Planning Permission Granted for Darwin Green Phase 4

HTA achieved planning for Darwin Green Phase 4, one of a six-phase suburban housing masterplan to the northwest of Cambridge City Centre. The scheme was developed throughout 2021-2022 through extensive workshops with the Cambridge City Council Urban Design and Planning teams to respond to feedback from a number of design review panels, accessibility panels and statutory consultees. The quality of the design is testimony to the collaboration of this design development process with Cambridge.

The Darwin Green neighbourhood of 363 homes is part of a wider cycle network with excellent connections as part of Cambridge’s established active travel culture. The proposals enhance the connections and green corridors established in the wider masterplan. The landscape is at the heart of the proposals, with a vehicle-free green link through the middle of the neighbourhood supported by rain gardens, street planting and pockets of open space to prioritise travel by foot and bike.

The proposals feature a bespoke house type developed by HTA as the winning entry for the Architects Journal / Barratt – ‘HOME OF THE FUTURE’ competition. The innovative house type provides an aspirational home that addresses our changing living patterns and the challenge of climate change. The layout is designed with flexibility, allowing people to stay within their home and adapt it over their lives rather than move. A highly efficient fabric combined with massive cross and stack ventilation opportunities allows the house to stay cool even in peak predicted future temperatures. The daylight levels in the living room are greater than 10%.

A network of open spaces centred on the green link provides amenity space for residents, vehicular separation and increased ecological value in the neighbourhood. In addition, the evaporative cooling nature of soft landscaping contributes to the cooling of hard-landscaped urban spaces. Reduced hard landscaping throughout the site will also reduce the carbon impact of the site materials. This is particularly marked in mews streets to the rear of apartment blocks where parking has been integrated beneath the built footprint to reduce surface parking and increase soft landscape.