Suburban scale development
The 0.12ha site had been vacant for a long time, with a disused church hall in a state of disrepair, acting as visual detractor on the streetscape. This created a void along the site, and an unappealing public realm, detrimental to the whole area.
Located within a suburban residential area, with low building heights and density, new development needed to be carefully introduced, recognising local residents’ concerns regarding the height and impact on their privacy.
Redevelopment presented the opportunity to activate this corner site creating a positive addition to the streetscape as well as new residential accommodation.
Sensitive integration with local context
The final development delivers 18 new homes, comprising of 15 apartments in a 4-storey building and 3 terraced townhouses. We drew inspiration from the typologies of the surrounding area and introduced a folded roof form to the apartment building, and dormer windows to the upper floors of both the apartment building and townhouses.
Both the apartment block and terraced housing address the current building lines in order to maintain sightlines and the character of the street. This was combined with front doors that activate the facades, and high-quality planting and boundary treatments to provide adequate privacy to ground floor homes.
Sustainability
Our client, Merantun had high expectations for their development in terms of design ambition, housing quality and sustainability. We addressed this through a high-quality and contextual development with low embodied and operational carbon, timber frame construction and on-site renewables including air source heat pumps.
The building design is being updated to meet Passivhaus standard, supporting the Merton Council’s Zero Carbon policy for new housing.