Blue Mountains

Wallingford is a market town in South Oxfordshire that boasts a rich historic heritage and has more International Heritage sites than Venice.

Developing a large affordable housing site near the centre of Wallingford was thus quite a challenge. Following CABE guidance we carried out a full Urban Design study of the area and a contextual analysis of the local detailing and street patterns. This led to the final design that retained the two Victorian Villas at the front of the site which were refurbished to provide several shared ownership apartments.

The Scheme

A significant amount of public consultation was required to convince the local residents that the scheme would be acceptable. Several significant trees had to be protected and the scheme needed to provide a mixture of family housing and smaller units to meet local housing need. This mixed tenure development consists of 79 new homes comprising 54 rented homes, 23 HomeBuy properties and two assisted person's bungalows.

The scheme demonstrates our skills in refurbishing existing structures and managing public opposition to controversial proposals in one of the most stringent planning regimes in the country. The development was also completed to a high standard on a limited budget.