Who's involved?

We're a group of expert masterplanners, environmental consultants, house builders, developers and land agents and we've delivered successful regeneration schemes from Corby to Coalville and from Bilston to Bristol. We've come together as the Lindhurst Group to work on a scheme for north Nottinghamshire.

Westerman Homes, based in Chilwell, Nottingham

Westerman Homes has been established for over 75 years. It has always taken a conservative and sympathetic approach to developments to ensure that local concerns are considered and, where possible, addressed. Westerman Homes also prides itself in ensuring that proven modern methods of design and planning are incorporated throughout all levels of its developments.

Having built exclusively in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire for the last 50 years, delivering some 1,500 residences, Westerman Homes has had notable success in providing local councils with strategic development land to help their towns grow, develop and regenerate. Westerman Homes also has experience in providing employment and retail sites in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to complement its residential sites.

Robert Westerman, third generation MD, says: 'It is always our aim to work with the local community to try to understand its concerns, desires and aspirations. And then through the development process try to deliver the best design which balances those concerns, desires and aspirations.'

Lindhurst Jersey Ltd 

The company has significant investments in sites and developments across The Midlands. The principals have been involved in the construction industry for many years and have the experience necessary to ensure successful projects are taken forward.

They have acquired a 50-acre development site at Clipstone, which although purchased with the benefit of a mixed commercial consent, was changed to accommodate the views of the local community and is now a mixed scheme including residential, commercial and retail. The first phase of the infrastructure is now complete and it is hoped that construction works on this regeneration site will be underway in the near future.

They have several properties in Newark on Trent which are undergoing refurbishment or are the subject of regenerative development proposals which will result in very significant sums being invested into the town centre and bring derelict buildings back into use. This includes office accommodation, retail, restaurants, bars and coffee shops, with elements of residential accommodation. Proposals for a hotel will be submitted shortly.

The company is also involved in new projects in the south west and in south Yorkshire. Construction is about to start on industrial units in Doncaster close to the airport.

Lindhurst Jersey Ltd is looking forward to working with the community on Lindhurst, which has such a strategic part to play in the future of Mansfield.

Conway Land Management Ltd acts for Lindhurst and has been involved in regeneration projects for more than twenty years, having been involved in Barlborough Links near junction 30 of the M1; the redevelopment of Glasshoughton Colliery near Castleford; Cavendish Park Clipstone, and a major scheme in the South West of England as well as numerous smaller schemes all of which have been geared to regeneration of areas of economic deprivation.

Bowden Land, based in Nottinghamshire

Bowden Land has been bringing together the people who turn visions for sustainable growth into reality for the last 35 years. The family firm, now run by brothers David and Richard Bowden, was set up by their father, Frank, in 1965.

David and Richard Bowden are expert in dealing with the complicated process of assembling strategic development sites. Their skills and expertise have helped towns from Scotland to the South Coast to meet the requirements of rapid expansion growth while avoiding the messy urban sprawl that arises from haphazard development of small parcels of land.

Their projects include Nottingham’s Gamston neighbourhood, the successful extension to the city’s most-popular suburb, West Bridgford, and a 1,000-acre sustainable urban extension at Wellingborough, the first phase of which, to be known as Stanton Cross, includes 3,200 homes and 80ha of employment land.

Bowden Land’s first association with the Lindhurst area was more than 30 years ago, when Frank Bowden looked into the possibility of a high-quality urban extension for Mansfield. In 2000, following millions of pounds of public sector investment into the infrastructure that would help Mansfield grow and prosper, Bowden Land started looking at the plans again.

In the eight years since, Richard Bowden has worked with the landowners to create a site large enough to accommodate the number of homes, employment sites and community facilities that Mansfield needs. This has been coupled with the appointment of some of the best planning, environmental, transport, commercial and housing experts in the region to develop a high-quality urban extension for Mansfield.

Richard says: 'We have undertaken rigorous, robust research. We have tested and explored every aspect of the development to ensure that what north Nottinghamshire gets is the best possible solution for growth, with minimal environmental impact and maximum social and economic benefits. After nearly ten years in the making, we are finally confident that our masterplan does just that.

'We did not go into this process for short-term gains. We want to build a neighbourhood that people want to live in, that the wider north Nottinghamshire community is proud of and that we are proud to be associated with.

High-quality development of this kind takes a long time to plan and deliver and so we take account of economic cycles in our planning and development. While the general public may have lost its appetite for new development, we know that emerging from the other side of this downturn, there will be a surge in demand for housing and employment sites. This masterplan will put Mansfield in a prime situation to take advantage of renewed growth.'

Holmes Antill, based in Prestwold, Leicestershire

Over the last 20 years, town planning consultancy Holmes Antill has become one of the most respected in the country for its work in achieving sensitive, significant growth of towns through major development schemes.

