Build it Beautifully
— 08 Oct 2019
On Wednesday 9th October RIBA Somerset are hosting a charrette to explore the creative opportunities of Taunton Garden Town.
Our Director at Jonathan Rhind Architects Mark Raby co-chairs the RIBA Somerset Branch with Juliet Bidgood, and is introducing the event, which promises to be a dynamic day with a series of short talks, workshops, and discussion to showcase design excellence and explore how this can be creatively used in the vision for the Garden Town.
Taunton was designated a Garden Town in early 2017 due to its commitment to delivering high quality new development and regeneration of the town centre accompanied by essential infrastructure and a focus on green spaces within neighbourhoods. Having declared a climate emergency, Somerset West and Taunton District Council are committed to making Taunton carbon neutral by 2030, and this helps to inform the vision for the town moving forwards. In acknowledging the importance of green spaces and connectivity between the town centre and surrounding countryside, the council hope to improve the experience of the town community.
RIBA Somerset’s charrette is a collaboration with Somerset West and Taunton District Council, Arts Taunton, and Hydrock and will engage Architects, planners, urban designers, transport planners, developers, stakeholders and other consultants in a dialogue about what makes Taunton’s architecture and landscape distinctive and how this can shape the plans for the Garden Town. This will include responding to, and expanding on, the council’s draft design guide, which will be introduced at the event.
Speaking of the charrette Mark Raby said, ‘This is an exciting opportunity to collaborate on masterplanning the future for Taunton, to help shape the vision for a greener town and ensure the council delivers good designs and architectural excellence that responds to the needs of communities living here.’
Follow the link to read more about the Vision for Taunton Garden Town.
