When Rochdale Development Agency sought a “progressive approach to housing in a regeneration area” the £3.8m project went to Salford-based architects OMI Architects, and its timber frame supplier partner, Oregon Timber Frame.
The design was agreed following lengthy consultation with the local, largely Bangladeshi, community, and followed many of the guidelines enshrined in the Asian Housing Design Study, a report commissioned by Rochdale Housing Initiative from the CSR Partnership.
The development won a Housing Design Award back in 2007, and following some contractual and legal nature delays, is now completed and fully occupied. Tenants enjoy customised design features tailored to their lifestyles, allowing for the segregated lives that men and women in that community lead and also the predominance of large or extended family groups.
Project director architect Phil O’Dwyer of OMI Architects said that timber frame was specified “because of its speed of construction, low embodied energy and high insulation potential”. It also, he maintained, provides affordable, sustainable, “energy efficient modern housing, in a non-standard design” and also makes substantial scores well under the Code for Sustainable Homes.
“We were, of course, very pleased to win the contract to supply these houses and particularly pleased that OMI Architects involved us early on in the design stage of the project,” said Oregon’s technical director Robin Dodyk. “This meant we were able to value engineer the timber frames and deliver OMI Architects designs for the
community with minimal problems and no need to compromise the architects’ design.
“It really is crucial that timber frame suppliers are brought into the design process early – thankfully, more and more specifiers are realising that.”
“The aim” said O’Dwyer, “was to create designs which would act as models for the government backed East Central Rochdale Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder project and which would also meet the aspirations of
the occupants.”
It has been said that terraced housing in northern industrial towns no longer suits the needs today’s families – particularly if they come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. But in pulling them down, new models which meet the desires of those who reject what they replace need to be found. The consultation exercise undertaken by Oldham Rochdale Partners in Action and its preferred developer BASE – Barratt Urban Regeneration and Artisan – was about testing the parameters of design to perfect new models for the East Central Rochdale pathfinder.
This procurement method enabled OMI Architects to produce no fewer than three house types for an initial phase of 25 family houses, which went on site in April 2007.
The development was designed for mixed tenure, with some houses being made available for sale while some were for social rent. The main group consists of large four-bed properties that sit back-to-back with smaller three-bed homes, and has been designed so that the three- and four-bed units can be combined easily to form one seven-bed unit.
An additional four-bed house type was also devised in response to the constraints of the shallow plot depth of the existing street network.
All are courtyard designs where the main living areas are grouped around a private external space with glazed screens sliding back so that inside and outside can work together. Segregated communal facilities (kitchen/living/dining) have been created for women and men as well as separate entrances. The courtyards, surrounded by raised terracing, are a key feature, allowing extended family groups to socialise and entertain together.
The elevations of the houses resemble tall town houses, with fronts dominated by two-storey bay windows, reminiscent of the traditional terraces they replaced. The bay windows also give views up and down the street.
The fronts are set back from the pavement, with brick bin stores or low walls forming boundaries.
The steeply sloping site presented further challenges to the design and the construction process.
“Each block had to be stepped to accommodate the gradient, which introduced multiple level changes throughout the development,” said Dodyk. “However, with the benefit of our early involvement and some design efficiencies gained, together with forward planning, the manufacture and erection process went smoothly.
“The stepped appearance is visually very attractive; the design responded well to the site and the efficiencies of off-site manufacture meant we delivered an accurately engineered timber frame product to site.”
Following on from this project, Oregon is now involved in similar regeneration projects within the Rochdale area, while OMI Architects is working on several regeneration schemes in Rochdale, Salford and Oldham.
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The design harks back to terraced tradition but also meets the needs of different cultural and ethnic groups |
