The south London practice’s plans for real estate developer ACRE feature new homes – of which 50 per cent are designated ‘affordable’ – on a 4ha site in the village of Sandridge, just north of the Hertfordshire city. The other 50 per cent is for sale on the market.

Dowen Farmer says the ‘outward-looking masterplan’, which the team claims meets the government’s definition of grey belt development, features homes built around new public realm elements. These include a pocket park to the north of the site, a linear public and play space north-east of Shottfield Close.

In the plans, new homes are arranged in a cul-de-sac form with road access. The homes are conceived as a ‘calm and refined backdrop to a series of green interstitial spaces that define the life of the scheme’, the practice argues of the ‘landscape-led’ development.

Materials featured in the masterplan include timber and brick as the predominant materials for homes. Houses are arranged in a layout that stitches into forest from Sandridge through a linear meandered walkway. Streets open up to this linear park, creating a feathered settlement edge.

Dowen Farmer said: ‘Buildings frame rather than dominate, allowing the landscape to lead, shaping movement, outlook, and community interaction.

‘This approach places everyday wellbeing at its core, encouraging active, sustainable family living within a setting where nature and architecture exist in quiet balance.

‘We feel we have designed a sensitive landscape led scheme that slots into its context and has decent public benefit in linking to the forest.’

ACRE commented: ‘The central aspiration for the development is to connect people and nature across the site. The design is rooted in creating a place that is both ecologically responsive and socially connected.

‘Our masterplan brings forward a new neighbourhood that balances contemporary living with the character of its rural surroundings, placing landscape, ecology and community at the heart of its design.’

The plans have already been opposed by countryside charity CPRE over the loss of designated London Metropolitan Green Built land, as the site is currently designated.

However, the project team hargues in planning documents that the site constitutes grey belt land as defined under the current National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which was updated to encourage development on poor quality green belt land known as ‘grey belt’.

A timeline for completion is not yet known.

Dowen Farmer Architects Shottfield Close

Project data

Location Sandridge
Local authority  St Albans
Type of project  Residential
Client Acre
Architect DFA
Landscape architect Planit
Planning consultant HGH
Structural engineer NA
M&E consultant NA
Quantity surveyor NA
Principal designer NA
Lighting consultant NA
Main contractor NA
Funding NA
Tender date NA
Start on site date NA
Completion date NA
Contract duration NA
Gross internal floor area 7,500m2
Form of contract and/or procurement NA
Annual CO2 emissions NA
Total cost NA
Planning application reference 5/2025/1556

Shottfield Close visualisation