A sustainable, well-integrated, healthy community – for the future
The masterplan for the new Waverley community has been carefully crafted to propose a new town with its own identity, well connected to its surrounding communities and offering a high quality of life for its estimated 9,000 residents. It combines compelling public spaces, high-quality housing, abundant leisure opportunities and an efficient transport network. It’s a truly sustainable and self-sufficient community too, developed in harmony with latest government guidance and local planning policy.
An integrated community
The masterplan for Waverley delivers an integrated community that fully embraces its surrounding settlements. Communal facilities are concentrated around the central town square and along the waterfront. The town square offers central, community-based amenities, while the waterfront is a centre for leisure and recreation.
Site features and limitations
Due to its history , the development area includes a number of features and restricted areas that had to be incorporated into the masterplan.
Highwall Park
The zone along the edge is known as the high wall area and will be transformed into a large, linear park, bisecting the new town. Named Highwall Park, it will be a landscaped formal park, with a play area, wide open spaces and plenty of room for recreation.
Transport Interchange
A transport interchange was considered the most effective public transport solution for Waverley. Because no buildings are permitted within the high wall area, the park & ride facility has been situated within this exclusion zone, at the western end of Highwall Park. It is centrally located within a five-minute walk of most dwellings. The park & ride will connect with the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for South Yorkshire, providing rapid access to Rotherham and Sheffield.
Waverley Hill
This pleasant grassy mound to the south west of the development will offer excellent views over the town.
The lakes
Three inter-linked lakes were created by the restoration of the development, effectively forming a single water body to the south of the planned town. This lake will help to define the character of Waverley as an attractive lakeside settlement. The waterfront will become the principle recreation area for the community, offering a host of leisure, sporting and entertainment activities.
Restoration levels
The development has been restored in a series of right-angled levels stepping down towards the lake. This contouring maintains excellent views across the development down to the lakes, up to Waverley Hill and across to neighbouring Treeton. The street grid set out in the masterplan is a compact layout that follows the contours of the restored site and supports an efficient public transport system.
A sustainable community
Sustainability has been built into Waverley from the very beginning to create a self-supporting town using the very latest sustainable development principles. A comprehensive network of footpaths and cycle paths will encourage people to walk or cycle from place to place, while an accessible park & ride facility will encourage public transport use.
It was imperative that a sustainable drainage system was developed for the development because adjacent areas are susceptible to flooding. Therefore, all surface water drains into the on-site reservoir and is discharged into the River Rother at a rate agreed by the Environment Agency.
Energy for the town will be provided by two on-site combined heat and power (CHP) plants. They will initially be gas fired, later upgrading to biomass. All houses will be developed to the latest ‘greenprint’ guidelines and orientated to maximise solar gain. A comprehensive waste and recycling strategy has also been developed for the entire development.
A green community
Waverley will be a green community in every sense. There will be vast areas of parkland, woodland and open space. Trees will be planted throughout the town, transforming this largely sterile brownfield site and creating a haven for biodiversity. So much open space, combined with abundant recreational opportunities, will encourage a healthy way of life among the town’s residents.
Commercial opportunities
Development is already underway at the western end of the development to create the 40-hectare Waverley Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP). It is designed to attract advanced manufacturing and research companies, providing more than 1,000 jobs. Several high-profile organisations have already taken up residence. Adjoining the AMP is the Highfield Commercial district. Planning consent is anticipated here for the development of 60,000 m2 of office space, a hotel and ancillary leisure and retail facilities.
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