Homes for Ulverston - www.homesforulverston.org

Budget

It's rare that your perfect Client emails you to discuss a project they want you to undertake, but in this case that is exactly what happened. We are passionate about housing and especially community led housing which embodies the fundamental emotional connection of people to special places that we prioritise in ever project. Homes For Ulverston are a Community Land Trust formed specifically to provide much needed community input to the housing market in their local area of Cumbria. They operate an ongoing process of democratic engagement with their members and local residents to provide essential services and homes to those in need.

The site is currently a disused scrapyard in a challenging infill plot accessed by a very narrow traditional back lane. Being surrounded by houses, alongside potential contamination issues, access and traffic, rights to light and a not insignificant slope this is possibly one of the more challenging plots we have tackled. Following on from a brief community engagement session, Homes 4 Ulverston's brief was to provide a feasibility study for a communal housing scheme that was ecologically motivated included lots of green space, minimal parking and was based on the principles of a WikiHouse build. An existing historic perimeter wall restricts the relationship of the development with the street, so our design prioritises pedestrian access forming journeys of discovering into the green heart of the scheme.