Overview:
This 55 home masterplan for an edge of village development in East Sussex brings sustainability and social value to the forefront of a successful scheme on the 5.6HA former agricultural site. When delivered, our prescribed, ‘within 15-mile sourcing of materials’, sees local clays used to ensure the contemporary brickwork designs bed the highly energy efficient homes into the existing local vernacular.

Community Impact & Value:
By knitting into the local green infrastructure and existing footpath network our ‘green finger parks’ ensure a series of distinct characters to our ‘place first’ approach. We ensure each home looks over uplifted and new habitat, increasing biodiversity by a 57% net gain. Open green space and public accessible shared amenity also covers 20% of the site. The thriving village extension builds on the rich local history, 22 listed buildings, cottages and farm typologies, all within the Conservation Area. Natural play and SUDS are wide swales and attenuation depressions that become natural amphitheatres and boardwalks.

Technical Insights & Challenges:
Focused and open public consultation events, supported by the local developer’s understanding, ensured collaborative engagement with sustainability driving the co-created brief. A mixture of passive and active measures are introduced, with an efficient fabric and airtight envelope achieving 100% A-rated SAP (2023) certification for the new homes. The fabric first approach is supported by air-source heat pumps paired with grey water recycling and low operational energy use with comprehensive electrical charging with full adaptability.

Key Achievements:
The delivery stages will be supported with a parallel project that sees the potential for 100% onsite energy generation and a green electrical tariff, showing cutting edge design and sustainability can sitting harmoniously in this mature woodland village setting.