New opening Given that regenerating an existing
home saw “a lot more challenges than a new build, because obviously you’re battling with the existing structure and trying to navigate the design around that,” I ask Ashish whether Principle would consider another regeneration in the future. “Absolutely,” he says. “The ESG
credentials of regeneration are brilliant – we reused the whole frame of the building because there was nothing wrong with it. Obviously, it needed support in the areas where we had extensions built, but to be able to reuse it rather than tear it down meant we ensured [the building] wasn’t wasted. We’ve been able to work within that frame to give us what we have, and there’s an incredible amount of value there. “There’s a beauty to a new build,” he continues. “But I think there’s also a beauty to regeneration, where the shapes and sizes of the rooms take shape because of the constraints you’ve got. With clever design, you can create some really beautiful spaces.” “It was about making sure that we got the best out of the building. The core of the building was actually very good – wide corridors, wet room en suites – so although we gutted and refurbished those elements, the corridors and the bedrooms are largely similar to what we had before.” A key requirement was making sure that the regenerated home could offer a variety of room sizes with varying price points. Ashish explains how this was done: “We introduced premium bedrooms, so we built ‘pods’ onto the façade of the
building to increase the sizes of some of the rooms in order to have a differentiated offering,” he says. “And then we had lots of spare rooms and assisted bathrooms that were now redundant, so we created studio suites from those. At the end of each corridor [there were] assisted bathrooms; we centralised those assisted bathrooms into the centre of each corridor, and then converted those spaces into studio suites.”
Sustainability from the outset Ashish is clearly passionate about sustainability, and Principle has saved enormously on carbon emissions by regenerating an existing building. While BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) certification was not sought during development, Ashish confirms that gaining certification is “potentially something that we’ll look at post-construction.” In another significant win for sustainability for the EPC ‘B’ rated home, the existing windows were refurbished rather than replaced. In addition, Principle have installed EV car charging, and further developments are in the pipeline: “We are looking at retrofitting solar onto the roof,” Ashish confirms.
The right location at the right time When it came to its first project, Principle kept things close to home. “I was born and bred in Essex,” Ashish
explains. “I live 25 minutes away, so for our first home especially we wanted to be super close by. I’m in the home very frequently. I conducted a lot of recruitment myself, alongside the team. So being in the community and being a part of it was really
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www.thecarehomeenvironment.com April 2025
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