With an Excellent accreditation from Building with Nature, Silverlake is a great example of how the natural landscape can be used as the starting point for site design and how that landscape can be protected into the future. 

The site was an active sand extraction quarry with a former landfill that had been restored to heathland, with a number of areas of woodland around the margins of the site and several waterbodies of various size, age and permanence. The scheme identified these important local character features as the basis for the green infrastructure proposals and incorporated them into the development in order to reference, reflect and enhance the local environment, contributing positively to a distinct sense of place whilst creating a multifunctional network that provides clear benefit to both people and wildlife. 

The entire development comprises 227 hectares, with the final built footprint will only take up 18% of the site.