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Fawley Waterside – A Placemaking Case Study

John Adams will explore the different dimensions of placemaking in a planned new community in the New Forest National Park. 

Here the coastal setting on Southampton Water, the legacy structures of the former power station, and the opportunity to reconnect the New Forest to the sea, combine to provide a remarkable opportunity to create a beautiful working and living community.  

John will explain how the development will integrate 1,500 new homes with more than 2,000 jobs in technology led and marine business, all within a Nature Park of 275 ha of restored New Forest and coastal landscapes, delivering a substantial net gain in biodiversity.  

Strategic green infrastructure and sustainable transport connections will connect the new community with the existing towns and industry along the New Forest waterside.    John will argue that working out how a new community will contribute to the local economy and connect with existing communities is an essential part of placemaking.    Having an economic purpose is as important as beautiful buildings and spaces.  Fawley Waterside sets out to deliver both. 

About John Adams

John Adams has 35 years’ experience building partnerships between developers and local authorities and steering major development projects through the planning system and through to delivery.  John established Drivers Jonas’ planning and development teams in Manchester and Leeds and led the DJ teams into the merger with Deloitte in 2010.   He then moved to London and was the partner responsible for the Deloitte Real Estate planning business from 2011 to 2020.  During this time John’s focus has increasingly been on building new communities and large-scale regeneration and infrastructure projects in London and the South East.   In 2020 John retired as a partner of Deloitte and set up JDA Planning Consultancy.  He works as a consultant with Deloitte, and is working on Fawley Waterside, and other major new community and infrastructure projects, and expert witness roles.   He lives in the South Downs near Winchester.