Architecture, Lead Consultant, and CDM Principal Designer services are being provided for the delivery of 37 one- and two-bedroom cottages in the West Midlands.
This project is located on a greenfield site and will deliver a range of highly adaptable net-zero social rent homes, as well as a small office for Berkswell Charity, predominantly for senior residents. The homes were designed to HAPPI principles, to maximise the flexibility of the houses for all future residents. All of the homes are M4(2) compliant, with 5% also M4(3) compliant, providing wheelchair access, and incorporated HAPPI Design Principles.
In order to ensure these homes are net zero, multiple sustainable advantages have been included in the design of the site, including solar panels (slates), air source heat pumps, electric vehicle and buggy charging
points, and super-insulated walls.
The proposals received unanimous approval by Solihull Council in October 2025. The Council’s Urban Design Officer stated “From an urban design perspective this is a welcome and well designed almshouse scheme creating an imaginative design solution that incorporates many communal elements and spaces and an imaginative working around the main site constraint, i.e. the underground pipeline easement”.