Clearer details are surfacing on the hotly-anticipated £100m DEEP research facility at Tidenham in the Forest of Dean.

Amid an outline application for work to go ahead, the world-leading project to "make humans aquatic" has now spilled the details on design and timetabling of a world-first campus that will see 31,000 square metres of development encircling Dayhouse Quarry. 

The 20.7 hectare site is the former home of the National Diving and Activity Centre and sits close to the A48 Gloucester-Chepstow road and the county's border with Wales.

In detail, the bid requests a marine engineering facility comprising research, offices, warehousing, medical and manufacturing activities, along with staff accommodation, hard and soft landscaping, infrastructure and associated works.

Design documents from Savills shared with Forest of Dean District Council map out the preparations for this pioneering scientific work at the freshwater reservoir, and with some enabling work already begun, demolition of existing infrastructure at the site will start this year, says the London based building designer APT Architects, with the timer set for construction of buildings and facilities with a projected completion in September 2026.

As reported in Punchline-Gloucester.com in September, DEEP President Mike Shackleford says the Gloucestershire site beat global rivals as far flung as Japan and Poland to become the preferred new research hub .

Mr Shackleford said that with DEEP already working in Avonmouth on prototype building, its connection to the South West was close.

He added: "It's a marine engineering powerhouse, so it was a natural space to put our design facilities."

Core aims for the campus will be the development of flexible, modular subsea habitats, work-class submarines and advanced human performance research.

Planning details from an Environmental Statement show the project seeks to develop up to 31,000 sq m of new floorspace, while it is not expected that any individual building will be more than 9,000 sq m in area.

The statement said: "This total maximum floorspace is anticipated to be occupied by various uses, including new buildings for employment uses (offices, research, storage, workshops, facilities) and residential accommodation," adding that the aim now is to deliver 83 onsite accommodation units for workers.

Layout will divide the site into zones which are in harmony with the natural landscape. Within these, office space will be 3,466 sq m, research and development 7,338 sq m, warehousing 11,636 sq m and leisure 2,815 sq m (the total being 25,255 sq m).

Design intentions also indicate that the project seeks to connect to the natural beauty of the area: "Underwater aquifers have filled the man-made excavation with stunning aquamarine hued water, filtered through layers of rock over many years to create a stunning centrepiece to this created, if inadvertently dramatic landscape.

"All this sits against a backdrop of breathtaking natural vistas over the River Severn and beyond. Bearing this in mind, any intervention therefore needs to compliment this existing condition. Buildings can be located, oriented and arranged in order to frame key views, or nestle amongst trees, they can wrap around the topography or celebrate the dramatic changes in level. The buildings should sit comfortably within the existing landscape, and they can be bold and interesting, without needing to be dominant."

Given the rural nature of this campus, the landscape strategy will seek to "to enhance what is already there and celebrate the encroachment of wildlife onto this man-made landscape.

"We want to increase the biodiversity of the site to find opportunities for additional planting and greenery, and to soften the edges of the buildings and the hard landscaping so that this becomes a woodland campus, celebrating the blurring of boundaries."

The final effect will be one where the finished buildings sit "in polite dialogue with each other. They may be at different levels, with different scales and materiality, but there is a subtle unifying feature that links the whole," the report said, while with an eye on the future, all buildings will also be designed for flexible use so that they can be repurposed.

"The brief for the campus will continue to evolve over time. As such, when developing the design of any building, its future re-use, resilience and adaptability should be considered at the earliest stages of the design process."

This may mean building in additional load bearing capacity to foundations to allow for future extension or floors to be added, allowing a building to be relocated within the campus, or elsewhere, or the creation of holes cut in the slab of an office building to allow for the interconnection of floors and the reconfiguration of space and functionality over time.

At a cost of £49,471, the formal outline planning application for the work was submitted just before Christmas by Savills on behalf of their client, Dayhouse Holdings Ltd.

Chris Potts, Savills director, told planners: "DEEP seeks to advance radically how humankind can access, explore and inhabit underwater environments. Through flexible, modular subsea habitats, work-class submarines, and advanced human performance research, Deep completely transforms what humans are capable of underwater and seeks to increase our understanding of life on this planet.

Key to the permission will be the go-ahead on six double occupancy cabins and 48 single occupancy cabins, all with communal space. Planning benefits cited by Savills include the revitalisation of the site with a long-term use, the economic stimulus of investment, direct and indirect job creation, the creation of a world-class facility in Gloucestershire and enhanced habitat biodiversity for the area.