MILTON IN BLOOM
Stage
Package
Masterplan
Booklet 2/3
Regulatory Framework
Prepared by Shenmin Lu, Yifan Xu Urban Design Studies Unit, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, January - May 2017
Foreword
Contents
This urban design project is the final year project of our postgraduate study in University of Strathclyde. The course is designed to equip us to analyse the urban fabric, space and measures. The chosen site is Milton, located in the north of Glasgow city. The site is currently a problematic area in Glasgow and our goal is to renew and improve the area according to current urban design theory.
1. Analysis and Strategy
Our design process is divided into three stages: analysing the existing city, creating a overall strategy and detailed masterplan. This booklet is created to explain our detailed masterplan proposal for the third stage, developed with the first two stages research. Please also check booklet No.1 - No.5 for the details of current situation of Milton and booklet No.9 for our early stages of development strategy.
Current Milton
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Design Intention
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Concept Plan
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2. Regulatory Framework 4
Foundation Masterplan Street Design
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Phasing
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3. Special Places design
This is the second booklet out of three. It will focus on mainly residential area, breaking down into coding of the street facade, street design and housing typologies.
Milton Community Centre
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Milton Food Centre
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Small Open Space and Pocket Park
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4.Conclusion The Masterplan
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5.Bibliography Bibliography
Yifan Xu Architecture University of Ediburgh
Shenmin Lu Architecture University of Liverpool
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The foundation masterplan is the first outline of the final masterplan. From this stage, we will start to look at all the details about a neighbourhood.
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In order to efficiently compare and apply existing example neighbourhood area to the new designed area, we use Local Urban Code to define the character of an area. The Local Urban Code is a series of numbers defining the shape, function, and typology of a block and plot. By applying similar code, we can recreate the feeling of the example neighbourhood to our design area.
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From the last stage, we have our concept plans about what to do to improve the area. And now every strategy will be applied to each street and plot. The foundation plan focus on three aspects: the density distribution, street layout and street fronts. Each block is broken down to edges and plots, confirmation area is defined, special area to be pointed out.
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In the first stage to define the design area, we defined the density according to the proposed nodes. Within the 400m catchment area of the node, which is 5 minutes walking distance, will have the most density. This area will be quite busy and crowded, with a lot of commercial and social activities that attracts people to go. In this way more people can benefit from the shops and services. The plot and house size is also smaller to benefit small craft shops and residence with less ability to pay for high rent in the community centre.
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Outside the 800m circle it will be low density houses. This area will have bigger houses on large gardens for bigger families who would like more spaces and lower prices per m2 in a more rural environment.
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Within the 800m catchment area, which is 10 minutes walking distance, will be the medium density area. In this area there will be mostly quite residential area, with little non-residential community services.
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One of the most important feature of a urban area is the street facade. But in Milton, there is almost no street facade. There are large area of empty and derelict land with no street front at all. Also there are streets with low profile houses with large building set back. So even the street in Milton is quite narrow, the street looks quite wide and empty. The residential houses looks almost exactly the same: plain, dull yellow render surfaces, with regular holes as windows. So Milton looks like a empty, underdeveloped, poor residential area.
In this section we will be explaining how we can improve the impression with suitable street facade. The facade type and hight varies according to the importance of the street. Small plots along the streets helps to develop various style since it could be owned by different organization. The unique impression of a neighbourhood is not complete by one planner or architect, it is a collaboration of many which makes city scape fascinating and attractive.
Active Frontage Low Level of Privacy Moderate Level of Privacy High Level of Privacy Special Use Frontage
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Active street front Code Number: 01.A.a Our study area Great Western Road in locates in north-west outer skirt of Glasgow. As a neighbourhood centre, it has high density housing and first floor mix-use on main street. On the ground floor there is a butcher, a cafe, a wine shop and glossary shops to full fill the requirements of daily life. Milton as a remote neighbourhood centre far away from Glasgow city centre, the function of a town centre should be roughly the same.
This type of street front mostly locates on urban main road - Leddstale Road. It is high density tenement type housing with first floor mix-use. It is in the centre of new Milton, being the main commercial hub to support daily life. On the first floor it could be shops, restaurants, offices or small workshops.
