West Gorton, Manchester
As part of an emerging, mixed use, masterplan and in collaboration with the Homes and Communities Agency, Guinness Northern Counties, New East Manchester and the local community, 204 new re-provision homes, spread across four sites, in the form of 80 houses and 124 apartments have been completed.
Community Focussed – An extensive Community Consultation programme, guided by the Residents Steering Group, ensured early buy-in by residents. The Architectural Language relates to the aspirations of the community i.e. traditional residential building forms with modest contemporary details providing a strong identity and robust, secure family homes.
Urban Design – The land use is optimised with a density of 55units/hectare. Strong, well defined street frontages, corners, boundary treatments and public realm (including street trees), create a well defined, legible urban environment that aids orientation. Traffic calming is achieved through change in texture and colour of surface materials at pinch point crossings.
The site layout takes advantage of the southerly aspect in order to maximise efficiency of solar thermal roof panels.
The development achieves Building for Life (Silver) and sets a benchmark for future speculative housing as part of the evolving masterplan.
Secured by Design – The development maximises natural surveillance, with corner windows overlooking both private and public realm.
