FPCR provided landscape and visual impact assessment services for this Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). Granted a Development Consent Order (DCO) in 2014 this scheme will deliver a new 8 million square ft extension to the existing successful development. The expansion will include a new rail interchange and warehousing covering approximately 345 hectares. Located next to the M1 motorway and the West Coast main line, DIRFT III is the first Strategic Rail Freight Interchange to secure a Development Consent Order (DCO) in line with the Planning Act 2008 and is the largest rail-linked logistics development in the UK.
The practice worked as a key member of the development team . The Landscape Strategy devised included the creation of a wooded landform feature, ‘The Ridge’, to visually screen and mitigate the effects of the development upon residents of Lilbourne and significant new woodland planting adjacent to the M1 corridor. A large area at the north of the site is to become a wildlife reserve, known as Lilbourne Meadows and other substantial landscape corridors will be encompassed to conserve an an existing tributary to Clifton Brook and maintain an east-west bridleway across the site.
As part of the comprehensive LVIA, FPCR prepared detailed site sections, a digital model to assist in identifying the Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV) and nine photomontage views depicting the proposed development before and after establishment of mitigation planting.
