Things are progressing very well at Atmos Totnes, thanks in no small part to your ongoing support and engagement, for which we are deeply grateful. We would like to invite you to be part of the ongoing journey as the design process picks up pace. Every Wednesday from 11th March until 13th May the Hub will be open again, between midday and 5pm. Do drop in and out as you see fit during this time for updates, see the design work as it evolves, and we’d love you to let us know what you think.
We will also be holding a number of evening outreach events in venues in and around the town for those of you at work during the day, more details about those will follow soon. Do keep an eye on this website, social media, and the local press or for our eye-catching banners around town.
You may have seen work underway at Atmos Totnes, with holes being dug and people on site. As part of the build up to Totnes Community Development Society’s submission of a Community Right to Build Order for the site in the summer, our consultant team are surveying, measuring, soil testing and generally investigating on site as we build our understanding of the place and what’s possible on it. You’ll spot them as you pass, they’re the ones in the hard hats and high viz jackets.
Over the next few weeks, via these email updates and via our website, we’ll be introducing you to some of them. To start with, here’s Marc Williams, who works for Jomas Associates on behalf of D3 Consulting, who has been testing soil samples from the pits for contamination.
We’ve also been working hard on refining the plans for the site, as we pull together our Development Brief. On January 30th and 31st, Totnes Community Development Society opened the doors of the Atmos Totnes Hub for two days of consultation. Over that time, 250 people passed through and shared their thoughts on the next steps towards a site design for the former Dairy Crest site.
The consultation had been preceded, over the two previous weekends, by the work of what was called the ‘Community Design Team’. 20 people from across the community came together for an intensive 4 days of design work, which included site walks and tours of Totnes to study the architecture there. They also ‘digested’ the ideas already gathered in the Hub from previous consultations, and worked in groups to produce designs for the site. The degree of consensus reached by the end of the workshops was remarkable. Here is a short video about that process.
The consultation at the end of January told that story, presenting the outputs from the workshops, as well as identifying the key principles coming through strongly in relation to housing, open space and so on, and asking for the community’s feedback.
An initial draft masterplan was presented, as well as an innovative 3D model formed using childrens’ toys and scaled cut-outs of recognisable Totnes landmarks, which gave a sense of uses and scale. The Hub was buzzing, and many of those visiting left their thoughts and suggestions. We’d like to thank everyone who came and Encounters Arts for their highly skilled facilitation.
Thanks from us all at Totnes Community Development Society.
P.s., In case you missed it, Chris Watson of Chris Watson Films very kindly made us this beautiful film capturing the Atmos Totnes story so far, we’re rather fond of it. Please Facebook it, tweet it, Tumblr it, and whatever else you feel inclined to do with it. Indeed you may find that you’re actually in it. Thanks again.
Keep in touch through the Atmos Totnes website, on Facebook and Twitter. We send these updates out fairly regularly. If you’d like to be on the list that recieves them and to hear Atmos news as it happens, please subscribe here.
May a thousand ideas flourish…
Atmos Totnes is managed by Totnes Community Development Society in partnership with McCarthy and Stone and Dairy Crest.
