Winnersh Farm, Berkshire

ECE Architecture

From outline to reserved matters: ECE delivered the full masterplanning journey for 219 family homes at Winnersh Farm, Wokingham for Taylor Wimpey West London.

Appointed by Taylor Wimpey West London in 2024, ECE’s commission began at the outline stage, preparing the illustrative layout that established the principle of development and the design framework for land at Winnersh Farm. That early work set the foundation for everything that followed, giving ECE a detailed understanding of the site that proved essential as the project evolved.

What was originally a single Reserved Matters application became two when legal requirements necessitated splitting the commission. ECE absorbed the expanded scope without disrupting the programme, producing standalone Design and Access Statements for each phase whilst sustaining a coherent design vision across the whole site. Phase 1 delivers 111 dwellings with 66 open market and 45 affordable. Phase 2 delivers 118 dwellings of which 71 are open market and 47 are affordable. Across both, the unit mix is weighted towards three and four-bedroom family homes, with affordable tenures embedded in each phase.

The design task throughout was translating Taylor Wimpey’s established house type range into layouts genuinely responsive to local site conditions, plot relationships, streetscape legibility, landscape integration and pedestrian and vehicular movement.

A comprehensive brief review, robust document management and a formal sign-off protocol for house type selection kept both applications on track. Minor apartment block amendments at the technical stage further demonstrated the value of ECE’s internal peer and technical review at key milestones.

ECE’s long-standing engagement with Wokingham Borough Council, built through sustained practice across Berkshire, gave all three applications a strong local foundation. With outline permission secured and both Reserved Matters applications approved, Winnersh Farm is a clear demonstration of ECE’s end-to-end planning capability and the confidence that comes from seeing a project through from first principles to final consent.