Location:
Norfolk, East Anglia, UK
Status:
Pre-planning
Client:
Norfolk Farm Leisure Ltd.
Scale:
80 hectares
Constraints:
Former mineral extraction site
Budget:
£35million
Scope of Works:
Project management, masterplanning and full plans, architectural submission
Ashwicken Lakes Floating Holiday Resort & Spa
Step into the Realm of Leisure and Hospitality Design: Where Elegance Meets Escape
Designing the perfect GETAWAY
Our design philosophy is rooted in a profound respect for the natural world - we build immersive spaces that allow people to reconnect with nature, setting a new standard for environmentally conscious luxury.
The “Water Lily” emerges as a poetic fusion of architecture and landscape, a two-storey structure that gently rises from the lake's edge. Elevated by an embankment that lifts the site 2.5 meters above the water’s surface, only one storey will be visible above the lake's rim, giving the building a serene, almost ethereal presence. The carefully clustered arrangement of its 40 apartments ensures that each enjoys unobstructed views of the lake, while the design’s organic form creates a spacious, communal courtyard at the island’s core—an inviting setting for social gatherings amidst nature’s embrace.
Norfolk Farm Leisure Limited are proposing to transform Ashwicken Lake, an unused restored quarry lake, into a unique eco-wellness resort centred on waterside living, water-based recreation and wellness. This £35m privateinvestment in the local economy will see the lake reimagined from a former sand extraction pit, into a unique destination where outstanding architectural elements will seamlessly combine with an enhanced natural landscape, to offer a memorable staycation as well as a leisure facility for local people.
The resort offers the potential to significantly contribute to the local economy, by providing a unique form of eco-focused holiday accommodation. The resort will create employment opportunities and an important injection of consumer expenditure into the area.
The 80 hectares site is located in East Anglia, a low lying area close to the Norfolk Broads, a National Park with over 125 miles of navigable lock-free waterways set in beautiful countryside and studded with charming and picturesque towns and villages. It has formerly been quarried for sand, with a large quarry lake present in its centre.
The proposals seek to develop an eco-wellness resort comprised of c150 floating and lakeside holiday lodges including treehouse accommodation, a clubhouse on the water and associated boathouse. There will be a specialised focused on water-based pursuits including rowing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, fishing and open water swimming.
The approach to the resort will take guests through a landscaped sequence from their moment of arrival, where they’ll leave their car behind in a park graced with rain gardens. Here, their experience of connection with nature, ecological diversity and wellbeing begins. A stroll through swales leads to a land bridge which connects lakeside with the clubhouse. This is the UK’s first clubhouse on water, which sits at the heart of the resort. Distinctively designed, this exceptional building will comprise a spa, café/restaurant, and lakeside pool facilities as well as alfresco waterside dining.
The clubhouse is encircled by 132 lodges, all located on or near the water’s edge, and each with a mooring. Our masterplan arranges the lodges in clusters, interspersed with new planting, trees, follies and water taxi jetties to create areas of different character across the resort. Alongside the existing woodland are 22 treehouses, which will provide additional accommodation.
Water-based pursuits will include rowing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) as well as opportunities for open water swimming. For those preferring to stay on land, tennis courts and areas for ball games and archery have also been designed into the landscape along with a climbing wall and children’s play area.
Team
Architect: Baca Architects
Planning Consultant: Aardvark EM
Highways: iTransport
Flooding: HR Wallingford
Ecology: Aspect Ecology
Communications: Alpaca Communication
LVIA: Landscape Visual Limited
Business Case: York Aviation
BREEAM: WYG
The approach to the resort will take guests through a landscaped sequence from their moment of arrival, where they’ll leave their car behind in a park graced with rain gardens. Here, their experience of connection with nature, ecological diversity and wellbeing begins. A stroll through swales leads to a land bridge which connects lakeside with the clubhouse. This is the UK’s first clubhouse on water, which sits at the heart of the resort. Distinctively designed, this exceptional building will comprise a spa, café/restaurant, and lakeside pool facilities as well as alfresco waterside dining.
