Bushfield Camp Winchester

A new knowledge quarter for Winchester

Bushfield occupies a spectacular location overlooking the Itchen River valley, Winchester Cathedral and the Hospital of St Cross and facing St Catherine’s Hill. It is a very significant piece of land, bridging the city to the rural land beyond. The proposals provide an opportunity to create a new knowledge quarter for Winchester in a scheme which puts sustainability, inclusivity and wellbeing at the heart of its design as well as securing the long-term future management of the previously undeveloped parts of the site for recreational use and environmental enhancement.

The illustrative masterplan proposes the creation of a new knowledge quarter for Winchester, where sustainability, wellbeing, and biodiversity are embedded throughout the design. The scheme incorporates a mix of uses across the development, including workspaces, learning and innovation spaces along with a range of supporting amenity uses, which could include retail, cafés and restaurants, a hotel, community and leisure.

Creating resilient landscapes that restore and enrich local ecology

The landscape-led masterplan includes more than 26ha of publicly accessible, undeveloped, and green open space for Winchester residents, which will be a valuable addition to the site’s existing ecology and deliver a biodiversity net gain in excess of 10%. Great care has been taken in the masterplan to integrate the new buildings into the existing downland landscape, integrating green roofs and carefully modulating the massing so that the development sits in harmony with its surrounding landscape. This was developed and agreed with stakeholders through an extensive iterative LVIA testing process. 

Unlocking community access

The masterplan has the potential to open up an extended network of accessible recreational trails allowing the community to explore the downland landscape on their doorstep by providing the missing link between the important recreational areas of St Catherine’s Hill and Compton Down.