Section: Building & Regeneration
Housing Design Awards for 9 HCA Supported Schemes
Nine projects supported by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have been recognised for their good design and layout in the Housing Design Awards.
The awards, run by Design for Homes, acknowledge exceptional housing design in the public and private sectors. They recognise such criteria as external appearance and internal planning; relationship to surroundings and neighbourhood; sustainability in construction; and handling of garages and car parking.
Awards are made at two stages:
- for projects of great potential where the scheme has detailed planning permission but is not yet finished and occupied; and
- for completed schemes of outstanding merit.
The HCA projects named as award winners are as follows:
- Icon, Street, Somerset (Overall winner) - The early phase of a large rural masterplan built on Clarks shoe factory, with a range of affordable homes to rent and two, three and four bedroom market sale homes. HCA investment of £1.9 million has delivered 24 one, two, three and four bedroom houses and six one bedroom flats all for affordable rent.
- Barking Central, London - A scheme of more than 500 homes that forms the reinvention of an area above and around Barking's library, intended to rejuvenate the local town centre. The scheme has won international awards including the best new public space in Europe for its landscaping. Investment of £1.1 million has provided 40 HomeBuy Direct homes.
- Claredale Street, Bethnal Green, London (Winner of the Richard Feilden Award for Affordable Housing) - A redevelopment of the 1955 Keeling Estate, that includes pedestrian only streets and a balance of market sale houses and apartments. Investment of £827,600 is delivering 13 homes for affordable rent and one three-bedroom New Build HomeBuy property.
- Kidbrooke Extra Care scheme, Greenwich, London (Winner of the Housing Our Ageing Population Award) - Phase one of a large extra care facility for older people, consisting of 170 one and two-bedroom apartments that include partitions that can be used to make the living space larger or to create another bedroom. Investment of £21.2 million will deliver 150 extra care rental homes and 20 Extra Care New Build HomeBuy properties.
The Triangle, Swindon - An affordable housing scheme that is laid out around a village green, with terraced houses that will use air-source heat pumps and rain water recycling. Investment of £2.5 million will deliver 21 affordable rent homes, 11 intermediate rent properties and 10 New Build Home Buy homes.
Shirecliffe, Sheffield - A range of new homes comprising a mix of bungalows, maisonettes, houses and apartments, which will act as a catalyst for the revival of the Council's housing estate. Investment of £1.5 million through the Local Authority New Build programme will help deliver 27 two and three bedroom homes, all for affordable rent.
- Peabody Avenue, Pimlico, London - 13 blocks facing each other as an avenue in Pimlico alongside the engine sheds of Victoria railway station provide a discrete residential quarter supported by local residents. Investment of £5.6 million will deliver 56 one to three bedroom affordable rent and market sale homes.
- Barking Riverside, London - One of London's largest housing developments comprising four districts, plus shopping and community facilities. Overall, 10,800 homes are planned for the site, 41% of which will be affordable. The award relates to stage one of the scheme for approximately 1,500 homes. The project is being delivered by a joint venture between the HCA and Bellway homes. HCA investment of £24 million will eventually deliver 53 homes for intermediate rent and 114 homes for affordable rent.
- Derwenthorpe, York - A new community being created on the edge of York, 540 new and affordable homes are being created alongside conservation land, pedestrian friendly streets, cycle ways and communal facilities that meet the needs of the new residents and existing communities in the surrounding areas. Investment of £1 million will deliver 23 homes for affordable rent and market sale in Phase 1 of the project.
