Prince's Foundation joins shortlist of five, raising prospect of a 31,000-home Poundbury in Kent growth area.
Prince Charles is heading a team shortlisted for one of the biggest masterplanning exercises in recent British history, encompassing 31,000 homes in Ashford, Kent.

The Prince's Foundation, a charity that exists to promote the Prince's views on Urban Design and architecture, is working with American multidisciplinary consultant URS and Miami-based architect Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) on the project.

The Prince's team may consider it has a chance, given that Prescott visited Seaside, a town in Florida designed by DPZ and built using strict design codes, three weeks ago. Prescott was accompanied by Paul Murrain, the senior design director of the Prince's Foundation.

DPZ is headed by Andres Duany, a pioneer of urban design codes. Such rules are some of the tools being considered for use to speed up planning permission for the four growth areas identified by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Sustainable Communities Plan.

The masterplan covers the whole of the area's allocation of housing.

The other shortlisted teams are:

  • EDAW with HTA Architects
  • HOK International
  • Urban Initiatives, a British masterplanning specialist
  • Kuiper Compagnons, a Dutch architect.

A winner will be announced after final interviews on 5 December.

The brief is to plan 31,000 homes to be built by 2031, along with provision for the creation of 28,000 jobs to sustain the community.

Ian Charie, development planning principle at URS and the project manager of the Prince's bid, was confident that his submission had a good chance.

He said: "We have an incredibly strong team. DPZ stands for expertise in placemaking and sustainable communities. We want to create the correct balance in a community, and move away from suburban dross."

Charie added that his team would consider bidding for further projects in the Thames Gateway.

It is understood that some of the designs submitted by the Prince's team may be similar to those employed at Poundbury, a controversial high-density development in Dorset overseen by the foundation. The development has been criticised for its Victorian "chocolate box" appearance.

Richard Alderton, planning policy manager at Ashford council, said the sustainability criteria outlined in the communities plan would have to be implemented in the development.

He said: "On transport, we'd have to be more like outer London than a country town, with more dependence on buses."