Inholm Northstowe Phase 2A
Number/street name:
Longstanton Rd
Address line 2:
City:
Cambridge
Postcode:
CB24 3AB
Architect:
Proctor and Matthews Architects
Architect:
shedkm
Architect contact number:
2073786695
Developer:
Urban Splash.
Planning Authority:
South Cambridgeshire District Council
Planning Reference:
S/3499/19/RM
Date of Completion:
01/2025
Schedule of Accommodation:
54 x 2 bed houses, 21 x 3 bed houses, 130 x 4 bed houses, 83 x 1 bed apartments, 118 x 2 bed apartments
Tenure Mix:
40% private, 40% shared equity and 20% affordable
Total number of homes:
Site size (hectares):
8.00
Net Density (homes per hectare):
50
Size of principal unit (sq m):
139
Smallest Unit (sq m):
51
Largest unit (sq m):
141.8
No of parking spaces:
524
Scheme PDF Download
Planning History
Phase 2 of Northstowe was granted outline planning permission in January 2017 - it provides 3500 homes, a town centre and associated facilities. Masterplan principles were captured in parameter plans covering: Land Use, Movement, Landscape and Open Space, Building Heights, and Density. A Healthy Living and Youth & Play Strategy has also been established for the whole of Phase 2. A Hybrid planning application was submitted comprising of reserved matters for 406 dwellings including affordable housing provision, non-residential floorspace, landscaping, open space and associated infrastructure.
The Design Process
Inholm is a sustainable mixed-tenure urban neighbourhood of 406 homes (including open market affordable and Northstowe starter homes) that sets pioneering townscape design principles for the wider new town of Northstowe near Cambridge. Initiated by Homes England, Northstowe is England’s most ambitious new town project since Milton Keynes and will eventually grow to a community of 10,000 homes. The new neighbourhood is masterplanned by Proctor and Matthews architects with homes designed by Proctor and Matthews and Shedkm.
Inholm - taken from the Danish word meaning ‘islands in the marshes’ - is inspired by the rich archaeology of the site that provides evidence of early fenland settlements. Native villages were typically set on high ground and defined by perimeter landform embankments, ditches and boundaries. Here the ‘Edge House’ typology forms a contemporary inhabited boundary to the settlement with a ‘saw tooth’ silhouette, and defined portal entrances to the neighbourhood. The protected streetscape (a response to the exposed environment of Fenlands) is a permeable hierarchy of shared spaces (streets, mews, squares and pocket parks) prioritising children’s play, pedestrians and cycling, with car parking, bicycle storage and refuse collection points integrated with care into a resilient urban form. The design clusters new and established volumetric typologies designed by Shedkm and Proctor and Matthews. These respond to the design concept of establishing a local identity and narrative of place which is informed by the rich settlement history of the Northstowe edge of Fenland Landscape.
The neighbourhood provides a mixed inter-generational community of open market, family houses, homes for first time buyers, affordable rented apartments and affordable later living accommodation, with a mixed-use community focus and civic open space at its heart. Homes will perform to high levels of thermal and airtight performance standards with integrated photo voltaic panels.
Key Features
The mixed-tenure homes at Inholm will be precision-built offsite using modular construction. Proctor and Matthews, together with Shedkm are collaborating with regeneration specialist Urban Splash to research and develop innovative flexible homes, cluster arrangements, and a contextually informed materials palette for the scheme, referencing local archeology, historic fenland vernacular and craft traditions.
The settlement edge dwellings are configured to provide a distinctive neighbourhood boundary silhouette which is important in nurturing a sense of identity within the neighbourhood and establishing a strong relationship between the clear hierarchy of streets, mews and squares, and the greenway ‘Healthy Living’ landscape which surrounds it.
