Frameworks for larger Hertfordshire sites: structure, phasing and design codes for growth within a county of new towns and heavy Green Belt.
.webp)
The county's strategic sites are shaped by which district promotes them and by the county's two big themes: its post-war new towns, which take much of the intensification, and its extensive Green Belt, which resists most of the rest. A framework has to know which of the two a site belongs to. Our masterplanning service sets it: the movement network and access, the land use and density pattern, the landscape and open space a sensitive edge demands, the phasing, and the design codes that guide each parcel. The work answers the governing district's local plan, from a Stevenage or Welwyn Hatfield regeneration to a Green Belt release in Dacorum or Three Rivers, so the framework demonstrates from the start that growth sits acceptably for that authority. It usually builds on feasibility work that established where growth is achievable, and viability is tested throughout. The result supports outline applications, guides reserved matters and holds every phase to one structure, so a Hertfordshire scheme grows as a considered new place that fits its district rather than one that fights the county's constraints.
This is the "should we build?" moment. The team clarifies goals, budget, risks and constraints, explores options (including non-build solutions), and forms the business case. The outcome is a confirmed set of client requirements and a go/no-go decision.
All the groundwork happens here: site information, surveys, statutory context and stakeholder needs are gathered, and the Project Brief and outline programme are agreed. Procurement and planning strategies are sketched so everyone knows the road ahead.
The design team explores options and massing, sets a sustainability approach, and prepares an order-of-cost estimate. Early conversations with planners may begin. By the end of this stage there's a preferred concept that meets the brief and budget.
Look at the whole processThe starting point is which authority the land sits under and if it is new-town ground or Green Belt, because that decides almost everything about the framework. A note to info@aecarchitecture.co.uk or the contact form with the site and intended scale opens it, and AEC returns a route: early framework testing where the principle is unsettled, a full masterplan with phasing and design codes where direction is set, or outline-application support. The fee is fixed to that scope up front. The work then runs through options with the landowner, the governing district and, on a sensitive Green Belt edge, landscape and heritage specialists, every judgement recorded, since a county examination will press hard on how a scheme treats the Green Belt or a new town's pattern.
The county's strategic land splits between its post-war new towns, which absorb much of the intensification, and the Green Belt that resists the rest, and the Academy Estate Consultants group keeps planning specialists beside the design team. A framework is shaped for whichever a site belongs to, so it stands a chance at examination rather than foundering.
The practice works across the South East from its Essex base, with Hertfordshire in range, so larger sites are walked and the right district engaged directly. Understanding how the county's districts bring growth forward against the Green Belt keeps a framework's assumptions grounded in how strategic proposals are really decided.
Because the practice also designs and builds the homes within its frameworks, a Hertfordshire masterplan is drawn to be delivered, not just examined. Densities, landscape structure and phasing are set at levels that survive a Green Belt or new-town site and a real programme across the county.
By reading which of the county's two worlds a site sits in and structuring it accordingly. In and around the post-war new towns, Stevenage, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Welwyn Garden City, the framework works with a planned pattern that can take real intensification, structuring regeneration, higher densities and reworked centres within the town's existing grain and movement. On the Green Belt that rings so much of the county, the logic inverts: built form is held to the least sensitive ground, landscape and green infrastructure protect the gaps and views the designation exists for, and any release has to be argued as appropriate and as an improvement on what is there. A garden-town legacy of generous green structure informs both. Open space is treated as structure, phasing brings the most defensible parcels first, and design codes carry a restrained character into each parcel's architectural design. Tested against the district's policies, the framework shows growth belonging either to a new town's renewal or to a defensible Green Belt release, which is what a Hertfordshire strategic site must prove.
East Norfolk College (Various Areas)
Norfolk
Three-year campus programme: courtyard infills creating teaching space, auditorium upgrades, a two-storey CDT block, and a nursery and animal centre. Planning secured in phases, with project management alongside the Principal Contractor.
View projectFramework design for the whole site: movement and access, land use and density, landscape and open space, phasing and plot structure, with design codes where the consent route needs them. Across Hertfordshire the framework delivers growth within Green Belt and heritage constraints. Scope and fee are agreed in writing before work begins.
When its scale outgrows a single design: a new-town regeneration, an urban extension or a strategic allocation with multiple phases, significant landscape and a mix of uses marks the threshold, and the district expects a framework on such sites. Below that scale, a strong single-application scheme usually serves the project better.
As the organising discipline. Landscape, topography and green infrastructure hold the openness and views the Green Belt protects, built form is placed where it does least harm, and density goes to the least sensitive parts. In a new town the framework instead structures regeneration within the planned pattern, so growth sits acceptably rather than intrusively.
Against the scope: the site's scale, the depth of framework required, the Green Belt and landscape input needed, the consent route and the stakeholder process. Fees are usually fixed per stage, from framework testing through to a full masterplan with design codes, and always agreed in writing before the work starts on a project.
Yes, that is a common purpose. The masterplan establishes the parameters an outline consent fixes, movement, uses, scale, phasing and the landscape and Green Belt strategy, along with design codes for reserved matters. A framework that proves growth and the protected county can coexist gives the district grounds to consent a strategic site in stages.
Send the site location, its planning status and the ambition, through the contact form or to info@aecarchitecture.co.uk. AEC arranges a discussion of the Green Belt, heritage and landscape position, the district's growth stance and the decisions ahead, then proposes a written scope and fee. Framework work begins once that proposal is accepted.
From schools to homeowners, we work closely with every client to deliver thoughtful, lasting architecture here’s what they’ve said about working with us.
We’re always up for a new challenge. Whether it’s a home, a school, or something completely unique.
