Islington Woods Development

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

 

g2+1 was retained by Chinburg Builders, Inc. to examine master plan options for a 105 acre mixed use development on Islington Street in western Portsmouth, NH. The site offered magnificent natural features like gently sloping woodlands, a broad meadow area, prominent views into two significant wetlands and terrain offering interesting spatial connections between all these features. The property had prominent connections into the city from both Islington Street and to Borthwick Avenue Extension to its north. The Boston and Main Railroad framed the primary development area offering a wooded boundary that reduced the project's visual impact on abutting properties.

 

The design explored a mixture of uses including a small town center focused around a small urban roundabout, framed by commercial uses. A residential area called "The Square" featured a New Urbanist neighborhood design of townhouses around a landscaped green. To one side of this housing area and separated by sloped woodland was an office or work force housing component and to the other side another housing area called "The Hill" which featured townhomes in another grid arrangement with axial connections to the surrounding common woodland and forested wetlands. A prominent streetscape was proposed to tie all these development areas together. Also, an extensive footpath system was included for connections to both Islington Street and Borthwick Avenue Extension as well as internal connections to the mixture of other uses considered.

 

Services centered on conceptual design, preparation of a final master plan, coordination with other team consultants and preparation of presentation materials to help sell this project to the city of Portsmouth where some measure of rezoning was required.