LLANDARCY URBAN VILLAGE
Neath
Client: Arup/Parsons Brinckerhoff
Following its closure in 1999, a consortium of BP, the Welsh Development Agency and Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council identified the 290 hectare former Oil Refinery at Llandarcy, Neath, as a potential site for the development of a major housing scheme. The proposal was to create the first new urban village in Wales, in partnership with The Prince’s Foundation, which would demonstrate sustainable mixed-use development on a large brown field site.
TACP was commissioned in 2000 to contribute to a feasibility exercise, including a Landscape Assessment, to establish the constraints and potentials of the site. In 2001 TACP presented a Landscape Strategy for Stage 1 of the Urban Village, which identified a site-wide approach to green spaces and the urban environment, and responded to engineering, architectural and contamination issues.
The project developed through a series of options and considerations, with the 2002 Draft Neath Port Talbot UDP identifying the Llandarcy Urban Village as providing some 1500 homes and a range of employment opportunities.
In 2003 TACP contributed to a detailed costing exercise examining a series of phasing and funding options. This eventually led to the release of the first 5 hectare development area in 2004.
TACP has continued to be involved through a number of commissions including Environmental Impact Assessment for infrastructure works, photomontages and visualisations, and the landscape design for an office and workshop development.
