listed building at its heart challenged Nash Partnership to develop a scheme fitting the surrounding countryside and neighbourhoods, whilst conserving, where practical, the views of the Malvern Hills. The landscaping proposals considered the need for elderly residents to move freely within the development in an attractive

setting. Landscaping details were also used to mitigate the mass/impact of the nursing home. The shop is an important point of community identity in the village and the association with the tank house will benefit that likewise.

The scheme was granted planning permission following lengthy discussion with the local planning authority and is now nearing the end of construction.

Box Wharf, Corsham

Client Blueview Properties

The owners of the Box Wharf site, Blueview Properties Ltd, are promoted a healthcare redevelopment which will be owned and managed by the Maria Mallaband Care Group.

The carefully considered proposal involved the demolition of the existing industrial buildings and the erection of

a 55-bed nursing home and 18 extra care apartments. The apartments are for occupation by single people or couples with a minimum age of 55 who have a need for care. The apartments have full disabled access with lifts and are designed to Lifetime Home standards.

The proposals include communal landscaped gardens and car parking concealed beneath the proposed new buildings. It has been designed to work with site topography, including a scheme of structural landscaping with quality and natural external materials proposed throughout.

The development provides the following community benefits:

ƒ Replacement of existing unsightly industrial buildings with new more appropriately-scaled and detailed residential accommodation

ƒ Redundant industrial ‘island’ site that attracts vandalism to be replaced with well-managed site integrated with the community

ƒ Car parking hidden under buildings

ƒ Increased and enhanced soft landscaping

ƒ Creation of up to 50 new jobs

ƒ Reduction of traffic (no HGVs)

Mount Haviland, Bath

Client Bath Society of Friends

For seven years, The Bath Society of Friends sought to establish a home for their frail and elderly members but lacked essential startup funds. We introduced a local philanthropic builder who acquired a site and was able to fund the development until the majority of the flats were sold. In the meantime, fundraising continued allowing some to be bought out by the housing association set up for the purpose.

As well as setting up this approach, Nash Partnership secured planning permission for the scheme of 15 one- or two-bedroom apartments.

The design strongly reflects the organisation’s aim to create a way of living for their residents that combines optimum privacy with maximum opportunities for a supportive community life. Most flats have their own areas of private garden and look onto informal communal space. There is a wide range of communal facilities – guest suites, dining facilities, sitting rooms, laundry. Particular care has been taken to set the new building in its steeply sloping landscaped grounds to create a variety of accessible walks for residents and opportunities for recreation and gardening.

Starvehall Farm, Cheltenham

Client Bovis & Bloor Homes

Working for Bloor Homes and Bovis, Nash Partnership secured planning permission for a development scheme comprising of 300 new homes and a 50-bed extra care facility at Starvehall Farm. The development of this greenfield site, located within the urban fabric of Cheltenham, was required to deliver a future strategic link road through the area.

The site is unique, with long distant views to the Cotswold escarpment, undulating topography and a stream in the centre. Gloucestershire County Council employed Nash Partnership to produce a Design Code of precedents and constraints as part of the application due to the site’s sensitivities. Within this Design Code, we produced the principles for the extra care scheme, fixing the

orientation of the building to ensure views across the development remained open.

The Design Code emphasised the importance of landscaping detail including the incorporation of a swale into the communal gardens to create a space for enjoyment by the residents. The landscaping detail also ensured that residents could walk easily and

safely to other communal spaces in the development including allotments, a common and a public park. The form and volume of the extra care building were defined in the code in response to constraints surrounding the wider masterplan such as neighbouring buildings and views. This was tested

with floor plans to illustrate how the cores and massing of the building could be achieved.

Service use, accessibility and parking were a consideration. This included a range of communal spaces at the ground floor. The code defined

the building materials to ensure that the extra care building would be characterful and distinctive, sitting alongside the wider housing development and responding to the local context.

