Led by Stirling Prize winning architects Mikhail Riches, we have been appointed as civil and structural engineers to the design team that will help York Council delivery 600 new market sale, social rent and affordable homes on 8 City of York council owned sites over 5 years. The aspiration is that the houses will be delivered in line with Passivehaus principles and they will be zero carbon developments. The £33 million first phase will see units built across 3 sites, with a real emphasis placed on creating real communities and a landscape where walking, cycling and interaction are prioritised. Public consultation on the scheme is underway with the local communities being invited to help shape what the developments will look like.

The homes will be delivered in line with recently published housing design guidance to meet with the Councils goals to build:

• high-quality homes designed in collaboration with the local community
• accommodation suitable for a wide range of households, meeting a full range of affordable housing
• shared open spaces, sociable neighbourhoods and community cohesion
• homes with higher than required environmental attributes (resulting in lower running costs)
• healthy places where people want to live

Director, Paul Morris, who is leading our work on the project commented, “Meeting the demand for housing within the context of the climate crisis is one of the key challenges we face as Designers. This project offers us a fantastic opportunity to deliver beautiful new housing to passivehaus principles, that is well designed, climate resilient and creates a welcoming neighbourhood.  The appointment to this team allows us to build on the experience we already have delivering exemplary housing developments, such as the Climate Innovation District in Leeds, The Malings in Newcastle and Park Hill in Sheffield, where we are already working with Mikhail Riches. The aspirations of York City Council and the design team are closely aligned to ours and we are excited about the prospect of what can be achieved over the coming years.”

The design team also includes Urbed, Imagine Places, Tibbalds and Leda.