At the Heart of Cranbrook: A Town Centre Designed for Community Life

SGP has returned town centres to centre stage as the vibrant heart of new communities, completing a dynamic and sustainable town centre in Cranbrook, a new town near Exeter. The centre includes an engaging town square with a 25,000 sqft anchor Morrison’s supermarket, retail terraces fronting the high street and public square with residential units above, and a nursey for up to 100 children.

Explains Stuart Hancox, Studio Director at SGP: “This is a major, on-going scheme for the region. The residential areas have been underway since 2012 and the town centre is considered a critical asset for the future of the town. Our aim was to create a town centre fit for the 21^st century and beyond, meeting local needs and creating an attractive, busy, well-used centre with a sense of place and community.”

SGP’s design features a mixed-use square, taking account of the change in shoppers’ buying habits to design for a range of uses, and providing long term viability. The square creates a sense of place, with an indoor / outdoor feel and space for social gathering, markets, and outdoor events as well as allowing surrounding retail, leisure and bar units to “spill out” onto the square under colourful canopies.

In addition to a 25,000 sqft Morrisons Neighbourhood Store, SGP’s design delivers eleven ground floor retail units of varying sizes and a range of apartments and duplex units above. The three-storey retail and duplex units have dual frontages: the modern shop fronts face onto the high street to create a vibrant, active streetscape, whilst at the rear the three storey duplex apartments form an attractive residential courtyard with their own canopied entrance doors, a small private garden and individual parking space.

Sitting on a standalone plot, the Day Nursery provides childcare for around 100 children in a safe and engaging building that mixes modern clean lines with playful design features such as large circular holes cut into the canopies to provide dramatic shadows throughout the day.

Concludes Stuart: “This is a major regional project and local stakeholders have a long-term interest in its successful realisation. The local authority has taken on ownership and running of the town square element, whilst housing association LiveWest is managing the apartments. This was a very exciting scheme for SGP, allowing us to work closely with long-term client Henry Davidson Developments Ltd (HDD), and bringing together our skills in a range of sectors to deliver a town centre that will be a vibrant and well-loved focal point at the heart of a new community, for the 21^st century and beyond.”