Affordable Housing
Affordable design from concept to completion
Tillydrone Affordable Housing
An award winning exemplar in sustainable, affordable housing
The award winning project represents a new standard in sustainable and affordable social housing.
The project has created seventy healthy, low energy and high quality homes, which address the acute need for truly affordable and adaptable city homes. A range of apartments and houses have been developed that offer whole of life adaptable accommodation for later living and residents living with dementia.
A holistic design approach which focuses on eight aspects of sustainability, has enabled an environment that engenders positive health outcomes for residents through careful consideration of environmental and social factors.
By designing to Passive House principles at an early stage, the highest levels of comfort and efficiency have been achieved in terms of embodied carbon through both construction and operation, resulting in an 80% reduction in heating costs for residents.
Tillydrone has been recognised in national awards for its innovation and excellence in design.
Kilmun Street Affordable Housing
Transformative design in a complex urban context
The project forms the first phase of a wider regeneration masterplan and provides forty-two affordable, fourteen mid-market rental and twelve flats for the elderly, with wheelchair accessibility across six flats and two houses. The project is designed to enhance community engagement and environmental resilience.
The development, set on a sloping brownfield site and adjacent to existing housing, integrates blue-green infrastructure to manage drainage and ecology. Shared community spaces and better connectivity are at the heart of the plan.
The sloping terrain demands innovative layout solutions to ensure level access and integration with existing and adjacent sheltered housing. The design approach creates usable streetscapes with visually impactful housing that meets the Glasgow Standard, which is compliant with ‘Housing for Varying Needs’ while also addressing energy efficiency, zero carbon and future flexibility in design. A mix of housing typologies sit alongside inclusive placemaking through community, play and recreation space.
Herdmanflat Affordable Housing
Sustainable housing design for community connection
The former hospital site in Haddington, set within five hectares of landscaped grounds and featuring listed buildings, has been reimagined to enrich the lives of both current and future residents through low density affordable housing for older people.
An inclusive scheme provides one and two bedroom dwellings for the over 55s, designed to incorporate ‘ageing in place’, ‘dementia friendly design principles’ and comply with 'Housing for Varying Needs' standards.
Phase one sees a collection of five buildings of two to three storeys each, delivering fifty-one affordable homes with landscaped courtyards, public realm improvements, parking and ancillary services. The development will support independent living and encourage health and wellbeing through healthy, active living. Future needs are met through flexible and adaptable spaces which cater to the changing needs of residents.
Sustainable design for the future and community connection are at the heart of this project, both in the construction of the new buildings, refurbishment of the existing and how the existing is integrated with the new across the wider landscape.
Glebe Road Housing
Navigating the planning process for urgent community housing
Glebe Road Housing is set to transform a local community who are urgently in need of affordable housing. Despite it's remote site not being typical for housing development, its potential has been realised following an eighteen month planning negotiation, delayed due to ecological and infrastructure challenges.
Planning consent has been granted for ten affordable homes, to provide long term accommodation for local families through a mix of tenures. The development addresses the principles of a twenty-minute neighbourhood by providing a walking and cycling connection to the local village and primary school, promoting active travel routes.
Housing is designed in a traditional ‘clachan’ style, demanding a non linear, organic site plan which works with the natural landscape of craggy bedrock and peat based soil. The approach will break up the visual impact of new homes to sit comfortably within the landscape.
Modern methods of construction will be explored to reduce cost, enhance construction quality while reducing waste and embodied carbon, contributing to the EPC rating.
Mart Road Housing
Sensitively integrating contemporary housing within a conservation setting
Mart Road Housing delivers a contemporary residential space enabling residents to live and work in the heart of the town. The affordable housing development comprises thirty, one and two bedroom apartments and capitalises on the proximity of the site to the town centre.
Accommodation sits across three new build blocks, each three storeys high at the most visible north edge, rising to four storeys in the middle of the site to respect the predominantly two to three storey surroundings of the conservation area. Two traditional properties facing onto the High Street have also been retained and refurbished, a critical element of the masterplan in retaining the historic urban pattern to the front edge of the site.
Large windows and Juliet balconies feature in each living space to maximise natural light and promote wellbeing. Positive colour is used in stairwells to identify floor levels and front doors and ground floor flats are level access for accessibility for tenants with varying needs. Spaces between the buildings are landscaped to provide high quality, compact and low maintenance amenity space.
Carbon output has been reduced by increasing the thermal performance of the envelope and reducing cold bridging and heat loss. Each property has two PV panels mounted on their flat roofs allowing ease of access and maintenance.
South Street Housing
Breathing new life into a town centre through modern, affordable housing
The South Street project will see the transformation of a large site in the centre of Elgin, regenerating an area that included five derelict buildings. The housing development will provide a mixture of affordable housing and commercial accommodation within the centre, offering close proximity to local amenities. The new layout seeks to emulate the existing historic urban pattern of the town and improve the permeability of the site; a series of closes and passageways that feed off the central spine of the High Street.
The residential development provides a mix of thirty eight, one and two bedroom flats split across five buildings. Each is designed to 'Housing for Varying Needs' standards and ‘Firm Foundations’, ensuring they remain adaptable for various users as their needs change. All entrances to the buildings are level access for wheelchairs and all dwellings will achieve a minimum of EPC B.
The use of signage, coloured render and brick at the core of the site creates visual indicators for entrances to assist with site navigation as well as contributing to the character of the new development.
Insulation levels and air tightness improves on building regulations, including mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and waste water heat recovery.
