White Young Green (WYG) defines urban design as a process of shaping the physical fabric of an area to create attractive places. It involves an understanding of how buildings, spaces and activities work together and the processes involved in creating new development. It includes setting the design framework for buildings, spaces and landscape.

WYG are guided by four key principles:

  • Sustainability: to embed the aims of social, economic, physical and cultural responsiveness into the heart of the urban design agenda
  • Creativity: to provide fresh thinking and flair that delivers contemporary and contextual design solutions.
  • Quality: to create lasting urban environments that add value to people’s lives.
  • Engagement: to recognise and integrate the aspirations of public, private and community interests in a collaborative and balanced approach.

WYG’s Urban Design Services include:

  • Site appraisals.
  • Feasibility studies.
  • Masterplans.
  • Development strategies.
  • Regeneration strategies.
  • Development briefs.
  • Consultation.
  • Strategic sustainability advice.
  • Delivery programmes.
  • Project management.
  • Design guidance.
  • Detailed design.
  • Public realm, landscape and building design.
  • Planning applications.
  • Visualisation.
  • Project implementation.

WYG offers a creative approach to masterplanning using a multi-disciplinary group of architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects and engineers working at the leading edge of design, development and economic planning.

Masterplanning is the process of agreeing how an area should develop over time. It includes setting a vision, a framework and design guidance that explains how the vision is achieved.  At best it is about “place making”, creating places that inspire the human spirit, providing a new perspective of an area and leaving us richer for the experience. Issues of sustainability, stakeholder involvement and quality need to be woven into the masterplan process. 

The masterplan should:

  • Relate to context and history;
  • Integrate with adjacent districts and areas;
  • Create powerful places;
  • Develop a framework that is robust to market change;
  • Create value through public places;
  • Promote diversity of use;
  • Identify catalytic projects;
  • Respond to the environment; and,
  • Be time responsive.

The masterplan is concerned with detail as well as vision, explaining through drawings and text the design principles for new development, including uses, density, massing, connections and access. The masterplan is one of a series of documents that explains the regeneration of area and is normally followed with more detailed guidance on the design code for the public realm, landscape, roads and buildings.