Northstowe
Archaeology and Development at Northstowe
Northstowe is delivered in phases across a large site with a former airfield component, which makes archaeology a programme question as much as a cost question.
- Authority
- Greater Cambridge Shared Planning
- Landscape
- Claylands and fen fringe, former airfield
- Likely method
- Strip, map and sample over large footprints
- Critical path
- Archaeological clearance per construction phase
The landscape
Large, relatively flat, low-lying ground on the claylands and fen fringe north-west of Cambridge, with substantial twentieth-century disturbance from former airfield infrastructure. Archaeology on sites of this type is typically extensive but shallow — field systems, enclosures, dispersed settlement — rather than deep and stratified.
What it means for your development
Where archaeology is wide and shallow, the cost driver is the total area of ground disturbance and the method is usually strip, map and sample rather than deep open-area excavation. On a phased development the practical question is not what the whole site will cost, but whether each phase is archaeologically cleared before the contractor needs it.
Questions
Common questions on this
Can each phase be discharged separately?
Usually yes, where the condition is worded to allow it — and it is normally worth asking for that wording, because it prevents paying for archaeology on land you will not build on for years.
Project review
Developing at Northstowe?
Send the planning position and the site plan. We will set out the likely archaeological requirement, the sequence and where the programme risk sits.