HS2 - Landscape Impacts within the North-Western Arm
HS2 - Landscape Impacts within the North-Western Arm
We were approached by LDA Design, on behalf of the Tatton Estate, to help prepare the Cultural Heritage chapter of an Environmental Baseline report that formed part of a substantial, formal petition to the Government’s High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill as it moved through Select Committee stage in 2023.
The petition proposed nine points, ranging from a critique of the existing alignment of the HS2 2b route and its inadequacy in integrating with the local transport network, to providing a sustainable plan for growth in the region, through to proposals for a diversion of the mid-Cheshire line and overhead power lines, as well as a relocated Manchester Airport/Ashley station.
Our work involved analysing the existing designated heritage assets within both the Tatton Estate (pictured) and Dunham Massey Estate (owned by the National Trust) outlining their historic development and settlement patterns; analysing the potential impact of the existing and proposed HS2 route alignment on these key heritage assets and their significance and identifying the potential for new landscape interventions to minimise the harm of the route and better reveal the existing heritage assets in the surrounding area.
The project involved collaborating alongside LDA Design as lead consultant and masterplanners; Applied Ecology (Ecology and Habitats); Cadenza (rail proposition); Tetratech (road proposition); and Pinsent Masons (legal). In October 2023, as the petition process was taking place, the Government announced the abandonment of Phase 2 to Manchester, leaving only the route between Old Oak Common (London) and Birmingham Curzon Street extant.
Client: LDA Design/The Tatton Estate
Architects: The Tatton Estate