New Peak District National Park tourism destination

Gillespies is delighted to be working with Stirling Prize-winning architects Stanton Williams on the landscape design for a new regenerative mixed-use destination and basecamp in the Peak District National Park.

The Gateway will comprise a zero-carbon travel hub, 165-room resort hotel, food and beverage outlets and retail spaces facilitating all types of outdoor pursuits and wellbeing. It will be built on a low carbon infrastructure, and aims to generate its own energy and process its own waste. A zero-carbon transport service will connect it to attractions in the national park.

The project is on 300 acres of reclaimed land on the eastern boundary of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. Gillespies carried out the landscape strategy for the Gateway, and designed the area to be an eco-sensitive distillation of the Peak District’s key elements to maximise biodiversity.

Our design includes wood spinneys, clearings, and groves, with a relaxed trail linking the different elements of the place. A highlight of our design is the series of rain gardens dotted along the outdoor spaces that provide sustainable drainage. The rainwater is also collected into a series of water channels of different heights which feed as a waterfall into a large lake.

We have planned to use natural and reclaimed materials from the site, and native plants to create a range of mixed woodland and wetland scrub habitats. The canopy and understorey planting will support a wide variety of vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife.

Stanton Williams has been appointed as lead architects by Peak Gateway Properties, supported by Cundall, Inspire Design and Development, Turner & Townsend, and Gillespies. Alongside Stanton Williams, a multi-skilled project team is led by Milligan, working closely with partners including Chesterfield Borough Council, The University of Derby and the Peak District National Park Authority.

Peak Gateway Properties aims for a ‘regenerative enterprise’, promoting the restoration and regeneration of natural resources and social systems. Outline and reserved matters approvals have already been granted for previous iterations of the Gateway; these will now be developed to incorporate modern best practice and operator requirements. Section 73 and Reserved Matters Applications relating to the consented planning approvals will be submitted to Chesterfield Borough Council this autumn. The project should open in winter 2026.

There is more information on the Chesterfield.co.uk website and in this Gateway video https://youtu.be/Un3NoV1Dlxs

Images: Peak Gateway Properties