A visionary strategy for the UK’s Ocean City

Plymouth has all the ingredients of a world-class coastal city. Its waterfront setting, maritime heritage and distinctive neighbourhoods give it a strong identity as Britain’s Ocean City. Yet its city centre has struggled to fulfil that potential. The Plymouth City Living Framework presents an opportunity to reconnect the city, grow its centre and create a more vibrant network of neighbourhoods.

The Plymouth City Living Framework sets out an ambition to extend the city centre from Devonport in the west, through the central core, to Sutton Harbour and Cattedown in the east. Rather than concentrating activity in one central area, the aim is to build on the character of individual districts, bringing a wider mix of homes, culture, employment and social activity into each.

This means moving towards a more polycentric city: one with several lively centres, each contributing to the wider whole. It is an approach that reflects something of Plymouth’s historic character, when its distinct settlements and neighbourhoods had a stronger sense of identity and activity.

A key part of this is introducing gentle density across seven city-centre districts. This is not simply about building more apartments or increasing building heights. It means introducing a broader mix of housing types, including family houses, duplexes and apartments, to create neighbourhoods with a greater variety of residents and a more consistent level of activity throughout the day.

The way people move around the city is equally important. Plymouth’s road network and post-war planning have left some neighbourhoods difficult to reach on foot, with major routes acting as barriers. The framework looks to rebalance space between vehicles and people, improve walking and cycling connections, and make better links between the railway station and the city centre.

For Howells, the opportunity is not just to set out a long-term vision, but to establish a framework that can be delivered. Working with Plymouth City Council, Homes England, the UK Government, WSP and Mae Architects, the team is helping to shape a phased approach to regeneration, with the potential to accommodate up to 10,000 new homes.

The challenge now is to turn this vision into a programme of change that can be delivered over time. The result could be a larger, more connected and diverse city centre, with benefits that extend across Plymouth as a whole