Place Standard: housing in Shetland
Architecture and Design Scoland helped Hjaltland Housing Association and Shetland Islands Council prepare for the development of Shetland’s largest housing site at Staneyhill, Lerwick. The housing site will serve the majority of the future needs of the Shetland mainland population.
Developing Shetland's largest housing site
Architecture and Design Scoland provided support on design development for the housing site and advised on application of the Place Standard tool. Working with the local authority, design team and developer, the focus was on strengthening placemaking qualities and response to local needs through the Place Standard work.
This has been a test case for using the Place Standard to assess a development proposal. The consultant team used The Place Standard to involve residents living in the adjoining community during the design process.
Consultation took the form of individual surveys and group workshops. The first step was to assess the quality of the local environment “as existing” and to identify local needs. The next step will be to re-assess the situation “as proposed” taking into account the housing and the intended layout.
“It was enormously valuable to gain so many insights into public opinion and to pick up a number of detailed concerns that will undoubtedly prove helpful in the next stage of design.”
Outcomes include
- The Place Standard work evidenced the community brief for the site, including the role of the routes across the site for residents and children walking to and from school and the local sports complex
- The workshops provided a strong focus for dialogue on place and placemaking
- This twin approach has lead to growing confidence in the proposals for both the community and statutory stakeholders