Kingseat Hospital

Kingseat is an area of open ground, woodland and amenity grassland formerly owned by Grampian Healthcare and used as an institution for general mental health care.

Following the decision to sell the hospital, a design team was set up by Mansion Construction to progress proposals for a 'village' adjacent to the newmachar community. The design team incorporated architects, engineers, planning consultants, quantity surveyors and economists.

The woodlands were surveyd and different managment prescriptions assessed, depending on the woodland classification into screening, amenity or wildlife areas. New roads were designed to break through tree belts at the least damaging areas. Car parks and turning areas and new house build proposals were designed around the existing trees and woodland parameters.

Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUDS) was introduced and working with the engineers, swales and trainage that led water into the water table, not just piped it into a water course were proposed.

The comprehensive woodland and wildlife assessment enabled the Kingseat village concept to be environmentally led, with the result that the planning application was easier to process, and planning permission achieved.