Randall Thorp have been responsible for coordinating the strategic planning of Cambourne’s green infrastructure and the detailed design of all green assets on site.

Village Greens
Each village has a public green at its centre designed for formal and informal recreation, play and sport. They imbue each neighbourhood with its own sense of character and place creating landmark places that aid orientation and navigability.

Greenways and the recreational path network
Cambourne has been designed as a community that encourages walking and cycling. A network of recreational paths permeates the development providing access to each village and the wider open spaces that surround them.

The Greenways have been designed to mimic traditional South Cambridgeshire tracks using existing landscape features to give a sense of establishment and enhance the viability of the existing wildlife habitats.

Play areas
A comprehensive play strategy for Cambourne was developed by Randall Thorp that was pioneering when first approved. It established distribution of LAPs, LEAPs and NEAPs across the site introducing design themes and workshop methodology. It also introduced Spaces for Imaginative Play (SIPs) as a concept, an early example of the current trend for encouraging children to play creatively in a natural environment. Since then Randall Thorp have been responsible for the design and realisation of 7 separate play areas across the site.

Country parks
These were design as a major recreational resource on a neighbourhood and sub regional scale. They provide a venue for walking jogging, bird watching, fishing and dog walking. Their other main function is to create biodiversity - by creating new habitats for wildlife including grassland, open water, reed beds and woodland.

Trees and woodland
In addition to the pockets of existing woodland already on site a further 45 ha of new woodland have been planted and are establishing well. These offer valuable habitats for an increasing wildlife population which will continue to expand as the woodland ages. They also offer screening and provide a setting for informal recreation containing as they do, miles of footpaths, cycleways and bridleways.