{"id":359017,"date":"2026-01-08T13:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359017\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:48:20","slug":"stirling-prize-winner-appointed-to-design-plymouth-new-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359017\/","title":{"rendered":"Stirling Prize winner appointed to design Plymouth new town"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">Mae has been commissioned to draw up a city-centre masterplan for new housing, \u2018green streets\u2019 and public spaces in the centre of Plymouth, the Devon port city announced yesterday (7 January) as part of a team led by WSP.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Practice founder Alex Ely will act as a placemaking advocate for Plymouth, \u2018providing expert placemaking support, representing the consultant team at ministerial, parliamentary, and civic leadership levels\u2019, the city council said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The 2023 Stirling Prize winner is working with Howells, which will develop the wider strategic framework to make Plymouth \u2018a national leader in sustainable living\u2019,\u00a0Plymouth-based LHC Design, Truro\u2019s Lavigne Lonsdale, Devon-based Gillespie Yunnie Architects,\u00a0\u00a0Makower Architects and DNCO, which together will draw up plans or for sustainable modes of transport and culture alongside new housing.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Plymouth\u2019s densification was named by the government\u2019s independent New Towns Task Force in September as<a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/govt-reveals-new-town-sites-and-promises-spades-in-ground-this-parliament\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> one of 12 sites across England<\/a> deemed suitable for a new generation of communities. A final decision by the department for housing on the locations of new towns is expected this year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Plymouth City Council said the vision would \u2018set out how underused areas can be reimagined as sustainable, lively and diverse communities\u2019 through a strategic partnership with Homes England and local organisations, which will feed into the framework.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The masterplan will also reimagine and evolve post-war town planner Patrick Abercrombie\u2019s urban plan of 1941, Plymouth City Council said, and \u2018explore the potential of existing buildings and modifying them for contemporary urban living while introducing new elements that recognise their place in the local ecosystem\u2019.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The work involves three phases, comprising \u2018shaping an early vision\u2019, mapping Plymouth\u2019s current buildings and refining options for the City Living Development Framework and City Centre Masterplan, and finally producing detailed reports, 3D models and sustainability appraisals to guide delivery on the ground, Plymouth City Council said.<\/p>\n<p>Councillor Tudor Evans, leader of Plymouth City Council, said: \u2018This is a game-changing moment for Plymouth. Over the past few years we\u2019ve delivered major improvements to our city centre, from the transformation of Armada Way, Old Town Street\/New George Street, our improvement works to Royal Parade and the recently announced project to reimagining the Civic Centre.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But what\u2019s missing is housing. This masterplan will unlock that potential, creating thousands of new homes alongside green spaces and vibrant streets that people can enjoy.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Plymouth is currently subject to several major development proposals in its city centre, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/bdp-reveals-plans-for-latest-plymouth-civic-centre-redevelopment\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BDP-designed pans<\/a> for for turning the former council offices at the Grade II-listed Civic Centre into housing and a venue for community events, as well as a skills hub for City College Plymouth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mae has been commissioned to draw up a city-centre masterplan for new housing, \u2018green streets\u2019 and public spaces&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-359017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}