Lovedon Fields

The design team worked collaboratively to incorporate the client’s conviction that housing should be specific to its context, be not just be about houses, but about landscape, ecology, culture and community.

The site lies within a Local Gap and on the edge of the South Downs National Park. The development area is approximately 6.7ha of which about 2.1ha was brought forward following selection after a Strategic Housing Land Availablity Assessment in 2014 for housing.

The outer edge of the development is seen as a brick layer while the inner buildings are clad in timber to recede, avoiding the impression of a wall of development.

Looking at the wider site, new allotments, a bike trail and an orchard were included, while the southern part of the site is transformed into an extension to Eversley Park, with allotments, natural play areas and ecological grassland, and reinforced boundary planting and footpaths. 

The design ethos embraces energy efficiency, via a fabric first approach combined with roof integrated PV systems to generate on-site renewable electricity. This approach is predicted to result in delivering a scheme with 97% reduction in regulated carbon dioxide emissions as measured under Part L1a 2014 of the Building Regulations. The majority of the dwellings incorporate sufficient photovoltaic systems to result in at least 100% reduction in regulated emissions (space heating, domestic hot water, electricity for lighting and fans) compared to the minimum performance standards detailed in the Building Regulations.

The buildings are constructed from a proprietary closed-panel timber frame system. This system is factory-made before being delivered to site and erected, greatly reducing the amount of waste produced on site, particularly in terms of the amount of surplus packaging, which is a well known problem on construction sites.

“An exemplar of how planning for housing on the edge of an existing settlement should be delivered”

2017 Landscape Institute Awards