2010 WINNING SCHEMES > Project Winners

 

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Hab Oakus is partly the development vehicle of Kevin McCloud, the TV presenter who made enough from filming self-build as drama to risk a crack at speculative development. His Hab Housing venture launched in summer 2007 with the press recognising its potential to stimulate consumers just as his TV show had. This turned to wry smiles as the project suffered from the see-sawing momentum that haunts self-builders.

Now Hab’s first 42 homes will be mostly for rent in a scheme jointly developed by GreenSquare (the name for housing associations Westlea, Oxford Citizens and their commercial arm Oakus). It is grant supported by the Department of Energy for its sustainable materials. Construction is being filmed, naturally.

April 2010 saw work start on the 0.8 ha backlands site in Swindon wrapped by Victorian terraces and pre-war semis with deep rear gardens. Backlands developments tend to be cowed by issues such as overlooking which determine design. But here a bold identity and layout emerges, owing to the depth of surrounding plots. This shows in the 40m-plus access road between two existing properties along which residents will approach their discrete community of four new terraces offset round a green.

Treatment of the circular access road serving each home is fundamental to the success of the scheme. Carriageways will follow Home Zone principles to inhibit car speeds and encourage pedestrians to share the spaces between homes and amenity, including allotments. Some terraces have shortish front gardens with further on plot bays and street trees in front soften the impact of cars and screen direct views.

Houses will be built to the upper levels of HCA’s legacy of standards, topped up to Code Level 4 with environmental performance boosting kit, notably triple glazing, air source heat pumps and grey water recycling. Plans are familiar and have comfortably wide frontages. External walls will be built in hempcrete and a passive stack ventilation system will drive hot and stale air via the stairwell to vent through a chimney. Ventilation cowls, or ecohats, have become a design motif of high profile schemes, but they were never as elegant as these. Expect to see a camera linger lovingly on them on a TV screen soon.

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