Route to the Hills

Major Project Brief: Route to the Hills signage and wayfinding, Malvern.


Clients:
The Route to the Hills Partnership (RTTH), including:

• Malvern Hills District Council
• Malvern Town Council
• Malvern Civic Society
• High Street Malvern
• Great Malvern Priory PCC
• Malvern Hills Conservators

Specifically:

• Manda Graham, Project Manager, Route to the Hills Project
• Dudley Brook, President, Malvern Civic Society
• Bob Tilley, Member, Malvern Civic Society
• Peter Smith, High Street Malvern

Brief: Design and Develop a Hierarchy of 3 Wayfinding Markers and 1 Information Board


'The Route to the Hills Development Plan provides a strategy to improve and enhance the two key areas of public open space in the centre of Great Malvern; Priory Park and Rose Bank Gardens.


In addition, the concept of a “Route to the Hills” linking the town of Great Malvern to the Malvern Hills been developed to strengthen the link between the town and the hills and maximising the economic and social benefits of the project.


One of the key priorities of the RTTH Development Plan is to attract external resources to fund the recommendations of the plan. These resources include the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) Heritage Grants funding scheme, as well as grants from other appropriate trusts and funding bodies.


The RTTH Project Board has identified a programme of activity which will be delivered
within Stage 1 of the project, which pending successfully attracting external funding, they plan to start in January 2014.'


The town of Malvern has made significant contributions to national and international heritage and is famous for many reasons, including:

• the Malvern hills
• Malvern Priory
• Malvern Theatres
• the Malvern Water Cure
• Morgan Cars
• The composer Edward Elgar's home
• Radar
• many famous visitors, including the novelist J.R.R. Tolkien

There is limited signage or interpretation in the town to highlight key heritage sites or direct the millions of visitors through the town's points of interest and to the hills.

What the Clients are Looking For: The Route to the Hills partnership is looking for innovative but practical prototype ideas to resolve these issues in order to:

• maximise user enjoyment
• increase awareness and orientation
• inform users about the history and geography
• showcase the natural assets of the route
• increase usage
• develop appreciation of the local heritage
• assist the tourist economy.

Key Objectives: The key objective of the directional or interpretation signage is to create 'clear, effective wayfinding signage with an identity for the route, which would encourage or invite the visitor to enjoy the town and other routes'

Wayfinding Format Choices:

3 from:

• Floor marker stone in the pavement
• Wayfinding finger post
• Sign for pedestrians
• Sign for traffic
• Freestanding information point

Information Board Locations:

Choose one of these sites to focus on:

• The Priory Churchyard
• Malvern Theatres
• Gt. Malvern Station

Key Considerations (Wayfinding):

• Clear directional arrows
• Text stating the next point along
• Text stating the distance in metres to the next point along
• Text stating the walking time to the next point along
• A clear numbering system

Key Considerations (Interpretation Boards):

• Size and proportion
• Presentation of information
• Materials considerations
• Reference photographs
• Site map
• Audience