A+DS / SNH have facilitated a ‘Masterplan Awareness’ training event for The Moray Council which aimed to build upon the Council’s ambitions to champion a design led approach to creating good places.

The event explored how a collaborative approach to better masterplanning might be achieved, and followed an A+DS Design Forum workshop held the previous day which addressed proposals for a masterplanned development.

The event started by inviting participants to consider what they expected from a masterplanning process and whether this was being achieved, which prompted discussion about challenges faced by planning authorities.

Following presentations that set a context for group working, participants were invited to explore the briefing for a masterplanning exercise based on a notional settlement on a ‘neutral’ site. After the scenario planning session each group worked together to sketch out the raw basis of a masterplan representing their interests (commercial, community and public good). Schemes were pinned up and presented to the overall group.

The process allowed rapid negotiation over ideas and a graphic outcome of the day, built on learning, collective effort and gave a sense of ownership and influence over the masterplanning process.

In a final plenary session each proposition was tested against the original three criteria that had been derived from the group discussions, and evaluated using a simple traffic light convention.

The process served to simulate and expose local issues for delivering placemaking design in Moray. As a response to the issues exposed during the workshop and as a committed outcome of the workshop the Moray Council participants set out a series of actions towards embedding stronger masterplanning processes in the council.