A sustainable new neighbourhood extending a well-established village

Mindenhurst is a new mixed-use neighbourhood forming part of the Surrey village of Deepcut. It has been created on the site of a former British Army training facility, the Princess Royal Barracks (PRB), which for many years occupied a major part of the small settlement – but lay behind secure and patrolled fence lines. The redevelopment of the site unifies the area with the wider village, opening it up with the delivery of new homes, community infrastructure and accessible landscape.

The proposals feature 1,119 new homes and 81 converted homes in retained existing buildings on site; local facilities including a new primary school and nursery for 420 children, and a pub overlooking the village green. The new homes are characterised by their setting in the surrounding rural landscape with natural open space acting as the defining feature of the settlement, which offers a sustainable lifestyle in which residents can live, work and play.

The neighbourhood will include a new food store and retail outlets complementing Deepcut’s high street; a new community hall and the renovation of the Grade II listed St Barbara’s Church; a sports hub and extensive public open space including 35 hectares of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANG), for wildlife to flourish and for the growing community to enjoy without entering the neighbouring protected heathland.

A Formal Park protects and enhances the landscape setting, whilst providing pedestrian links to the village centre, the new primary school and the village green. The park will include a Community Hall, a play area and public art, and will play a key role in bonding the new neighbourhood with the wider village, adding wider social and economic benefits for the whole community.

Ground remediation has enabled biodiversity net gain through the enrichment of habitats for wildlife, while removing the security fences has integrated the village with a mature landscape characteristic of its wider rural heathland setting. Large areas of woodland and open space have been retained and over 5km of continuous routes through green space for the community to explore and enjoy.

The palette of materials will be characterised by predominantly warm, earthy colours, and the use of brick, tiles and timber will reflect the Surrey vernacular and complement the heathland setting.

The scheme also included Swedish housebuilder, Trivselhus, who have delivered 28 low-carbon, high-specification properties created using off-site manufacturing to provide fixed-cost homes and minimise construction programmes.