Alderley Park

Nether Alderley, Cheshire

Near Alderley Edge in Cheshire, Alderley Park was built as a country house for the 1st Baron Stanley, in 1818. By the Second World War, it had been badly damaged by fire and in 1950, ICI turned it into a base for its pharmaceutical operations. Part of the site continues to serve life and bio sciences while the park and courtyard have been developed in accordance with the Cheshire East Local Plan. This allowed for up to 300 new homes at Alderley Park, which have been provided as a mix of detached homes, mews houses and luxury apartments.

The first architect to design a masterplan produced a rectilinear scheme which did not reflect the topography of the site. ADAM Architecture was then employed to produce a more nuanced scheme on part of the site. It proposed a design centred on several nodes placed in sympathy with the landscape and existing architecture: The Ride, Linear Park, The Serpentine, The Vale and Cedar Square. Buildings weave among existing trees –originally, a cedar of Lebanon was to be removed, but it has become a focus of Cedar Square, a garden square surrounded by houses. Existing buildings have been retained where possible ‘to tell a narrative’. Small greens open into squares.