The clubhouse is encircled by 132 lodges, all located on or near the water’s edge, and each with a mooring. Our masterplan arranges the lodges in clusters, interspersed with new planting, trees, follies and water taxi jetties to create areas of different character across the resort. Alongside the existing woodland are 22 treehouses, which will provide additional accommodation.
Water-based pursuits will include rowing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) as well as opportunities for open water swimming. For those preferring to stay on land, tennis courts and areas for ball games and archery have also been designed into the landscape along with a climbing wall and children’s play area.
Team
Architect: Baca Architects
Planning Consultant: Aardvark EM
Highways: iTransport
Flooding: HR Wallingford
Ecology: Aspect Ecology
Communications: Alpaca Communication
LVIA: Landscape Visual Limited
Business Case: York Aviation
BREEAM: WYG
The clubhouse is encircled by 132 lodges, all located on or near the water’s edge, and each with a mooring. Our masterplan arranges the lodges in clusters, interspersed with new planting, trees, follies and water taxi jetties to create areas of different character across the resort. Alongside the existing woodland are 22 treehouses, which will provide additional accommodation.
Water-based pursuits will include rowing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) as well as opportunities for open water swimming. For those preferring to stay on land, tennis courts and areas for ball games and archery have also been designed into the landscape along with a climbing wall and children’s play area.
Team
Architect: Baca Architects
Planning Consultant: Aardvark EM
Highways: iTransport
Flooding: HR Wallingford
Ecology: Aspect Ecology
Communications: Alpaca Communication
LVIA: Landscape Visual Limited
Business Case: York Aviation
BREEAM: WYG
...full text
Norfolk Farm Leisure Limited are proposing to transform Ashwicken Lake, an unused restored quarry lake, into a unique eco-wellness resort centred on waterside living, water-based recreation and wellness. This £35m private
investment in the local economy will see the lake reimagined from a former sand extraction pit, into a unique destination where outstanding architectural elements will seamlessly combine with an enhanced natural landscape, to offer a
memorable staycation as well as a leisure facility for local people.
The resort offers the potential to significantly contribute to the local economy, by providing a unique form of eco-focused holiday accommodation. The resort will create employment opportunities and an important injection of consumer expenditure into the area.
The 80 hectares site is located in East Anglia, a low lying area close to the Norfolk Broads, a National Park with over 125 miles of navigable lock-free waterways set in beautiful countryside and studded with charming and picturesque towns and villages. It has formerly been quarried for sand, with a large quarry lake present in its centre.
The proposals seek to develop an eco-wellness resort comprised of c150 floating and lakeside holiday lodges including treehouse accommodation, a clubhouse on the water and associated boathouse. There will be a specialised focused on water-based pursuits including rowing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, fishing and open water swimming.
The approach to the resort will take guests through a landscaped sequence from their moment of arrival, where they’ll leave their car behind in a park graced with rain gardens. Here, their experience of connection with nature, ecological diversity and wellbeing begins. A stroll through swales leads to a land bridge which connects lakeside with the clubhouse. This is the UK’s first clubhouse on water, which sits at the heart of the resort. Distinctively designed, this exceptional building will comprise a spa, café/restaurant, and lakeside pool facilities as well as alfresco waterside dining.
The clubhouse is encircled by 132 lodges, all located on or near the water’s edge, and each with a mooring. Our masterplan arranges the lodges in clusters, interspersed with new planting, trees, follies and water taxi jetties to create areas of different character across the resort. Alongside the existing woodland are 22 treehouses, which will provide additional accommodation.
Water-based pursuits will include rowing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) as well as opportunities for open water swimming. For those preferring to stay on land, tennis courts and areas for ball games and archery have also been designed into the landscape along with a climbing wall and children’s play area.
Team
Baca Architects (Architects)
Aardvark EM (Planning Consultant)
iTransport (Highways)
HR Wallingford (Flooding)
Aspect Ecology (Ecology)
Alpaca Communication (Communications)
Landscape Visual Limited (LVIA)
York Aviation (Business Case)
WYG (BREEAM)
SITE COMING SOON
