Berkeley Modular Factory, Hoo

Berkeley Modular is a newly-formed company, founded to produce a volumetric modular housing solution specifically for the Berkeley Group.

EDLA is leading on the landscape strategy for the external space on the project for their second factory – a new advanced manufacturing housing factory on the land north of Eshcol Road on the Hoo Peninsula. Our aim has been to create a space which effectively grounds the new manufacturing facility into the surrounding landscape, providing a valuable amenity location for employees and generating ecological benefits to support local biodiversity.

The landscape proposal creates naturalistic boundary treatments with extensive ecological benefit to the local area, as well as providing visual mitigation from the proposed internal use of the Site and to provide amenity benefit to the workers within the factory.

A pedestrian friendly environment has been developed by introducing well organised pedestrian routes, habitat and ecologically rich spaces including attractive and expansive green buffers, with climate resilient tree-species.

There is a focus on the landscape enhancing the existing walking routes on Site, including the enhancement of the existing PRoW to the East as well as providing further publicly accessible walking routes and further pedestrian only areas to encourage walking and cycling to work and promote healthy living with spaces to rest.

Also for staff is a multi-functional communal staff wellbeing garden and biophilia designed atrium space for further peace and respite.

Drawing from the ecological palette of the surrounding fields and wider Hoo Peninsula, the proposals have carefully arranged and selected planting and trees, as well as a coordinated materials palette that blend together to form a new coherent landscape which envelops the proposed factory in native scrubland and grassland, with extensive tree planting at the Site boundaries. The boundaries particularly will work to give the proposed Factory Site landscape coherence through the use of naturalistic planting, clusters of whips tree clumps positioned in layers for effective screening.

This project has been submitted to Planning and awaiting a decision.