McBains secures go ahead for 133 new homes within Wixams Village in Bedfordshire

The Wixams is a sustainable new settlement located 3 miles south of Bedford and 14 miles east of Milton Keynes. Plans for the area include the provision of 4,500 new dwellings, supported by a new town centre, community, education, and leisure facilities.

The settlement has been under construction since 2007 and was originally conceived as a town of four villages, each with its own identity and sense of place. Village 3 is known as Cromwell Place and will include a new rail link, primary school and town centre, featuring a supermarket, café, community hub, doctors’ surgery, children’s day nursery, pub, gym and a care home.

Our design for parcel 3.2 responds to the design principles held within the wider design code and provides 133 residential units including one- and two-bedroom flats, together with two-, three- and four-bedroom houses. The masterplan provides a good mix of accommodation across market and affordable tenures.

The built form responds to the four character areas, as identified within the design code, with the town end park frontage acting as a key interface between the new rail station and the town centre. This leads to a more urban and formal design response incorporating consistent setbacks, a denser level of housing development and scale reaching heights of up to 3 storeys and street trees to create an intimate, pedestrian friendly space.

The northern greenway edge has a formal character established through a strong building line, shallow setbacks facing the greenway and regular tree planting. There will be a strong rhythm to the street with a contemporary architectural approach.

The central garden square frontage provides variation in housing typology from apartments to runs of terracing and semi- detached housing to form a strong and well-defined edge overlooking the square. The overall sub-character is still formal with a strong building line and shallow setbacks. To address this key space, a set piece of consolidated frontage is introduced with a group of terraced dwellings that defines the full length of the garden square and has the benefit of removing cars from the public realm. This key area will serve a dual role not only addressing the square but also playing an important role in the visual experience of the site.

This approach also offers a strong frontage on the southern interface taking into account the setting of the public open space, whilst also considering the built frontage on the opposite side of the garden square.

The main street frontage is intended to reflect the formality of the Village Avenue that passes north of it through the Northern Gateway Character Area but with differences in street and public realm components. However, the overall sub-character is still formal with a strong building line and shallower setbacks.

The central part of the site acts as the ‘neighbourhood frontage’, situated behind the other four, key frontages and characterised by a mix of house types, typically 2 storey.