New Restoration Plan
Oxted Quarry
The vision for Oxted Quarry is to end all works at the quarry, remove the HGVs serving the site and restore the whole site to form parkland and a natural restored landscape. As part of the restoration plan, 90% of the site is proposed to be provided as public parkland. OSP were appointed by clients Southern Gravel Limited to design the residential element of the scheme that comprises the remaining 10% of the site. This includes 75 new Surrey ‘Arts and Crafts’ dwellings and a Field Study Centre from the repurposing of the existing quarry offices.
Our proposals were developed in collaboration with the design team to deliver a landscape-led development that provides a wide range of planning benefits to the local community and a positive legacy for the ecology and biodiversity of the quarry site. The residential part of the scheme will provide sensitively designed houses, maisonettes, and flats in a well-landscaped parkland setting.
The emerging designs were a result of almost 2 years of working with Planning Officers and Councillors, local residents and schools, parish councils, the AONB unit, and the National Trust. The proposals will allow the site to be restored around 20 years earlier than currently planned under the existing consent.
Healthy placemaking is at the heart of the design, with a variety of dwelling types proposed to create spaces to encourage mixed community at different life stages with flexible internal layouts for the changing needs of future residents.
The aim is to deliver a sustainable, carbon-sensitive development that not only respects the visual constraints of the views into the site but also takes a ‘de-engineered’ approach to the two other main constraints of noise and the site topography. The houses have been designed to the plots they occupy with unique features that only work in certain locations throughout the site.
