PROJECT REPORT: RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS 31
existing planning consent – the team were “somewhat constrained” in terms of adding value on sustainability-focused aspects of the scheme. However, he says that realising this development has already given them a platform to develop a sustainability-led, timber-framed housing scheme, ‘Orchard Field’ near Cirencester, which is reportedly already achieving exceptional levels of energy efficiency. In future, Calthrop adds that Stonewood is committed to exceeding the Future Home Standard across all its upcoming schemes. “We aim to be the most sustainable SME developers in the industry,” he asserts, “so we are increasingly looking at how we can achieve these same results but with more modern and sustainable methods.”
Adding value
There were several examples of how the developers contributed to wider community benefit as part of the scheme for residents and locals, even presenting all its buyers with vouchers to the village pub, thereby helping to support a local business post- pandemic. They also arranged for an all-weather surface to be installed at the primary school so outdoor play equipment could be used all year round, and also worked with the school on a buried time capsule, encouraging pupils to write messages and draw pictures.
Calthrop tells me that as well as driving community engagement throughout all stages of the development, they are celebrating and promoting existing
ADF AUGUST 2022
local businesses, advertising them across their social media channels, and in the development’s show home. “We really feel like we have left a positive mark on the community that will last for generations,” he asserts.
Public success According to Calthrop, much of the wider successes of the scheme are down to both this strong community engagement, but also the sense of placemaking introduced by the development’s public spaces. Smart believes that one of the firm’s most important principles is its commitment to larger than average gardens, and plenty of communal green spaces, as they encourage socialising, play, walking and relaxing, thereby “offering opportunities for new communities to form.” “Every development, regardless of size, should be a meaningful place, centred around interesting public spaces,” he says. Calthrop adds that canvassing the views of the community, and engaging with it, is another key tenet for the firm, exemplified by this project: “We recognised that by building within a community, we are becoming part of it.” According to Calthrop, this is why the team made the extra effort to support local schools and businesses wherever they can, and to bring local people on board with what they were trying to achieve from an early stage. He says this ties in strongly to the firm’s ethos: “That’s what construction should be about – leaving behind something solid and enduring.” g
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STOLEN SPACE
The design team calls ‘stolen space’ the areas on landings which are large enough to be used as workspaces (below)
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