Sustainable supported housing plan for Teesside

Plans for an innovative retirement village and supported housing development on the edge of Redcar have been submitted to Redcar and Cleveland Council.

If approved, the scheme will see the construction of 75 homes designed for residents with a wide range of support needs, including adults over 55, residents with accessibility requirements and others with learning disabilities.

The homes are to be a mixture of 45 two and three person apartments, within a three storey building, which will also contain shared social spaces, hobby rooms, a laundry and office space for support staff. There will also be six wheelchairs accessible, four person bungalows, 12 two person, two storey homes and 12 three person, two storey apartments.

Newcastle-based JDDK Architects has submitted the application on behalf of Vistry Partnerships North East, which would construct the development and Beyond Housing, which will own and operate it.

With the three storey apartment building to the North of the development creating a sheltered courtyard, the scale gradually reduces to the single storey bungalows with communal garden areas providing a safe external environment. Car parking is kept to the periphery of the development although the oversized pedestrian path can accommodate removal vehicles and emergency services.

The site, on undeveloped land just off Kirkleatham Lane between Redcar to the North and East, and Wilton Industrial Park to the West, will form part of a larger residential development for which outline planning permission was given in 2017.

Vistry is already building the 375 home Kirkleatham Green on the plot. Within this £61 million development, due to be completed in 2024, Beyond Housing will offer 108 homes for affordable rent and shared ownership; Linden Homes – Vistry’s housebuilding division – will market 187 houses for outright sale, with partners Sigma Capital offering a further 80 homes for private rent through its Simple Life brand.

Managing Director with Vistry Partnerships North East, Sean Egan, said: “If approved, these plans will enable us to create an exemplar housing scheme, delivering homes of all tenures and needs with our partners Beyond Housing and Sigma Capital.  It would create a pretty unique community, catering for a complete cross section of residents. It is an exciting project of which to be part.”

Rosemary Du Rose, Chief Executive of Beyond Housing, added: “We are delighted to be continuing our partnership with Vistry on this high-profile scheme which will deliver vital affordable homes in Redcar.

“At Beyond Housing we are committed to delivering high quality homes which meet a range of housing choices for our customers and contribute to the prosperity and regeneration of the local communities.”

JDDK Director, Adam Vaughan, said:  “Our clients set ambitious sustainability goals requiring all heating and hot water to be electric powered and free of on-site fossil fuel. We therefore designed the building for minimum heat loss with additional Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery providing both high quality indoor air and reclaiming heat from extracted air to pre-heat the incoming fresh air.”

“This approach, together with Air Source Heat Pump hot water cylinders within each residential unit, will reduce carbon emissions by 50% compared to a typical traditional residential unit with a combi gas boiler. In addition, there will be low water use fittings, electric car charge points and landscaping which has been designed to support biodiversity wherever possible.

“As a practice, we are committed to sustainable design. Energy use in homes currently accounts for around 20% of the UK’s greenhouse emissions which need to fall by at least 24% by 2030 if the UK is to meet its legally binding climate objectives. Sustainable developments like this are setting the standards to which all residential construction will have to conform in due course.”

The supported living village, a concept developed with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council’s adult services team, is designed to meet an established need for flexible accommodation that allows vulnerable people to live independently.