6 NEWS AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Jo Cowen Architects’ offsite Build to Rent Bedfordshire development
Jo Cowen Architects (JCA) has unveiled plans for 650 ‘precision engineered’ smart homes offering a high level of efficiency for rental tenants in Central Bedfordshire. To be developed and operated by Present Made, the £215m scheme will help to meet a “pressing housing need,” said the architects, with 35% affordable housing provision. Named Mill View, the development
of single-family rental housing at Thickthorn Farm, near the village of Houghton Conquest, will also include a primary school, and an 87-acre country park. The park will be open to the public and make up over half the site’s total area. JCA’s design aims to create a “new community that promotes health, wellbeing and sustainability and is integrated with its surroundings.” Mill View will combine important green infrastructure with connections to support residents and wildlife, along with landscape corridors to create opportunities for “active travel” across the site. The country park, which will
include new woodland, is an important part of the vision for the scheme and will offer opportunities for leisure and relaxation and “act as a buffer between the site and the nearby village.” All the homes will be highly
energy efficient, said the practice, thanks to a combination of smart technology and modern methods of construction. The houses will be “precision engineered in a factory environment in a process that is less wasteful, disruptive and time consuming compared to traditional construction techniques.”
LEISURE CONCEPT
Scott Brownrigg reveals ‘adventure tourism’ concept for Irish estate
Scott Brownrigg has revealed concept drawings for a new sustainable tourist hub in the heart of County Monaghan in Ireland. The concept has been developed for the partnership between Monaghan County Council and Fáilte Ireland together with Professor Terry Stevens of Stevens and Associates as “key facilitator” of the study as well as “tourism research and concepts.” The vision, which has now been out to
public consultation, identifies how land on Muckno Estate in Castleblayney could become a “resilient and innovative ‘adventure tourist’ destination that will act as a catalyst for regional tourism growth,” said the architects. Built with community involvement, the proposal “will deliver benefits that harness the regenerative and wellbeing power of connecting adventure with nature, heritage, and culture.” The project draws inspiration from
the estate’s history and its glacial landscape; the proposals are based upon the “shaping of the drumlin, interspersed with loughs and lakes.”A series of glazed domes embedded into the landscape, which “mimic the setting,” said the architects, host a wide range of covered year-round adventure activities. They also seek to protect Hope Castle, which was built in the 18th century.
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
Under the proposal, the castle will be enveloped by one of the glass domes, protecting it from the elements to help reduce future restoration and maintenance costs.High quality accommodation will be included to “reflect the shift in interest towards more low impact boutique locations with fewer rooms and a focus on wellbeing and the locale.” The project aims to be carbon neutral;
each of the domes are designed with earth rammed walls built from materials excavated from site, and feature a locally sourced, sustainable-latticed timber roof inspired by the work of local architectural engineer Peter Rice. Passive environmental techniques will control the internal climate, as well as using ground and water sourced heat from the landscape and Lough Muckno. The proposal “augments the opportunity for biodiversity, water enhancement and well-being of this special landscape.” This new vision for the estate “fully integrates with the town, the wider countryside with its Greenways and other attractions.” This will ensure “multiple benefits for local people and provide guests with a seamless, authentic but contemporary Irish heritage and cultural experience.”
ADF DECEMBER 2021
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