housing feasibility study
We were commissioned to prepare a feasibility study for a new-build village extension project in South Yorkshire. The site combines greenfield and brownfield land and our initial proposals provide around 125 new homes and a retail unit with apartments above in a layout that integrates a number of existing mature specimen trees and a woodland area. Our approach is to create a well-connected street network that links to the existing road network and provides a high degree of pedestrian permeability. Houses front onto green open spaces and a larger village green, structured around the existing retained trees, within a hierarchy of roads, lanes and shared surface courtyards. Dead end streets are minimised and the public realm is designed to be naturally surveilled and traffic-calmed with ‘eyes on the street’ to encourage walking, cycling and to promote a sense of community.
The landscape strategy promotes biodiverse planting including meadow areas, a community orchard and native planting buffering that minimises the impact of the scheme from adjacent farmland. The proposed pedestrian footpaths connect directly into the local public footpath network to create a through route for existing residents and avoid the creation of a ‘gated’ community. Each house plot has external access to rear gardens to reduce the impact of refuse containers in the street and car parking is managed through a combination of off-street driveways and street parking over-canopied by street trees.