54 PROJECT REPORT: SOCIAL & AFFORDABLE HOUSING
appropriate praise for such an achievement from all sides of the housing industry, from OxProp’s ‘Best Residential Housing Development,’ the Structural Timber Awards ‘Timber Framed Project of the Year’, to Bioregional’s ‘One Planet Living Global Leader’ award, and more.
Despite all the plaudits, Ian Pritchett, managing director of Greencore, tells me that the UK planning system has hampered the project at every turn, losing the company time and money. It even required some elements of the project to be built before full permission was assented, as local dignitaries and national TV stations publicised the project’s groundbreaking design as ‘the future of housing in the UK.’ As such, the project is both a testament to the way green building can be done in the UK, and a clear display of how the systems behind housing delivery have not yet caught up with the Government’s intended aims of decarbonisation. Walking down the narrow lane to the
site, the development’s low density is immediately obvious – in fact it’s around a third of the typical housing density in the UK, according to its developers, with nine affordable units and 16 open market homes spread across seven acres.
This lane caused one of the earliest setbacks introduced by the planners; its small size caused them to reject any more plots being introduced onto the site. Now, including private plots ranging from a tenth to a half of an acre, the scheme features some very desirable, custom-built homes of around 100 to 300 m2
of GIA (Gross
Internal Area). The level of luxury was needed to ensure the private homes in particular were economically viable, the social portion comprising nine homes being sold as a whole to housing association Sovereign.
Green groundwork
Alongside the sheer size of the homes, another benefit of its low density was in enabling the road and infrastructure to be designed around the existing trees, including a large oak tree at the centre of the site. The road winds its way around, giving the development a distinctive, curving shape.
The impact of the development was further eased by its unobtrusive, all-electric nature – removing the need for gas works. The SuDS installation, instigated at an early stage, sits under the road, avoiding unnecessary additional groundwork.
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF FEBRUARY 2022
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