With the help of Marshall Fear from Staffs Housing we talked through the project from its early concept work through to the build process and the public open days. We also explore how the communication techniques we’ve been using, such as this blog, have helped see that early work through and ensured a shared sense of ownership for all involved.

Here’s a copy of our slides, feel free to drop us a line if you have any more questions…

Continuing in the spirit of online communication we thought it best to respond via the blog.

The photo shows the rear of one of the properties in the first phase of the project. It’s important to remember that there are 6 houses altogether and each has required a different solution to the rear yard. In this example the property benefits from rear parking access which we were keen to retain. The edge of the parking, which ends at back of pavement, can be just seen on the left hand side of the picture. Parking at the end of the garden brings with it a paved connection from house to car. The shed that features so prominently is an important part of the Ecohomes score, ensuring we provide sufficient bike and garden storage, again creating the need for hard standing and paved access. Finally, perhaps the most crucial part of the proposal is our core principal regarding the extension shape and size that replaces the original single storey ‘outrigger’. The property - like its neighbour - originally had little more than a path alongside the building that led to the parking. By rethinking the shape of the structure at the rear we’ve created patio space that can be enjoyed by the resident. The two gravel areas provide some permeability in a yard that is otherwise restricted by the most important day to day uses.

Elsewhere, in properties better suited, the reclaiming of yard spaces to increase greenery has been an integral part of the design proposal. The other completed property that was available for viewing earlier this year, provided turfed areas to a yard that had previously been entirely hard surface. This image (created originally in 2007 for our initial design concept and taken from a short animation available on youtube) shows the proposals that will shortly be completed on a pair of houses that are currently on site.

Until work started on site this rear yard was covered entirely in a flat roofed, single storey structure. We look forward to putting back the garden.

As we look to the future of the ecoterrace idea we have also been in discussion with landscape architects and environmental activists to explore how small yards can be turned into productive gardens with stacked growing areas, green walls and edible planting. Watch this (3 dimensional) space!

The project was also a finalist in the CIH Housing Awards and Inside Housing magazine’s Sustainability Awards.

Here’s a link to the Building magazine Sustainability Awards 2008 shortlist; we’ve been included in the ‘99%’ refurb section.

We’d better start pedaling.

The Big Green Makeover

Although the main thrust of the article is about the green agenda, it does a good job of reporting our concerns on housing quality…

‘This blinkered focus on zero carbon conditions is not what it’s all about,’ says Rob Annable a director of Axis Design Architects who, with his colleague Mike Menzies, is responsible for the design. ‘We are seeing a lot of discussions about reducing carbon output but not about improving the living quality of some of these houses.’

If you’d like to come along and see the results be sure to visit us on one of our public open days - see the visit page for more details.