Indicator
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Great Western Road, Glasgow
Leddstale Square, Milton
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Average Plot Depth
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Average Plot Width
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29.3
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Privacy Level
No transition area
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Line Double Aggregated
Line Double Aggregated
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There is no building set back between the building edge to the pedestrian pavement. The transparency is maximized to blur the line between public and private space, attracts people and maximise commercial value of land to bring economic benefits.
Vision of development
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High density street front Code Number: 01.B.a The sample area locates at south-east Glasgow, right next to a industrial area. The area is basically pure residential. This type of flat is widely used in Glasgow. On the ground floor there is a ribbon of green area to separate public street and private residential area and protect the privacy of those who lives in ground floor. In this sample the back garden is a shared garden, but it can also be divided by plot so every building has its own back garden.
The typical plan of 3-4 floor flats contains 2 bedroom and a living room. In some case on the corner or a bigger plot it could fit in 3 bedrooms. It is suitable for small families or friends to share.
Indicator
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Lily Street, Glasgow
Leddstale Road, Milton
Average Building Hight
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Average Plot Width
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Privacy Level
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Line Double Aggregated
Line Double Aggregated
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For Low level of privacy houses, ambiguous barrier will be placed between the public and private space. Shallow green front garden, low fences or bollards are used to define the typology. The building usually set back 1-3 meters. It usually found nearly active frontage which dominated with residential area, or near the node area and mainly on the secondary road.
Vision of development
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Medium density street front Code Number: 02.B.a The sample area locates at north east Glasgow, next to the Firhill Stadium. One of the street front is facing the main road so there is a shop on the corner. This row of single houses is also very common in Glasgow. Each house has a front and back garden, and parking on street right in front of the house. Low fencing in front of the garden protects the privacy.
Aggregated houses usually have 3-4 bedrooms for bigger families and group of friends. Currently average size of a house in UK is roughly 6.7m X 9m, which is quite small to fit in all infrastructure. But on this proposed plot, there are a lot of possible way to layout the house on this 8m X 12m site.
Indicator
Unit
Springbank Street, Glasgow
Berneray Street, Milton
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Average Plot Depth
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Privacy Level
Front Garden with fence
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Single Family, Aggregated
Single Family, Aggregated
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Moderate privacy level design applies to residential units on the ground floor, few retail units except some important corners. The building usually set back 2-3 meters. The common methods to emphasis ownership of private property are bollards, small front yard or shallow basement gap.
Vision of development
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Low density street front Code Number: 03.B.b The sample area is a site with a lot of high quality semi-detached house. Located on the south skirt of Glasgow, it has strong sense of country side. The houses are quite big in size, leaving relatively large area of gardens. The deep garden protects the privacy of the residence. Since there is a big front yard most of the people will park their car in the garden. In this type of housing area, each individual garden become important: the quality of the garden defined the quality of the street.
Low density semi-detached housing mostly locates at the edge of the design area. The regular large block allows many types of development and freedom of building form. It can also be sites for self-built projects.
Indicator
Unit
Maxwell Drive, Glasgow
Scaraway Street, Milton
Average Building Hight
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2
Average Plot Depth
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28.46
29.5
Average Plot Width
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10.32
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Active Front Ratio
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0.34
0.31
Privacy Level
Front Garden with fence
Front garden with fence
House Type
Single Family, Semi-detached
Single Family, Semi-detached
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The high privacy level housing has a setback of 4-5 metres. It demands isolation between private property and public space. Elevation of ground floor, large front garden and deep basement are common design methods to achieve this.
Vision of development
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The final Foundation masterplan is showed most of the important information for the detailed masterplan. Each street front is assigned with a specific code referring to the typology explained in the previous pages.
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The existing streets in Milton is very boring. Not only because of the houses on both side looks exactly the same, but also the because the street design is lack of hierarchy. Most of the street has the same pavement, same width, same street furniture, and these repeating elements reinforced the feeling of a dull, lifeless neighbourhood. To improve this, we divided the streets into different characters and designed pavement and furniture accordingly. When walking around Milton, the environment will change while moving and giving the place a stronger sense of identity.
