Located in the centre of the historic and beautiful Lichfield (the UK’s 9th smallest city), the Birmingham Road Site required a sensitive contextual response that seamlessly ‘plugged into’ the gentle, walkable street network that defines the city. Create Streets produced a design code for development of the 3 hectare site that put residents’ design ambitions for new development at its core, prioritising what they wanted the place to look and feel like, using extensive online and in-person surveys, charettes and discussions (including attending two chilly Christmas Fayre’s).
Following residential preferences, the code captures a people-first pattern of streets, defined by buildings that strongly incorporate the materials, palette and look of Lichfield’s historic centre. Once the code was finished we took it back to the residents, sharing key aspects through easy-to-grasp visual material, online and in person, that showed the kind of development residents can expect from the code. The code received highly positive feedback with surveys and stakeholder responses revealing 80 per cent of residents felt the code’s house types were ‘highly appropriate’ and 87 per cent agreeing the code’s vision for Lichfield was ‘highly appropriate’.
‘An efficient and effective team providing a positive experience for us at LDC. Far thinking and challenging us to think outside the box, certainly kept us on our toes. Also prepared to come and stand on windy wet street corners to engage about the process’
Design for a new site in Lichfield
