A SUSTAINABLE TOWN CENTRE LOCATION
WHERE IS THE SITE?
The Crown Gardens site is located in Woking town centre, between Church Street East and Commercial Way. The site currently contains a commercial building that ranges from two to five storeys. A retail unit (the former BHS department currently occupied by British Heart Foundation) is located at the ground floor, with additional retail space at first floor level and office accommodation on the upper floors.
CREATING A 15 MINUTE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Crown Gardens is in a highly sustainable location, catering to those seeking to live in the heart of Woking, where all that people need is within a five-, ten- or fifteen-minute walk or cycle. This presents a great opportunity to create a new residential community where active travel will be encouraged, helping to drive footfall and spend into the town centre.
15 Minute Neighbourhood Plan
REFLECTING WOKING’S RICH HISTORY
Woking is home to a number of buildings of historic value, this includes the Grade II listed Christ Church building located near the site. Through the proposed massing and material palette, the proposals for Crown Gardens will respect and take reference to the rich architectural history that surrounds the site as well as the emerging skyline of the town centre.
Historical Aerial image of Woking from 1820
PLANNING CONTEXT
The proposals are underpinned by a thorough analysis and understanding of local planning policy. Policies CS1 and CS2 of the Woking Core Strategy establishes the Town Centre as the primary focus of sustainable growth, including high density redevelopment of existing sites. Policy C10 seeks to ensure that sufficient homes are built in sustainable locations where existing infrastructure is in place and notes that new residential development should seek to maximise the efficient use of land.
An Updated Woking Town Centre Housing Market Assessment (WTCHMA) (2022) also concluded that there is a significant and growing level of housing need in Woking town centre. The residential element of the Crown Gardens has therefore been developed specifically to address the needs of the local housing market and the proposals are ideally placed to meet identified housing needs.
We understand the need to design a scheme in keeping with Woking Town Centre's existing skyline, and as such we have reduced the height of our scheme whilst continuing to enable the delivery of much-need housing and investment
A layered skyline
Section below shows previous proposal for the site
Section below shows the updated proposal with reduced height