Regulatory Framework Street Design
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Liddesdale Road Section Liddesdale road, reconnected to Coslton road which can link to the Urban Motorway A803 to bring passing traffic flow to support the local business, is curial to reshape Milton. The existing Liddesdale road is very bland and less designed as long, unsafe and with barriers (speed bumps). The traffic flow is limited with Milton. The Milton’s demo-social-economic profile has already spoken for itself. The proposed one preserves the existing size but change in layout: introducing a green shrub with bicycle lanes with two traffic lanes. The pedestrian pavement work as adaptable space for both parking, pedestrians or cafÊ desks set. The traffic calming measure blends well into the busy public transportation flow.
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New Secondary Road The new secondary road connects existing Torogay Place to Liddesdale Place to guide Bishopbriggs traffic flow in. The new one is set 2 lane way with on street parking space, wide pavements are designed. The street is aimed as a main local road to maximise transportation from south to north. Mostly residential blocks are composed of the street frontage which could be a reasonable design for wide pavement. Rich street vegetation is utilised to enrich the streetscape.
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East Ashigill Road Section Original Ashgill road serves as 4 lane urban roads with busy traffic which benefits only west part neighbourhoods and adjacent railway line as a main barrier to keep Milton as an island. We downgrade the East Ashgill road as a residential neighbourhood. 2 lane preserved and the rest layout is transformed into share brick pavement space. The original dimension is shrieked into half working as a meeting point.
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Shared Pedestrian Street In the transformation of road, our proposal kept as much existing streets as possible. But the existing streets are fairly narrow for a social-able pedestrian pavement. To improve the experience of pedestrians and expand the activity happens on the street, most of the residential streets are designed to be a shared street. On this street people are forced to make eye contact to each other, which also helps in improving communication on street. This type of streets has least traffic flow, so when there is no car, it can be use by the residence in a lot of ways. Also the mixture of all traffic on one street forces everyone pay more attention to others, and improves the safety on the street.
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Traffic Calming The attractiveness of any centre is dominated by large flow of pedestrians and traffic noise which can be blended harmoniously through traffic calming strategy. It provides a sense of shared space to people and traffic flows. One of the useful method to manage traffic is relied on the street materiality- the pavement, the varieties of trees, the types of street lightings. The integration of bicycle lanes will give priority to the walking pedestrians as well. The new Milton centre will have a centre hub for public transportation located in the Milton plaza. It integrates with the Liddesdale road in the pedestrianised area to provide a safe place.
Raised Intersection The raised intersection with zebra crossing lines integrates provide a direct signal for drivers to slow down as pedestrians pass.
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Decreased road corner with stripe pavement The driver will raise caution and slow down when they turn ways with decreased corners. The pavement also works as a method as visual notice.
Shared neighbourhood street The unclear division line between pedestrian way, on street parking and motor way are elements for cars to slow down. The aim is to maximise the pedestrian permeability.
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Section Through Leddstale Road 34
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Section Through Market Street 36
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Block size 2017
Block size 2042
Street Transformation The generator of this project is based on the street network transformation. The basic principle is to keep original roads as much as possible both is size and street layout, and to improve the convoluted existing street network and eliminate cul-desac as unsafe places. Main street intervention introduced: both Liddesdale roads and secondary roads provide parking space and change in street pavement, trees, improved street furniture, traffic calming measures. Both community and transportation function are strengthened through transformation. The existing residential streets are preserved in width and layout, but more transferred into shared community space as domestic scale. The downgrade to East Ashgill road works as a typical shared street community: rich in street furniture, pavement and trees as a quiet neighbourhood. All transformation is to better serve the street hierarchy and manage traffic flows: guide traffic flows into Milton centre and North expansion to achieve better linkage. 38
Preserved Infrastructure Street Widened Street Narrowed Completely New Street Street Removed
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Regulatory Framework Phasing Urban planning projects requires much longer construction time comparing to architecture design. A planning project defined a few decades of development of an area. In our case, our proposal for Milton is the vision in 30 years. But it is obvious that Milton needs a lot longer to become a pleasant, joyful area. Time is needed to accumulate architecture style mix, function mix and culture mix, especially in area with such poor variety of everything. So it is important to split up the development and execute it step by step. Also we will consider how different economic development level will affect the plan and design our proposal to adapt to it.
