More than ever, designing a nature focused environment within which new communities can live and thrive seem to me to be central to the idea of a sustainable place. This overarching principle has for many years shaped the projects I have worked on and today is uppermost in the way tor&co approaches placemaking.
Richard Burton
Richard has been a Director at tor&co since 2012 and is a practicing urban designer and landscape architect. He has been a member of the Landscape Institute since 1994 and in 2013 was elected an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism. Richard is currently on the Placemaking Oversight Group for Future Homes Hub, focusing on sustainable placemaking and has contributed to research on net zero housing by the UK Green Building Council. He is responsible for overseeing tor&co’s net zero and carbon neutral targets.
Richard has, throughout his career, had a particular interest in nature conservation and biodiversity focused placemaking. With over 30 years of professional experience, he has been the lead designer for numerous high-profile regeneration and master planning projects. Richard regularly provides expert design evidence at public and local plan inquiries.
Richard's Projects
Oxfordshire Garden Village
Designated as one of the original fourteen Government supported garden villages, the new settlement will provide 2,200 new homes, as well as associated education facilities, employment space, local amenities, and social and green infrastructure arranged around three distinct and walkable neighbourhoods. Acting as the lead designer, the overarching objective is to deliver an exemplar and modern garden village that reflects the cherished and distinct characteristics of West Oxfordshire settlements.
Tangmere village extension
Almost doubling the size of the village, the masterplan supports the delivery of 1,300 new homes, a new recognisable village centre and a rich and diverse network of open spaces. The design approach fully adopted Tangmere Parish Council’s wish that the village extension should result in a single, integrated community, articulated as the “one village concept”. A strong built heritage strategy further influenced the masterplan, with a central park retaining below ground archaeology and the primary street following a former Roman route found on site.
Trumpington Meadows
The multi award-winning urban extension for 1,200 new homes at Trumpington Meadows is today almost complete, with a thriving new community becoming established. It is hoped that many of the lessons learned over the lifetime of this project can provide a useful case study of how a landscape and biodiversity led approach to new developments can rewild depleted urban fringe landscapes, and importantly deliver significant biodiversity gains while still providing an important recreational resource for our growing cities and towns.