Ebbsfleet Public Realm Public Realm Exemplary Designs

Use these worked example design layouts to inspire and benchmark your own concept street and public space designs.

There are worked examples for 4 types of street, and 2 types of public spaces, that will provide a benchmark against which EDC will evaluate the performance of future public realm schemes.

Establishing prototypes and guidance for Ebbsfleet’s streets and public spaces

Six prototype designs are presented alongside design guidance, to benchmark the ambition for healthier streets and public spaces in a 21st Century Garden City.

The six prototype designs for public spaces build on the guidance set-out in the Ebbsfleet Implementation Framework to provide detailed design guidance and specifications for the six key types of public space that form the basis of Ebbsfleet’s Public Space network. These typologies are ;

  • Primary Distributors

  • Primary Roads

  • Residential Streets

  • Rear-lanes

  • Local Square

  • Neighbourhood Park

Each of the public space typologies includes three distinct parts that collectively form the design guidance.

  • Precedent projects illustrate best practice from completed projects to prove that the prototypes are deliverable.

  • Worked examples are illustrated through plans and sections for a 50 metre length of each street typology. These design drawings provide detailed guidance on spatial layout and the spatial provision for key components (i.e. green medians, trees, parking, vehicle access, etc.) within each typology, allowing alternative designs to be bench-marked against the prototypes for future projects.

  • Guidance provides a selection of detailed precedent images and diagrams to describe the key design points for each public space type, and supported by a test outlining key design principles.

Design Guidance

The design guidance should be a tool used throughout the public realm design process outlined in chapter 1 of this document. It is critical that each relevant typologies design guidance is reviewed at the start of the design process (see step 1, document review) along with all other relevant documents and site surveys. Following the initial review of documents, the recommended spatial layouts and cross sections within this chapter are to be used for the development of quarter / area masterplan and the initial public realm design development. During this step, the design team will need to work between the various public realm strategies outlined in step 2 of the design process and coordinate their design development with the adjacent building layouts being developed. The design audit at the end of step 2 of the design process will utilised this chapter as reference material to aid in evaluating a proposed scheme against the evaluation framework.

In step 3 of the design process, the detailed precedents for each typology should be utilised along side the typical plans to inform the detailed design development in accordance with the guidance laid out in Chapter 5: Hard Landscape Strategy and Chapter 6: Planting Strategy. These chapters work together to provide a foundation for each design team’s hard and soft landscape strategies.

Aspirations for each typology

The aspirations for each typology differ and the design guidance has been collectively developed to create a cohesive kit of public realm typologies that integrate the vision outlined in the 9 Indicators of a Healthy Public Realm (see Chapter 3: Evaluation Framework). A summary of the key aspirations for each typology are as follows:

  1. Level 1 - Level 4 streets are designed to create a legible hierarchy of street typologies that effectively promote a modal shift toward walking, cycling and public transport and secure the spatial allocation to achieve the public realm vision laid out in the evaluation framework’s 9 indicators. Further details are outlined in each typologies design guidance.

  2. Local parks are designed to encourage activity, to create social opportunities, to form community focal points, to enhance the local biodiversity / ecology, and to create opportunities for the storage of surface water runoff.

  3. The public square is to become the heart of each neighbourhood and should be supported by active edges, ample social spaces, and provide a flexible space for community events.

Best practice exemplars

For each typology a series of exemplars have been selected that align with the ambitions of the Ebbsfleet Implementation Framework, the vision laid out in Chapter 3 evaluation framework, and the aspirations for the typology. These exemplars should be reviewed and integrated in step 1 of the design process by the design team.

Plans, Sections & 3D Visual

Each typology’s plan and section drawings illustrate a typical layout for the typology. These drawings and the supporting design guidance outline minimum dimensions, spatial requirements, and are labelled with references to additional design guidance that can be found in the hard landscape strategy in chapter 5 and the planting strategy in chapter 6. These drawings and their supporting texts are relevant to steps 1 through 3 of the design process.

Detailed Precedents

To support the typical plans and sections, detailed precedent images have been selected to provide guidance for intersections, crossing points, seating, play on the way, lighting, sustainable urban drainage systems, street trees, understorey planting and other elements characterising each typology. A supporting text highlights each precedents relevance and adds further detail to the design guidance that can be used in step 3 of the design process.