An opportunity for artist/s to create new permanent or temporary artworks that respond to the location of the Backbridge Farm housing development and cultivate a sense of place and community engagement.
Kerry Lemon and Backbridge Farm
The artist Kerry Lemon has been commissioned by Persimmon Homes and Caerbladon to develop new artworks on the site of the Backbridge Farm housing development in Malmesbury. As the houses are built on former agricultural land alongside the River Avon, she will be working with the local community on designs which incorporate in the artworks locally specific flora and fauna. Kerry comments:
“I was immediately attracted to this creative project as I spent my childhood in Wootton Bassett and have great familiarity and affection for the area. I am particularly keen on the idea of combining the rich green infrastructure with the heritage and topology of the site. I also want to consider the site in relation to the town, the wider countryside and the riverside, and have lots of experience in designing artworks encourage movement, connectivity and integration.
I create my work through the lens of regenerative sustainability and work with local ecologists to design a thoughtful response to each site. My sculptures and interventions often incorporate subtle/ hidden habitats with recent examples including integrated homes for bugs, hedgehogs, bats, swifts and bees”.
In September she collected wildflowers from the site which she used for inspiration at a clay making workshop at the Riverside Centre in which children, young people and their parents produced their own artworks whilst giving feedback on Kerry’s initial designs for the new artwork on Backbridge. residential development at Backbridge Farm is providing around 200 new homes, the provision of land for the expansion of Malmesbury primary school, new vehicular access, public open space and associated landscaping and other associated infrastructure works.
The Brief
The development provides a sustainable urban extension of Malmesbury, and, as desired by the Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan, it seeks to integrate with the rest of the town. In this respect, access and connectivity are important, particularly for cyclists and pedestrians, and the scheme encourage pedestrian movement between the development, the town, the wider countryside and the riverside.
The site layout has included provision of a new bridge across the River Avon at the southern end of the site. Suitable for pedestrians and cyclists, the bridge connects to Park Road, establishing a direct link between the development and the town. This also provides for an accessible walking route to an existing river walk.
The approach to public art for Backbridge Farm is holistic and has the capacity to encompass a range of opportunities that enable the appointed artist to respond to the site, both its physicality, heritage links and social context. The spectrum of opportunities includes:
• The creation of permanent and temporary artwork(s) of high quality, that underpin the development and design principles established for the site
• The creation of bespoke site-specific works that are distinctive to the location and its strategic context
• The meaningful engagement of local communities in artist-led consultation for the tangible artworks
• The participation of local communities in artist-led events and interventions
Key design principles
Ensuring a well-connected site is one of the development’s key design principles, the others being to:
1). Utilise existing landscape, topography and ecology to enhance the placemaking aspect and contribute to existing ecology
2). Establish a place that reflects the character of the local town and that benefits from the site’s opportunities.
Landscape design principles have been established which inform the layout of the site, and these are to:
Integrate the built form and the landscape proposals into the wider landscape setting
Protect and retain existing vegetation where appropriate and feasible, in order to retain the nature of the site, from both a visual and ecological aspect
Create safe and enjoyable areas of public open space
Conserve and enhance those existing features of significance to biodiversity on site
Provide a network of public routes connecting to the surrounding Public Right of Way
Retention (where possible) and protection of existing hedgerows around the boundary of the site, including landscape buffers to preserve and encourage wildlife
Use of local native tree and hedgerow species to improve local biodiversity and enhance the local landscape character
Incorporation of architectural design that reflects existing character of the local area and integrates with and contributes to the overall character of the landscape
Adoption of a simple materials palette that helps define zones and routes through the proposed development.
At the forefront of the design approach is the creation of distinct and usable public open space. At the development’s heart is the “village green”, a focal point that provides a large amenity space (3000 m2) and helps to bring character and identity to the development, by reflecting the rural setting of the site. Its central location will help the legibility of the development and it will guide and frame the views to the Abbey and town from the elevated site.
The southern part of the site will provide an area with natural play equipment, to support play experiences. The development will retain and enhance the water meadow and landscape features associated with the River Avon and its riverside walks. A new ornamental pond will be built at the entrance to the site, and ecological buffers will be retained around the site. These are of particular importance on the northern boundary which abuts the Dyson site’s car park.
The built form of the development can be distinguished by four distinct character areas, which will be supported by appropriate vernacular planting and landscaping. In summary there are:
- the main street: the spine that connects the main elements of the scheme comprising the main entrance to the site and the key visual axis towards the Abbey.
- village green: detached dwellings sounding the village green characterised by a looser urban grain and variety of materials which respond to the landscape features of the central green space
- the urban core: located between the Main Street and the green edge and creates a transition of density, streetscape and building typology
- rural edge: the site boundaries that are exposed to the surrounding green fields and river and that establish a direct relationship between the new development and its surroundings.
Curatorial Approach
Thematically, our approach to commissioning public art for the Backbridge Farm development draws on the key local references of green infrastructure (landscape/ecology), and heritage, with a consideration to the views of both which have been prioritised and integrated into the site layout itself.
History and historical places have long been a rich source of inspiration for artists, designers and makers. Artworks that interpret and respond to the history of place are integral to site-specific placemaking projects and they can contribute to development community identity and to enhancing places and spaces. In creating work, artists are increasingly asking viewers to look beyond its aesthetic and to engage with broader societal and cultural issues, many of which are inextricably linked to the history of place. Any commission that focused on the town’s history and heritage would be expected to approach this in a contemporary and relevant way, rather than with a sense of nostalgia.
There are also opportunities for the development to integrate functional artworks with the green infrastructure proposals which are so important to the development’s ethos. This will not only help create a sense of place, by reinforcing the authentic character of the site, but will draw attention to the importance of spending time in the natural environment as well as valuing and engaging positively with the local habitat.
The artworks should support opportunities for formal and informal community learning and gathering, activities and enjoyment of green spaces. They should also help create a sense of place and identity.
