Mayfield Town Centre Masterplan

Community

LOCATION: Mayfield and Easthouses, Midlothian

CLIENT: In It Together Group, Midlothian Council

Artworks included on this page are produced by Mayfield Artist in Residence Susan T Grant and community members of Mayfield & Easthouses.

The Vision

First envisaged in The Mayfield and Easthouses Community Futures Neighbourhood Plan, the Mayfield Town Centre Masterplan describes a range of new approaches to improving townscape and built environment through the delivery of placemaking initiatives in the Midlothian town centre and adjacent areas. Responding to local challenges and opportunities, this blueprint represents the latest milestone in nearly a decade of community driven engagement.

Adopting an innovative and novel approach, the project is led and coordinated by the community from the ‘ground up’.

Consultation

We carried out a series of targeted consultation events. We spoke to residents, community groups, school children, business owners and key stakeholders alike, gauging their opinions and preferences on a number of concepts for a renewed town centre.

The clear picture emerged from the consultations is that the community is unsatisfied with the current state of Mayfield town centre. People find it unattractive, poorly laid out and unfit to meet the needs of its residents. But the community also holds the many strengths that are unique to Mayfield town centre dear to its heart, its central location, beautiful landscape and the supportive community spirit, to name a few. Across all age groups, there is strong attachment to the town centre and the interests in its renewal among local residents is high.

The Solution

The objective of the study was to identify a set of suitable, viable and deliverable community and local authority-led regeneration proposals for Mayfield town centre which addressed the issues raised in the Mayfield & Easthouses Neighbourhood Plan. Our initial approach was to take a holistic and aspirational approach to placemaking that would be designed to serve the wellbeing of the people that live in Mayfield now and in future.

Using the master-planning toolkit in the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Action Plan, our design options appraisal focussed on establishing a series of design principles based on the data collated from our site analysis and key themes resulting from consultation which focussed on the Scottish Government’s, “Town Centre First” principle which champions localism and community and also Midlothian Council’s Climate Change Strategy, which aims to achieve Net Zero by 2030.

We identified the need for a new hub that can bring together a number of agencies and act as a focal point and focussed on developing design standards for existing and proposed retail units to improve overall townscape aesthetics.

We proposed to undertake a feasibility study to bring leisure and mixed use to regenerate the redundant Bogwood shopping parade; balancing pedestrianisation and access requirements with commercial deliveries and undertaking analysis on how to expand, integrate and modernise the existing transport infrastructure for the benefit of the masterplan.

Our team suggested establishing enhanced links from the town centre to key facilities such as the High School and parkland by implementing clearly defined and attractively designed and safe routes to improve connectivity; considering how proposed future housing developments should be brought forward to assist in housing deficit and how they could be successfully connected to town centre amenities using sustainable transport routes such as cycle paths.

The Conclusion

Our study drew conclusions, noting that at the heart of the plan was a proposal to establish a community cluster; educational, community and retail facilities, surrounded by a more attractive pedestrian environment and reconnecting the town centre more directly to its adjacent neighbourhoods by becoming the focus of key routes. Through the creation of a sequence of appealing streets and spaces, our masterplan seeks to redefine the Mayfield town centre experience and sets out a vision for a place planned for people, addressing the climate emergency, social mobility, work, health and energy.

Getting the right architecture team is key – The In It Together Group (sic) were very lucky with their team. They were patient with the IIT Group, succinct with their needs, supportive and understanding of our difficulties and issues, happy to explain and support the group when necessary and willing to go above and beyond their remit in order to get the right outcome for their group. They were key to the success in this project.

Close-out Report on Community Led Project

|

Midlothian Council