Palmerston Street, Derby
Former laundry site delivers fresh, attractive housing:
A new city centre development in Derby has given a new lease of life to a brownfield site, by providing attractive homes in keeping with the surrounding area.
Meeting local housing needs
Derby, like many parts of the East Midlands, has seen sustained growth in house prices in recent years. As a result, the demand for affordable homes has also risen. Housing needs data shows that the highest requirements are for one and two bedroom properties and larger family housing. Discussions between Friendship Care and Housing and Derby City Council identified a potential brownfield site that would help to meet local priority needs. The housing association was also keen to provide spacious family housing, as part of its commitment to buck the trend of reducing national space standards.
Site specifics
The site - located within the Abbey ward of the city – had formerly been used as a commercial laundry, prior to the building being closed and demolished.
Palmerston Street is approximately two kilometres south-west of the city centre, and situated within a predominantly residential area. The site offered good access to local shops, services and transport facilities and was therefore ideally-located for a new affordable housing development.
Design considerations
The surrounding properties are mainly inter-war detached and semi-detached homes. This provided POD with an opportunity to develop designs that reflected local heritage and were sympathetic to the site’s location; in particular, there was a need to minimise overlooking of adjacent properties, whilst maximizing efficient use of the site to meet housing needs.
The designs submitted were in proportion to, and reflected thestyle of, surrounding residential development. The schemefeatures two-and-a-half and three storey buildings which are inproportion to other properties in the area.The materials selected also reflect those of surroundingproperties in this part of Derby. For example, high-quality redfacing bricks respect the surrounding buildings and reconstitutedstone heads and cills were integrated into the development –adding a traditional feel.
The properties are built to ‘Secured by Design’ standards, featuring security gates, thief-resistant locks and intruder alarms. Also incorporated was a central parking court, to provide natural surveillance; this is visually complemented by landscaping. Palmerston Street also achieved an eco-homes ‘very good’ rating. The scheme houses also feature water butts and sheds.
Scheme mix
Work started on-site in February 2008 and was completed in January 2009. The final scheme consists of 22 properties, with the following mix of units.
Rented homes
6 x four bedroom houses
6 x two bedroom flats
4 x one bedroom flats
Rent to Homebuy homes
6 x two bedroom flats
The scheme costs of £2,783,600 were supported by
£1,050,000 affordable housing grant from the Homes and Communities Agency.
Scheme partners
The partners involved in developing Palmerston Street were: Contractors McInerney Homes Architect Anthony Rickett Architects Ltd Local Authority Derby City Council Clerk of Work Longhurst Group.
Conclusion
The Palmerston Street site is a sustainable, attractive development that has made excellent use of a brownfield site within the city. The scheme complies with rigorous design standards, providing a secure, sustainable living space that complements the surrounding properties and provides much-needed affordable housing.