Isleport Road Highbridge

Solution

The small market town of Highbridge is situated on the Somerset Levels coastal plain, to the west of the M5 motorway. In the context of achieving local housing targets, tp bennett was asked to design a masterplan for a residential development on the town’s eastern edge that would add housing and positively contribute to the wider area.

A review of the vernacular housing forms of the Somerset area revealed a rich mixture of local details and materiality. Integrating these patterns into the wider landscape character of a drained landscape, the practice developed the design including potential placemaking elements such as play areas, shops and a surgery.

The principal routes within the development are characterised by new drainage watercourses, known locally as ‘rhynes.’ In the masterplan, these areas provide green space within the heart of the development, and help embed the design into the established settlement patterns of the local area.