7 minute read
Towards a new suburbia
Jonathan Falkingham MBE is founder and Creative Director of House by Urban Splash
The 406 home village, granted planning consent in February, will be the largest project in the UK to be manufactured offsite using volumetric construction. As the second phase of Northstowe, a 10,000 home sustainable new town on a 409 hectare site 8km from Cambridge City Centre, it represents an ideal opportunity to test and develop an approach to residential settlements that respond to the challenges of contemporary life.
The key principles of the project are based on decades of research and experience of the various parties involved – the project is being delivered by ‘House by Urban Splash’, a new company backed by Urban Splash, Homes England and Japan’s biggest house builder, Sekisui House, working with Proctor & Matthews Architects as masterplanner and lead architect Grant Associates as landscape architect, together with architects ‘shedkm’. It is an approach that is rooted in experience, but also attempts to predict changes not only over the next decade but for generations to come.
Whilst the design approach was established long before we understood the transformative effect of COVID-19, the pandemic has accelerated the changes in priorities and lifestyles we have sought to pre-empt, bringing a new urgency to ‘Live well by design’, our mission to transform the way we design our homes, neighbourhoods and public realm. The importance of a mixed, vibrant, sociable community has been thrown into sharp focus, as the pandemic has forced us to work from home and decimated civic, social and cultural life. For many of us, home and neighbourhood has morphed from a place to sleep and recharge to the entirety of our existence; the backdrop to domestic, professional and public life.
An aerial CGI showing the breadth of the offering at Inholm where 406 House by Urban Splash homes will be created.
© House by Urban Splash
As we become increasingly dependent on our immediate environment, we expect more from our neighbourhood. We want a wide variety of people – at Inholm, we are providing for a range of different tenures and age groups including social housing and later life homes. All homes are modular buildings that can be configured by the buyer to their own design, an approach that we hope will encourage a wide range of house types, a varied demographic and the diversity required to create a vibrant neighbourhood with a rich mix of possibilities, amenities, people, landscapes and views.
We need to push for economic and planning policies that encourage and support mixed use neighbourhoods, small scale enterprise, local food production and working from home. But we also need to create the spatial conditions that allow these things to thrive. We need to design places that encourage people to conduct as much of their lives as possible within walking distance of their home. Self-sufficient neighbourhoods need spaces to hire a car, park a bike, socialize and trade. We must accommodate a range of functions and activities and offer spaces – both outside and in – to work or play or relax. Spaces that allow for varying degrees of privacy and sociability; for unfolding and unexpected views and vistas; for changes in the quality of light. Spaces that allow us to live well by accident, and maximise wellbeing and quality of life.
The House by Urban Splash semi-detached Town House is coming first to Inholm.
© House by Urban Splash
Inholm is part of an ongoing investigation into the way the design of the built environment can facilitate healthier lifestyles. The project forms part of the NHS England Healthy New Town initiative, an accolade that has assumed a new significance as we have become increasingly aware of the value and fragility of emotional and physical health, and as the NHS has achieved an unprecedented level of respect. A rich variety of landscaped spaces – ranging from the linear park that bisects the settlement to the intimate courtyards dotted through the site – provide opportunities for a mix of exercise, like balance and lifting bars, yoga and Tai Chi, to spaces for formal and informal play. Routes for walking, cycling and horse riding are knit through the development, linking the schools, lakes, bridleways, footpaths and the surrounding countryside. People-friendly streets and spaces will promote social interaction, helping to combat the social isolation – a problem that has taken on a new intensity as we learn to live with the memory, and the ever-present threat, of social isolation and societal house arrest.
The downside of high-density development – at 52 dwellings per hectare Inholm is significantly denser than Northstowe’s earlier phase – is that it allows limited space for private gardens within the neighbourhood itself. A key challenge now and for future developments is how to manage this conundrum without having a negative impact on residents’ quality of life. One solution, which we have successfully trialled at Port Loop in Birmingham and are now offering at Inholm, is to reduce private outdoor space to a small private garden or decent sized roof terrace, enough for a barbecue and a seating area, and give access to much larger shared private spaces for running about, kicking a ball or whatever. All boundaries are planted, rather than man-made, and are kept as low as possible to minimise visual impact. The net impact is a continuous green landscape that invites nature in and lets it do its best, while allowing every resident to enjoy great landscape views.
Concept sketch of The Inholm masterplan.
© Proctor & Matthews Architects
This critical mass of greenery elevates the landscape from the mundane constraints of a postage stamp sized garden, manicured lawn, picket fence and patio. Our landscape approach has been informed by our partners Sekisui House, who adhere to the Japanese principles of Gohon no ki, whereby they make a commitment to plant five new trees – three for the birds, two for the insects – for every house they build, and satoyama, the liminal space between the man-made and the natural landscape. This approach has resulted in a landscape strategy that creates rich habitats for wildlife and gives residents the benefits in terms of health, wellbeing and happiness associated with having a strong connection with the natural world.
An increasing appreciation of the importance of wellbeing, and the interdependency between humanity and the planet, has gone hand in hand with a desire for a better relationship with the natural world. Growing, harvesting and eating local food reflects the changing seasons, encourages healthy eating, encourages social interaction, and strengthens connections between residents and landscape. We envisage an increasing focus on food production as a part of place-making. Edible and productive landscapes – including a ‘Productive and Playful’ trail of trees bearing fruit and nuts – are incorporated throughout Inholm.
Perhaps above all, it makes residents more alert to the character of the local area, adding another layer of depth to its sense of place. As our neighbourhood becomes our world, so it becomes increasingly linked to our own identity. Character and uniqueness enrich our sense of where we belong and who we are.
The masterplan for Inholm is highly contextual, taking its inspiration from the rich archaeology of the site that provides evidence of early edge-offenland settlements that were set on high ground and defined by defensive perimeter edges and boundaries. The new village is enclosed by a perimeter of ‘Edge’ typology housing style that gives the development a clear identity and offers a clear boundary surrounding, defining and offering a sense of safety and protection to the streets, squares and lanes within. Material and elevational treatments are informed by research into Cambridgeshire and fenland traditions, buildings, art and, crucially, landscape. The plinth of the perimeter wall uses a dark, earthy charcoal tone inspired by the local St Neots Ware pottery. The vertical terracotta cladding is interspersed with glazed tiles that make a subtle reference to shimmering fenland reeds. Rough-sawn hardwood timber is also used for balustrades, pergolas and screens. These base tones are enlivened by accent colours inspired by the Fens. Archaeological fragments found from digs in the local area inform the visual language of brick entrances, arches and portals that are used throughout the scheme offering a counterpoint to the modular housing, and helping to create a streetscape and silhouette that is distinctive and unique.
Suburbs, by their very definition, are defined to their proximity to somewhere else – the ‘urb’ to which it is deemed to be subservient. People, and places, deserve more. A sense of belonging, and a sense of pride in where we live, are fundamental to our sense of wellbeing, self-worth and civic pride. We need to stop building places that define themselves in terms of a commute, a highway junction, a train station, or a bus stop, and start building places with an identity of their own.
