Two of shedkm’s housing schemes were recently featured in the launch publication of Good Homes for All: 20 examples of how to do housing, an initiative by the Architects’ Journal in collaboration with Architects Action for Affordable Housing.
shedkm is currently designing and delivering housing schemes across the UK which address a diverse range of objectives, typologies, and private and public funding models. Collectively these schemes demonstrate our approach to the sector and our belief that everyone – regardless of tenure or income – is entitled to well-designed, good quality homes.
viable social housing in the north and south
At Greenwich in London we are delivering 750 high-quality, sustainable family homes and apartments for social rent for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, with 7 out of 10 sites now complete. We have developed a range of adaptable typologies that can be applied to a diverse range of sites – infill, urban, and brownfield locations – but with uniform design principles which will contribute not only to a sense of visual cohesion across the borough, but to reduced energy bills for residents.
In Liverpool, our Grove Street scheme for Regenda Homes will deliver the first phase of 304 high quality, mixed-tenure homes with a focus on the interests of the existing community and the provision of new public realm. The Grove Street regeneration scheme will include a mix of tenures – social, homes for affordable rent, private rent, outright sale and Rent to Buy – making it possible for existing communities to return to Grove Street once works are completed to enjoy new, high-quality, sustainable homes with a new community pocket park.
retrofitting local landmarks to serve local housing needs
Whether modern or historic, our approach to adapting local landmarks for housing needs is both contextual and pragmatic. We work with the inherent characteristics and constraints of a building to create appropriate, high-quality housing for local needs.
Eyewitness Works, our recent scheme for Capital&Centric in Sheffield, demonstrates our progressive approach to regeneration, retrofitting historic warehouses to creative 97 unique homes with character and identity. Efficient, contemporary, open-plan layouts feature the insertion of free-standing kitchen and bathroom pods, and we’ve enhanced the buildings’ distinctive industrial features with exposed brickwork, original beams and staircases. Three green courtyards feature cobbled streets, planting and festoon lighting to connect the individual buildings with spaces for rest and relaxation, allowing for connection and community.
The recently completed Zodiac House by Common Projects, sees the transformation of a worn-out, concrete 1960s complex in West Croydon into 73 thoughtfully designed, environmentally responsible homes, grounded in an existing and thriving community. The challenge has been to deliver a commercially viable and sustainable retrofit development that serves both new and existing residents, local community groups, and business owners, all within the framework of the site’s unique architectural context. Zodiac has provided an ingenious solution to emergency housing needs in the area, contributing to place with new public realm and communal facilities.
housing to spearhead regional regeneration
In Stockport, Newcastle under Lyme and Sheffield, shedkm’s imaginative approach to retrofit, combined with bold new build is helping not only to meet housing targets, but to drive regional regeneration, anchored by high-quality, liveable, vibrant communities rooted in existing social capital.
In Stockport, we are working with ECF to deliver 1,200 new homes via highly contextual housing. Part of a new urban masterplan, Stockport 8 will see the creation of a new coherent neighbourhood of buildings and public spaces that will set the tone and aspiration for the wider Town Centre West regeneration. A strong focus on identity and placemaking will consider materiality, context and forms, retaining the best of the area’s industrial heritage to create a new environment for the region’s future generations.
In Newcastle-under-Lyme, and in common with the challenges faced by many UK town centres, we are working with Capital&Centric on a three-site masterplan which combines adaptive reuse, community-focused design, and new public space to deliver sustainable growth and long-term social value.
The scheme includes the adaptation of a redundant 1960s car park into a contemporary residential development providing 111 one- and two-bedroomed homes with generous dual-aspect outlooks, rooftop spaces and landscaped grounds, whilst at Sheffield in a scheme also for Capital&Centric we are converting a former brewery to deliver 550 quality homes with new public realm, revitalising a once thriving industrial neighbourhood into a vibrant residential one.
With the need for more and better housing a national priority, these projects illustrate our approach of looking beyond a one-size-fits-all solution to the complexities of housing provision across the UK. shedkm’s bespoke, solution-focussed approach is unlocking commercial viability up and down the country to meet the needs of communities and cities with bold, high-quality design and respectful placemaking.