Holmes Antill projects include the redevelopment of the Peugeot Stoke works in Coventry for 10ha of employment land; the development of Grange Park at Northampton for mixed-use housing and employment; the redevelopment of the Alcad site in Redditch; the development of Blythe Valley Business Park in Solihull and the development of Dickens Heath (New Village) Centre in Solihull Borough. Holmes Antill is also a trusted and respected consultancy in Nottinghamshire, helping Nottingham and Nottinghamshire local authorities to develop their Joint Structure Plan.

The hallmarks of their developments are:

1. Sustainable land use and movement

2. High-quality layout and design

3. A serious, committed approach to public involvement in the development of schemes.

John Holmes says: 'Since the demise of north Nottinghamshire’s traditional industries, millions of pounds of public funding has been invested into the area with the express purpose of providing the infrastructure that will attract good new employers, investors and developers.

'Mansfield District Council is tasked by the government to deliver around 500 new homes every year until 2026. This means that there is a great deal of pressure to identify potential development sites. Such ambitious targets cannot and should not be met through piecemeal development of small pockets of brownfield and greenfield land. ‘In-fill’ will not achieve the coherent or sustainable growth of Mansfield that is needed to improve the area’s economic needs.

'A responsible and enduring solution to delivering the homes, jobs and services that is required for the growth and prosperity of Mansfield is through strategic, long-term development of major sites such as Lindhurst.'

FPCR, based in Lockington, Derby

FPCR (Faulks, Perry, Culley and Rech) is a leading practice of architects, urban designers, landscape architects, masterplanners, ecologists and environmental experts. Established in 1957, FPCR is now an award-winning team of nearly 50 practitioners. Its unique blend of expertise makes it one of the most highly sought-after teams of consultants for major, complex schemes and developments throughout the UK and the rest of the world.

The practice is respected for the quality of its work and has won awards for its architectural design and for its schemes for environmentally-sensitive sites.

Over the last 40 years, the practice has designed and implemented civic spaces, parks, sports and recreation facilities, historic landscapes, community woodlands, urban forestry, commercial, industrial and housing developments.

Their projects include design proposals for a visitor’s centre and museum at Pleasley Colliery, designs to turn a brownfield site into an urban park in Swadlincote, the development of Conkers Discovery Centre in Leicestershire, a masterplan for the redevelopment of 400ha of land at RAF Alconbury, a project to improve Matlock’s Edwardian and Georgian parks and a masterplan for a 30ha urban extension to Portsmouth.

FPCR has a team of 20 ecologists covering all disciplines, with specialist botanists, zoologists and ornithologists. They advise on all protected species with particular expertise in bats, great-crested newts, badgers, lizards, water voles and white clawed crayfish. These experts have carried out all the Environmental Impact Assessments on the Lindhurst site and throughout the masterplanning process, it has ensured that the layout preserves and enhances wildlife habitat and that the development encompasses sustainable building principles.

Phil Rech says: “Our masterplan makes provision for really high-quality green spaces, recreation areas, cycle and pedestrian routes and nature reserves to preserve the valuable habitats across the site, to make it easy and pleasurable for people to choose non-polluting forms of transport and to ensure there is a good balance between the built and natural environment.”

FPCR are members of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Landscape Institute, the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Managers, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and the Urban Design Group.

Lawrence Walker Ltd, based in Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire

Civil engineer Steve Johnstone has been director of transport planning consultancy Lawrence Walker Ltd since 1994. The firm, originally set up by his granddad, is committed to pursuing innovative thinking in road construction and to improving the flow of traffic around towns and cities in the UK.

His expertise has been fundamental to achieving effective and efficient motorway junctions along some of Britain’s major arteries. These include the redevelopment of J3 on the M6: designed to serve the North Coventry Regeneration Zone, which included a new 30,000-seater stadium. The company has also been involved in resolving the traffic implications of a 750-acre redevelopment of Parkside colliery in St Helens, Lancashire, and the redevelopment of Peugeot’s UK headquarters at Stoke-Aldermore in Coventry.

Steve’s links with Nottinghamshire stretch back nearly two decades. As director of civil engineering firm Travers Morgan in the 1980s, he was responsible for the design and construction of the M1’s Junction 24a. He has also been involved in traffic assessments around Nottingham’s West Bridgford and is consulting on plans for Ashfield Technology Park, a 100-acre scheme adjacent to the A38.

Steve Johnstone says: “The Lindhurst proposal has been the acid test for the MARR, which of course was designed and built to accommodate large-scale regeneration projects. We have put the road through its paces and we have been reassured that the findings show that the MARR is fit for purpose and will continue to be so. We have also examined the impact the Lindhurst development would have across the entire Mansfield District and we have designed 16 different transport network options as a result of our findings. Our recommended configuration is the best and most sustainable solution for this area.”