5: victorian villages - The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Public Realm & Streetscape
Typical late post-war suburban street, North Ascot.
Built Form & Architecture
Residential development is entirely in the
post-war ‘suburban’ idiom. Built form is
predominantly two storey semi-detached
and detached (some double-fronted)
suburban style housing, with a mixture of
hipped and gabled roof types. Chalet
bungalows are also typical of post-war
suburban development.
Architectural style and materials are highly
varied, depending on the age of
development. Materials and finishes include
light and dark sand-faced brick, with simple
timber, metal or uPVC windows. The
second storeys of dwellings are sometimes
defined by coloured render, white timber
weatherboard or dark timber / tile hung
façades. Roof pitches and frontages vary
considerably between ‘estates’, reflecting the
period they were built. Driveway shelters
with flat roofs are common features.
Protruding enclosed porches (glass and
timber) are also common.
The streetscape is characterised by wide
tarmac streets with concrete kerbs, tarmac
pavements and sometimes wide, mown grass
verges. Tarmac or block paved driveways
(often with herringbone paving patterns)
leading to lock-up garages or covered
landings are features in newer estates.
Parking is on driveways and in garages, or in
communal parking bays. There is little onstreet
parking.
Boundaries between properties are often
marked by ornamental planting and/or
discrete concrete edging between tarmac
driveways. There are often no boundaries
to the front of properties, resulting in an
unclear distinction between public/private
realms. Buildings present their fronts to the
street.
Street trees are uncommon; however
shared amenity greenspace and unfenced
front gardens with small ornamental
trees/shrubs make a valuable contribution to
the streetscape. Street lighting columns are
unobtrusive elements.
Open Space/Greenspace
Open space is generally planned into each
estate and consists of shared amenity
greenspace (for informal recreation), small
urban parks (including play areas, skate
parks) and outdoor sports facilities (often
associated with schools e.g. tennis courts,
sports pitches, playing fields). The planting
in communal open spaces is a mixture of
ornamental and native species, but tends to
be small in scale.
There are occasional pockets of remnant
woodland, shelter belts or hedgerows,
which relate to former landscape structure
and provide links to the underlying geology
and soils e.g. Blythewood in North Ascot.
Varied roofscape and a staggered building line
(Sunninghill).
RBWM Townscape Assessment 57 Final Report 2010: Volume 3