How do you unlock the potential of your place?

How do you unlock the potential of your place? With the recent political shifts and emerging reform across the UK, many of us are thinking about how we best approach this question; Prior + Partners think collaboration, constructive challenge and the sharing of big ideas are essential to this.

We are engaging with local authorities, landowners and institutions who are driven to create better place futures. Through hosting a workshop (without obligation), our team will help you critically engage with the social, environmental, economic and infrastructure challenges unique to your place.

Whether at a strategic regional, city or town wide scale, or aligned to large and complex development opportunities, Prior + Partners bring expertise in shaping long-term, ambitious visions for place. In turn, these clear and committed visions are the foundation for collaborative working across a range of stakeholders, encouraging investment and helping drive successful delivery well into the future.

Our offer

Our half-day workshops will be developed in collaboration with the host, and organised, facilitated and led by Prior + Partners, with representation and input from across our team of urban designers, planners, economists and data scientists.

How will this be delivered?
> A representative will contact Prior + Partners at placefutures@priorpartners.com;
> A briefing call will be set up by Prior + Partners to establish core local objectives for the workshop;
> This will inform a collaborative and participative half day programme, which is to be devised and agreed between all key parties;
> Prior + Partners will facilitate and lead the workshop in a location to suit you.

What will be the benefits of a Place Futures workshop?
> Opportunity for participants to come together and build relationships;
> A focus to think big and long-term;
> Reveal aspirations and ambitions, taking into account unique place features;
> Critically engage with a series of challenges and opportunities
> Help shape the next steps for your place / project.

These workshops will also benefit from Prior + Partners latest research into health, and how it’s influenced by where we live – this research includes a publication with the Quality of Life Foundation for the Local Government Association, which was recently commended as part of the Healthy City Design Awards.

As a placemaking practice, we continue to deepen our understanding of shaping healthy places through evidence gathering, developing locally specific principles informed by our portfolio spanning from research to practice, both in the UK and internationally.

What will be the outcome?
> Prior + Partners will provide a short summary of the workshop by way of an engaging, graphic-led summary of the discussions and feedback;
> This outcomes report can be used to drive continued collaboration, shape future briefs and build discussion to propel positive momentum in your areas of focus.

Your next steps
To register your interest in a no obligation workshop with Prior + Partners, please contact Simon Mattinson or Elise Baudon or send an email via placefutures@priorpartners.com

Prior + Partners have led Place Strategies and Visions that are valued by clients, communities, investors and local governments in creating clear consensus around ambition and future direction. This comprises Place Visions, Investment Prospectuses, Spatial Frameworks, Concept Masterplans, Development Briefs, Supplementary Plans and Development Plan Documents.

For the public sector, this has included place visions for Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority, Central Bedfordshire Council, Huntingdonshire District Council, and both the South West and North East Central Hertfordshire Authorities.

We have also led the visioning for significant national-scale developments such as Euston, and Old Oak and Park Royal. Many of the Prior + Partners team were also working with Jason Prior who led the team for the masterplan which shaped the post Olympic catalyst for broad-based regeneration of the Lee Valley and Stratford. The plan placed a new park at the centre of its ambition, with strong ecological and sustainability strategies to underpin the Games’ ambitions. The outcome of this vision and masterplan is clearly apparent today after London delivered one of the most successful regeneration stories of recent times.

Working at scale is comfortable for us, and we have led countless large-scale regeneration and new settlement projects including Tendring Colchester Borders, where we developed the vision and concept masterplan for a new settlement of 7,500 new homes, whilst at Thamesmead our framework creates the potential for 15,000 new homes on the waterfront. As of October 2023, Prior + Partners have also been commissioned to lead the regeneration of Bristol’s Temple Quarter – a complex long standing project that requires ambitious viewpoints to be harnessed within a deliverable framework.

Our reach is also global, and the insights we develop with our international clients provide perspectives that we are excited to bring back home. This includes our recent work in Thimphu in the Kingdom of Bhutan – which launched at COP 28 – where we led the process to develop a regional and city-scale structure plan all fronted by a Strategic Prospectus that sets a pioneering approach to place vision. The prospectus set the overarching objectives for the project and allowed us to recognise that Thimphu and Paro are at a turning point, after a period of rapid growth. There is an opportunity to rethink how the two valleys are planned and developed, and thus we prepared a vision that encapsulates Gross National Happiness and Doughnut Economics guiding principles.

Prior + Partners are also lead masterplanner for an ambitious, 468 hectare masterplan for a 21st century innovation district, integrating an additional 8m sqft of office space, 10,000 homes and new cultural anchors into an existing Google campus in Sunnyvale, California. Rich ecological landscapes, destination open spaces, and vibrant mixed-use neighbourhoods linked by a network of walkable and bikeable streets will create a new model for sustainable living.

In these projects, our team have worked closely with their respective client teams and stakeholders to exchange ideas, share perspectives, and grow ambition, leading to cohesive and inspiring outcomes.

To register your interest in a no obligation workshop with Prior + Partners, please contact Simon Mattinson or Elise Baudon or send an email via placefutures@priorpartners.com