We carefully maintained a green character for the site’s frontage, keeping the trees and most of the hedgerows, which we supplemented with new planting to fill gaps and enhance the feature’s integrity. This vital green buffer will give the new residents a welcoming green entrance and privacy. 

A new nature-filled public space runs through the site’s centre, which we designed around the existing protected trees. The area will have green corridors for play and relaxation and links to the neighbouring green spaces and local nature reserve. This will support an active, healthy community. Swathes of flowering meadow grass, mown grass and small plantations of native structure planting will provide new wildlife habitats. 

Residents of the apartment blocks will have a high-quality shared communal garden with a lawn and seating area to relax and socialise. The largest garden features an area for residents to grow fresh produce and flowers. Ground-floor apartments have individual patio areas, and a clipped native hedge defines the boundary of the private communal gardens and a borrowed view of the central open space. The terraces, semi-detached houses, and bungalows include private rear gardens and defensible space at the front, with ornamental shrubs and herbaceous planting providing seasonal interest. 

This is social housing as it should be.