Poundbury

Poundbury is an urban extension to the Dorset county town of Dorchester, built on the principles of architecture and urban planning as advocated by HM King Charles, III,  in ‘A Vision of Britain’.

Poundbury reflects four key principles: 

• Architecture of place - creating beauty and reflecting local character and identity.
• Integrated affordable housing  - throughout the development and indistinguishable from private housing.
• Mixed use - homes, public amenities, retail and other business uses together with open areas, all designed as an overall community.
• Walkable community - giving priority to people rather than to cars.

 This approach challenges some of the planning assumptions of the latter part of the 20^th century. As Poundbury has developed, it has demonstrated that there is a genuine alternative to the way in which we build new communities in the UK.

Since building began in 1993, Poundbury has proved increasingly influential, attracting international interest and generating many organised tours every year. These include architects, town planners, academics, house builders and land owners. The success has been recognised far beyond Dorset and many of the founding principles of Poundbury have now been incorporated into the British Government’s Planning Policy.

Poundbury, Dorset

In 2010 and 2018, Dorset County Council completed Economic Impact Assessments of Poundbury. The 2018 report concluded that the Poundbury development is already contributing over £98 million per annum in demand for goods and services to the local economy (GVA). The construction work itself will have generated some £236 million by completion in 2026.

Download the Poundbury Economic Impact Assessment here.

Download the Poundbury Factsheet here.

Quick Facts

• Construction of Poundbury started in October 1993 and is scheduled to complete in 2026.
• Poundbury is established on 400 acres of land within the Dorchester by-pass, with 250 acres of mixed-use buildings and 150 acres of landscaping for recreation, ecology and farmland.
• The architecture of Poundbury is deliberately traditional, reflecting the local style as an urban extension to Dorchester rather than a separate village.
• At the beginning of 2019, approximately 3,800 people were living in 1,700 homes across Poundbury.
• 35% of the housing under construction in Poundbury is affordable housing for rental or shared ownership by local people.
• Poundbury is expected to increase the population of Dorchester by approximately one quarter (approximately 5,800 people) on completion
• There are currently 207 individual businesses operating in Poundbury employing over 2,300 people, and over half those businesses started in Poundbury.
• Pummery Square is the hub of Phase One, The Buttermarket is the hub of Phase Two and Queen Mother Square is the hub of Phases Three and Four.
• The Great Field provides 12 hectares of Green Space for the residents of Dorchester, with more than 26,000 shrubs and 450 trees planted and a superb new children's play equipment area installed in 2020.
• Rainbarrow Farm was the country's first full-scale anaerobic digester and biomethane-to-grid plant, built by the Duchy of Cornwall as a Joint Venture with local farmers, which provides 100% renewable bio-methane gas from sustainable sources of crops and feeds this into the national gas distribution network to heat Poundbury and up to 90,000 homes in West Dorset.
• Poundbury is a mixed-use walkable community that enables people to live more sustainable lifestyles. Additional environmental benefits include Electrical Vehicle charging capability in all garages from 2017, thermally efficient homes with built-in bird boxes, and allotments, orchards and extensive tree planting across the estate.