Future Place Finalists - The Pineapples

The Urbanists have been shortlisted for the Pineapple Awards 2026 in the “Future Place (>20ha)” category for their ambitious Porthcawl Waterfront Regeneration Area Masterplan - a once-in-a-generation project set to reshape one of Wales’ most distinctive coastal towns.

Over the past 18 months, The Urbanists have worked alongside Bridgend County Borough Council and the Welsh Government to advance the redevelopment of 43 hectares of waterfront land at the heart of Porthcawl. Acting as design team lead, the practice has delivered integrated masterplanning, planning, and landscape architecture services, guiding a multidisciplinary consultant team to produce both a comprehensive Masterplan and a robust Design Code that together establish a bold yet deliverable vision for the town’s future.

The project is now progressing toward a planning application seeking outline consent for the masterplan and full permission for key enabling access infrastructure, marking a significant milestone in bringing the vision closer to reality.

A Once-in-a-Generation Coastal Opportunity

Porthcawl Waterfront represents a rare opportunity to reconnect the town with its seafront while creating a vibrant, resilient place for everyday life. The masterplan proposes a new coastal neighbourhood where the sea, landscape, and community are seamlessly connected, rooted in Porthcawl’s unique identity — from its heritage harbour to its green spaces and remarkable dune landscape.

The framework allows for:

• Up to 980 new homes, with 50% affordable housing to help meet local need
• New education provision to support growing communities
• Flexible commercial space to strengthen the local economy and encourage year-round activity
• More than 20 hectares of high-quality public realm, including parks, waterfront promenades, and green corridors

Together, these elements are designed to create a balanced, mixed community rather than a seasonal or single-use destination — a place where residents and visitors alike can live, work, learn, and enjoy the coast.

Place First, Numbers Second

While the scale of change is significant, the project is fundamentally about people and place. The vision prioritises welcoming neighbourhoods, generous green spaces, and shared civic areas designed to foster pride, wellbeing, and a strong sense of belonging.

A network of walkable streets, active travel routes, and connected public spaces will stitch the new waterfront into the existing town, improving access to the coast and encouraging healthier, lower-carbon ways of moving around. Landscape and ecology are treated as defining features rather than afterthoughts, with green infrastructure and sustainable drainage integrated throughout the masterplan in response to the site’s coastal conditions and environmental sensitivities.

A Framework for Long-Term Quality

Working alongside Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios, Hydrock (now Stantec), Savills, Blake Morgan, and Grasshopper Communications, The Urbanists have shaped a masterplan that is both visionary and practical. The accompanying Design Code establishes clear principles for architecture, streets, landscape, and public realm, ensuring that quality and character are maintained as the project evolves over time.

The Urbanists’ role reflects the practice’s distinct position in the UK built environment sector: an agile, integrated team of planners, urban designers, and landscape architects able to provide the cohesive insight and coordinated delivery often associated with much larger firms. This joined-up approach has enabled a single, consistent placemaking strategy to guide the project from planning framework through to detailed design coding.

The coding approach supports:

• Climate-responsive, sustainable design
• Vibrant and inclusive public spaces
• A strong local commercial offer, supporting independent businesses and everyday services
• Integration with existing neighbourhoods, avoiding a disconnected or inward-looking development

By setting a strong framework now, the project is designed to deliver lasting placemaking value for decades to come.

Shaped Through Collaboration

Community engagement has played a central role in developing the vision. Multiple rounds of public consultation and stakeholder workshops have informed the evolving proposals, ensuring that local priorities — from access to green space to opportunities for jobs, leisure, and learning - are embedded in the masterplan.

The project has recently entered the public domain for extensive consultation ahead of formal planning submission, and this collaborative approach will continue as the waterfront moves toward delivery.

National Recognition for a Future-Focused Vision

The Pineapple Awards celebrate excellence in placemaking across the UK, with the “Future Place” category recognising projects that demonstrate long-term social, environmental, and economic value. Shortlisting for this award highlights the Porthcawl Waterfront masterplan’s potential to become a national exemplar for coastal regeneration grounded in character, community, and quality.

As part of the awards process, The Urbanists will present the project live to judges at the Festival of Pineapples in February, ahead of the awards ceremony in April. Being recognised among projects shaping the future of place is a significant milestone for the team and project partners, and an opportunity to share the vision for Porthcawl Waterfront with the wider industry.