In April 2023 master developer Otterpool Park LLP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Folkestone & Hythe District Council, secured outline planning approval for a garden town providing 8,500 new homes.
The decision was the culmination of years of work by the Otterpool Park LLP team with support from Pillory Barn working alongside some of the UK’s biggest masterplanning and development specialists, including Quod, Arcadis, Tibbalds and Farrells.
Setting a vision for what Otterpool Park garden town could become
The original brand identity for Otterpool Park was created by a previous agency. Our involvement began in 2018, with Pillory Barn asked to define a brand vision for a development that aims to answer the housing supply needs of the district for the next generation.
As part of our initial brand research, we challenged the project team on their rationale for this location and reached out to local organisations with an interest in shaping what Otterpool Park could become. Workshops and presentations resulted in a visioning report that outlined personas of six typical Otterpool Park residents, sharing a vision for the town and how the brand might evolve over time.
The brand today uses both environmental and historic references in its graphic style all reflecting the heritage of the site and its relationship with the building at its heart, Westenhanger Castle and the former Folkestone Racecourse site.
Taking inspiration from the geometric shapes from heraldic shields and jockey silks, we began to create unique and bold geometric pattern combinations for use in supporting assets, backgrounds, hoardings and more – which are aligned with the three pillars of ‘countryside, creative and connected’ values embedded within the communications for Otterpool Park.
As the project is a landscape led development and 50% of the new garden town will be green space, we wanted to reflect this in the branding. The land is full of textures and colours; contours and vistas. As this ambitious new Garden Town evolves, greenspace will become ever more important. The graphics we have produce give the brand of Otterpool Park personality and are an important part of the brand toolkit.
As Otterpool Park LLP’s strategic marketing partner our coders have developed and maintained a website setting out core components, the latest updates and links to essential event and planning information. Our designers have created booklets, templated emails and downloads, exhibition materials and booklets, vinyl maps to walk on and impactful power point presentations to make this complicated project better understood by stakeholders.
Our communications team have crafted the narrative around the development, created impactful content, liaised with media, engaged with businesses and residents and core stakeholders, and provided insight and advice on the way forward. All of this combined activity has been underpinned by marcomms strategies to build brand awareness and and deliver tangible results that are captured through ongoing evaluation.
At the heart of the activity the the Otterpool Park brand helps reinforce brand recognition, create familiarity, build trust, reinforce the vision and values of the project, set the context and provide a visual reference point for one of Kent’s largest projects.