Plans for Auchincruive, a new village in South Ayrshire, seek to build on the existing assets of a former agricultural college to create a new place with a strong sense of identity. Working together through a complex and difficult process, planning authority, client and architects developed a concise design code that establishes a clear vision whilst allowing flexibility for future change and growth.

The project involved the creation of a design code to bring together the joint vision of the landowner and planning authority. The code was required as a planning condition of a Planning in Principle consent and was negotiated between South Ayrshire Council and AWG Property Ltd acting for and in partnership with the Agricultural College, with A&DS as facilitator. The code is intended to form an agreement between the client / site owner, the design teams and planning authority on what is to be developed to help maintain a common vision for Auchincruive as it is being built, whilst also providing third-party developers with clear expectations for submission of detailed proposals, leading to a more straightforward planning process.

The code was approved at planning committee and lauded by local councillors as a potential exemplar. Developers implementing the consent are required to base their detailed proposals on the code to give greater certainty for all parties.

This document includes learning from the approach.