Vearse Farm Regeneration
The present plan which has been proposed for Vearse Farm regeneration project is a short-term response to a set of immediate needs and priorities. It compromises long-term opportunities that may be more beneficial in the future. A fixed idea of how the site might develop in the next ten years risks cementing a set of ideas about how people live, work and share spaces. Whilst at the same time, using low-quality and generic materials that do not bear any relation to the place challenges any future adaptations.
The site is a prominent open space on the edge of Bridport and the development represents an opportunity to think about how Vearse Farm’s transformation can create a better link with the town.
The new proposal focuses on re-imagining Vearse Farm as a managed forest. The goal of the project is to cover the site in a carpet of fast-growing pine saplings that will provide a source of a construction-grade softwood timber within the next 20 years. As the forest canopy reaches maturity and the first timbers are ready for felling, the existing Vearse Farm buildings become a focal point for a number of new industrial sheds and for the fabrication of residential timber buildings.
Every 10 years, a new area of the forest is to be clear cut, opening up space within the woodland for a maximum of 200 new houses to be built within that clearing. If demand in the town for new housing is higher, a larger area can be cleared, while the scheme responds to lower demand by clearing smaller sites and retaining more of the forest landscape for recreational, educational and community purposes.
