Tibbalds has recently been short listed for the 2007 Royal Town Planning Institute Awards, in not one, but two categories!

Tibbalds’ Nene Waterfront project in Wisbech was successful in being short listed for the Town Regeneration category. For client Fenland District Council, Tibbalds has worked for many years on the mixed use regeneration of some 5 hectares of derelict land adjacent to the River Nene and the town centre of Wisbech, one of the most deprived rural market towns in the East of England.

Tibbalds has helped the council to resolve complex planning, environmental and delivery issues and to put in place a £47 million multi-partner public/ private regeneration project aimed at transforming the river frontage into a new mixed-use quarter, comprising 370 new mixed tenure homes; a 17-bed Foyer scheme; state-of-the art berths, boat repair and maintenance facilities; a business centre and boat club; retail and landscape and environmental improvements.

The second short listing, for the Sustainable Communities category, is for Tibbalds’ design-led planning role in Lightmoor Village, located in Telford, Shropshire. The village is a joint development by English Partnerships and Bournville Village Trust, planned to be the ‘new Bournville’, a place that updates the original vision for Bournville for the new millennium, to incorporate best practice in terms of sustainability and the development of a balanced community.

Tibbalds led the team to develop a masterplan that responds sensitively to the site’s complex environmental issues. The masterplan is supported by a Design Guide that aims to ensure that the original vision endures as the village is built out. The Tibbalds team’s role in making sure that this happens, and the Design Guide is followed, has led to the team being referred to as the ‘Policemen of the Vision’!

Lightmoor Village will eventually be a mixed-use community of up to 800 residential and live-work units, employment, retail, leisure, education and community uses, together with extensive areas of open space. The village is a unique achievement as the partners are driven not only by aspirations for design quality, but also by a strong social and sustainability agenda.