Crawley
Philip Kassanis in the name of Roger Griffiths Associates
2009
In Crawley’s original new town masterplan of 1947, Manor Royal was designated as the industrial area of the town. Since its official opening in 1950, Manor Royal has flourished and today is home to an estimated 500 businesses and 30,000 employees from Crawley and the surrounding areas. On the eve of its 60th anniversary Manor Royal remains an important driver for the local economy but since the early days the economy has changed, and so too has Manor Royal. Although Airport related industries are important to the area, the emergence of new economies has lead to a decline in traditional manufacturing and an increase in service-based and business services industries.
In spite of the obvious success of Manor Royal there is concern that in recent years the quality of the environment has deteriorated and is now showing signs of age. It is also clear that there is a need for a new distinct, strategic direction – of the kind demonstrated in the original master plan and so a new masterplan is being commissioned.
As part of Roger Griffiths Associates I designed and drew up the tender. This involved directing and coordinating the input of a heavyweight consultant team. The tender approach drew heavily from the framework I had been developing for assessing the quality of masterplans through my MA dissertation. We were shortlisted.