King Harry Lane, St. Albans

Client Robert Walsh Projects Ltd

On this site, a large retirement village complex with specialist apartments, communal facilities, and a nursing home was being proposed to run alongside a Local Authority care home.

Following a failed outline application, our task as expert witness, was to demonstrate how these buildings were necessary to bring all these facilities

together. We also needed to show how the buildings could be successfully designed and integrated within an established housing pattern. Creating urban character and community significance through careful design was important. As a result of our work, the appeal against refusal was overruled.

Sunrise Senior Living, Bath

Client Sunrise Senior Living

Our client, an organisation providing housing for the growing independent senior population, purchased a large parcel of land on the edge of the world heritage city of Bath within the conservation area.

Acting as expert witness, Nash Partnership was commissioned to demonstrate how the proposed 85 self-contained sheltered housing units within three- and four-storey structures responded to the local character through its rural mill design.

Potters Pond, Wotton-under-Edge

Client Robert Walsh Projects Ltd

On this large valley bottom former industrial site close to the centre of the Gloucestershire market town of Wotton-under-Edge, we designed a retirement village and nursing home complex for our client, Roberts Walsh Projects Ltd.

The site adjoins the town’s conservation area and the scheme

could have affected the setting of a number of historic buildings. We used both physical and computer generated models to analyse the emerging design, test its impacts and communicate them to the public at a series of consultation meetings and 1 to 1 discussions.

At Potters Pond we linked several existing footpaths to create a pattern of

pedestrian movement relating the site’s use for elderly persons’ housing and a community nursing home with daily patterns of movement and activity. We wanted to give residents a pleasant outlook, changing views, attractive landscaping and community facilities in which they can have a genuine interface with the community.

Isleworth Extra Care Scheme

Client Octavia

Director, Paul Miller, led the detailed design of this extra care scheme in the conservation area of Hounslow, London, as part of a larger redevelopment of the site. Paul worked closely with the site developer and extra care provider to establish the required mix and form of the building.

Working within a conservation area brought certain planning challenges to the design team which necessitated a context-led facade approach and a sensitive selection of materials.

The scheme comprised of 36 affordable one- and two-bedroom

apartments – many of which included private balconies. The self-contained apartments were designed to provide a safe and supportive environment for the residents with extra care needs including level flooring throughout the design and wet room bathrooms. Shared facilities were also included in the design such as a secure communal garden and lounge providing residents a social, yet secure, space indoors and outdoors.

Project by team member of Nash Partnership while at a former practice.

Water Lane, Exeter

Client Cilldara / Water Lane Development Management Company

The proposal is for a mixeduse development to create a sustainable new waterside city neighbourhood of character and identity that contributes to the variety and distinctiveness on Exeter’s ship canal, comprising up to approximately 1,000 new dwellings, 350 student rooms, workspace, retail/ café, restaurant, community, cultural, leisure, education, hotel, senior living, a mobility hub, new public open space and shared parking and energy centre of circa 30-40,000m².

An outline planning application is due to be submitted summer 2023.

Nash Partnership is a leading and award-winning consultancy in Planning, Architecture, Heritage and Placemaking. We blend our skills to create positive change for people, places and buildings.

With over 30 years in business, we operate from offices in Bath and Bristol and extend our services nationally. Our team-focused, creative culture is geared to working with both small and large projects alike – from individual homes to large-scale urban regeneration projects. Working together, our teams share a comprehensive understanding of the built environment, with each project bringing knowledge to the next.

As consultants who help shape the world around us, we take the issues of climate change, biodiversity, equality, social value and wellbeing seriously. This is why we have placed the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of our approach. We always consider the effect our work can have and use our skills for positive change.

Bath Office

23a Sydney Buildings, Bath, BA2 6BZ 01225 442424

Bristol Office

The Generator, Counterslip, Bristol, BS1 6BX 0117 332 7560

London Office

Two Kingdom Street, Paddington, London W2 6BD 0203 7648777

www.nashpartnership.com

mail@nashpartnership.com