Beechdale (Phases 1 & 2)
Type/size: Phase 1 x40 residential dwellings & Phase 2 x80 residential dwellings & apartments
Location: Walsall
Status: Phase 1 Completed 2015 & Phase 2 Completed 2017
Contract Value: £12.5 million
Construction Type: MMC- OSM Timber panelised system (Eco 200 by Local Homes)
Client: Accord Housing Association (In-house scheme)
Awards:
Innovative Development of the Year, Top Sixty Developments - Inside Housing Awards 2014 (Highly commended)
Scheme Overview:
Beechdale is a 100% affordable housing scheme located in the Walsall. The scheme has been developed, designed and constructed using Accord’s in-house regeneration, architecture and construction teams which are a unique capability based within the framework of a social landlord. The houses are built in Accord’s timber frame factory (Local Homes) which produces low carbon homes designed using fabric first principles.
The proposal for 120 new dwellings (split over two phases) is sited on a former school site located in Beechdale which is a mixture of light industry and residential. The site has two access points and is naturally enclosed with trees/hedgerow providing a safe, secure and sheltered environment
The phase 1 layout consists of 10 x 2 bed 3 person units, 20 x 3 bed 5 person units and 10 x 4 bed 7 person units, with access from two entrances off Remington Avenue. The development consists of 15 x 2 semi-detached units 1 terrace of 4 units and 1 terrace of 5 units and 1 detached unit. The houses are all constructed from timber framing, made across the road at Accord’s Local Homes factory on Stephenson Avenue. They are all clad in a combination of horizontal or vertical timber cladding, brick and render.
The streetscape has been created with a hierarchy. The main entry access road is a tarmacadam finished surface with a dedicated block paved footpath and frontage parking to the first 6 units. This leads into a block paved communal parking area and then onto a shared space with a vehicle turning point for refuse commercial and emergency vehicles, before leading onto the block paved shared surface area with adjacent perpendicular parking servicing the units parallel to the towpath.
The shared surface areas we define as home zone and amenity spaces as the surfaces will be shared by pedestrians and vehicles.
Surface materials have been carefully considered in terms of their carbon footprint, maintenance, aesthetics and their contribution to sustainable urban drainage (SUDS).
A range of paving and road surface products have been put forward for the roads and parking and public footpaths based on the tegular range. Slabs will form the private footpath material within gardens and a higher quality concrete sett and slab with be utilised in the public spaces. The emphasis in these spaces is to provide a free draining material that might encourage informal play.
Grass will be used in public areas to provide some relief to the hard surfaces together with shrub planting beds etc. Lighting will be used in the form of up lighting and bollards to highlight path areas at low level rather than uniform overhead lights.