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Figureground Diagram 2017
Figureground Diagram 2042
The current hugh blocks work as a ’block’ to isolate each urban block. It provides limited access to the local main streets. Large open space may not a safe place when you pass by. The permeability is quite poor and streetscape is mundane as well.
The proposed one preserve the most streets and introduce main intervention to connect North (bishopbriggis) to South Ashgill road. The block structure is more subdivided to medium and small ones. The new pattern is more accessible and reasonable. The allocation of infrastructure and amenity can cover the 5 minutes’ walkable neighbourhoods. Liddesdale road, secondary road and residential roads can be well connected.
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Phase A 0-5 years The first phase of regeneration focus on the Liddesdale Road built up. The community centre and main office building near the hospice are constructed. Large vacant and open land on the main land are filled with residence blocks. Stages on the North-east gateway is built up to the preparation of east Scaraway expansion.
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Phase B 5-10 years The second phase of regeneration will show main changes to the whole area: buildings on the two secondary roads are built up, the Milton central plaza is refilled with 3 storey blocks, south local node is refurbished. The Milton train station is constructed to strengthen the link back to the Glasgow context. The health facility in the Milton park are built up to rejuvenate the park.
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Phase C 10-20 years The third phase of regeneration will almost have a finish to this area: buildings in the Ashgill road and other residential roads are built up, the blocks on the cycling route has been finished. Well-developed transportation system can provide density for service and amenity. The Milton district node is founded as a strong centre.
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Phase 20-25 years The final changes in phase 4 are mainly focus on the completion of urban blocks. The light industry and workshop are set to increase the land values and provide more job opportunities. The tower blocks are demolished and new low density housings are built up. The north-south connection is completed.
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The block is located on the Liddesdale road to accommodate active frontage, office uses, workshop, social housing and residence housing.
Block Adaptability The plot-based urbanism relies largely on the block flexibility, to accommodate the changes of urban structure and time. They can adjust themselves to the changing demo-socialeconomic profiles without disturbing too much of the existing of urban structure.
The economic boom will bring build form changes: the increasing space for office use and active frontage, the residence expands as well to form a denser form.
The following diagrams show the planning blocks over different future scenarios: planning condition, a positive economic boom, a solution to population index growth by 2050, or an economic recession. The masterplan is well prepared for changing demo-socialeconomic conditions: block sizes, plot width and depth, internal blocks, active frontages. Land owner can accommodate adoption and maximise land values to fit to these future uncertainties to seek for best profits.
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The block changes when population increase: more social housing is required, the twin family houses can be replaced with multifamily flat, storage space and active frontage increases to provide more facility for growing population.
During the economic recession, the land coverage is decreased and no more workshop is needed. The economic value decreased as the land is used as parking space. Office blocks and active frontage are reduced as few services can be maintained.
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The function of planning state includes two active street edges, a 2-storey workshop mixed with office use and residential use. Limited storage space and social housing because the higher land value in centre.
The medium state was proposed when planning: East side facing secondary road, the rest are on the neighbourhood streets. This block is dominated by the residential uses with a large signal storey workshop. Enough storage and parking space are arranged to fit residences needs.
The workshop and residential use increases when the growth of local economy. The overall block density increases.
Large blocks can accommodate more changes when economic booms: Active frontage coverage is increasing. More property needs are demanding which can increase live- work units. The land value rises so that parking and storage space decrease. The light industry space can be mixed with residence and office.
Little changes are made when population growth happens. Social housing block increases and storage space extends.
Office uses and commercial uses are diminished when economic recession comes. Spaces are filled with parking space. 54
Social housing proportion greatly increases when population growth happens. Working and living requirement can be mixed in inner block.
As economic recession in, land is difficult to sold only can be occupied with parking space for rent. The light industry or workshop area decrease; more social housing are needed.
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