Project Description

The redevelopment of a brownfield site to create 23 units of affordable housing on a busy urban site in Camberwell. This Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 development is a mixture of flats and maisonettes, with 16 shared ownership properties, and 7 affordable rented. The scheme has sedum roofs, private front and back gardens, and generous balcony space.

Rationale

Our main aims for the scheme were to provide high quality affordable housing in an area with a high demand for new housing; to help repair the streetscape providing secure and clearly defined spaces where residents and passers by would feel safe; to create a visually pleasing development that enhances its setting; and to create a robust, sustainable building, which is of a simple passive design, and maximises natural light, orientation and improved building fabric.

Design Process

The site, at a busy intersection in Camberwell, had been derelict for many years, and Architype’s design overcame a range of challenges including the change of use of the site, proximity to a Conservation Area, restricted access, Tree Preservation Orders, and potential issues with daylight. Party walls were used to maximise site capacity at 686 habitable rooms per hectare. Architype’s site analysis identified a neglected alcove of pavement just outside the site area, which attracted rubbish and prevented alignment with adjacent buildings. Architype helped negotiate the transfer of 55m2 of this land, free of charge, from the council to our client.

Outcomes

The result: a high quality, site specific, sustainable residential scheme, which enhances the security of the street and repairs a broken corner of the urban fabric – previously a disused and vandalised day care centre. The form has been developed around an important tree at the corner of the site, and the scale aligns with buildings adjacent on Coldharbour Lane. The scheme has multiple entrances at street level, which promote activity and security. To help reinforce the line of the street, local planning officers suggested that the site boundary could be extended onto the wide pavement of Coldharbour Lane, thus allowing the continuation of the building line which exists to the north of the site.

A stepped form was introduced to re-orientate the balconies facing onto Coldharbour Lane and to add visual variety, emphasising the corner position of the site. The use of vertical rhythms in the building form and fenestration relates to the traditional vertical rhythm of the local Georgian streetscape.

An external facing material of brick is used for both its robust hardwearing characteristics, and its aesthetic relationship with the streetscape and wider London context. The building has been designed to reduce energy consumption through its orientation. All units have dual aspect and receive excellent natural light, thereby reducing electricity use.