Kidbrooke Park Road

The site has an interesting history. When set out for redevelopment it was part of the local school grounds. Prior to this, it had been used for industry. During the first world war, it had been used as a servicing ground for Zepplin airships.

We were required to develop a strategy to repair this former Brownfield site. We dug out 2 metres of surface soil across the site, eliminating contamination and re-providing local street trees that were removed in this process. This enabled a site that would otherwise have remained empty to provide much-needed social housing.

The homes are of a quality that is extremely rare for a social housing project. The space standards far exceed the London Plan standards. A sense of identity and ownership has been achieved to inspire pride in residents, with red brick facades and concrete columns and arches cast insitu, inspired by the Georgian and Victorian architecture of the Blackheath and the Blackheath Park conservation areas.

The proposals aim to deliver an exceptionally high standard of public housing for the Royal Borough of Greenwich Council, benchmarking development standards for new affordable homes in terms of energy performance, layout, space standards, cycle parking, amenity provision, play space, and architectural quality.

HTA’s Landscape team proposal for Kidbrooke Park Road will include a central green space with trees and benches to meet friends, family, and neighbours, courtyards, and a new community garden with space to grow plants and vegetables. Timber play structures and basket swings will be incorporated into various play spaces for younger residents.

A green corridor, thoughtfully integrated into Kidbrooke Park Road, will not only provide a scenic route for residents and visitors but also offer significant ecological benefits. This corridor will replace trees lost through ground remediation works, contributing to our collective responsibility for the environment.

The scheme’s design seeks to achieve the GLA’s net-zero carbon standard. Heating and domestic hot water will be provided by the new Energy Centre via a centralised Air Source Heat Pump system. This will provide a sustainable heating and hot water source to all homes and non-residential uses across the whole masterplan.

The design of facades, rooms’ orientation, and windows has been meticulously planned to avoid overheating while still maximising daylight levels within apartments. This design ensures a comfortable and inviting living space for residents.

The new homes have been designed to achieve net zero carbon, and the landscape has been designed to increase biodiversity across the site. A new green corridor along Kidbrooke Park Road leads to Cator Park, our open space at the centre of Kidbrooke Village, which has been celebrated with a David Attenborough Award for biodiversity.

As leading housing sector professionals with experience in design, planning, and project management for major affordable schemes, HTA Planning produced a comprehensive planning strategy for the delivery of new affordable homes on the site. HTA identified key planning risks, opportunities, and development potential and the programme to meet funding application deadlines. To deliver against a very tight programme of less than a year before construction had to commence (for a GLA referable scheme), HTA Planning stayed ahead, guiding the team with the key national, regional, and local policy and design standards, cross-referenced with Greenwich Build’s Design Guide and funding pro-forma. As with all complex sites, the best design approach had to be negotiated; there were local community sensitivities about height; Greenwich Builds wanted a zero-carbon high design quality scheme; and it all had to be affordable.

The HTA planning team also advised on the wider communication strategy, identifying and providing information about key considerations from stakeholders, such as impacts on townscape and heritage assets and the provision and maintenance of open green spaces. We also encouraged and participated in the co-design process with a diverse group of residents, local groups, schools, and youth groups. This encouraged public participation and underpinned local support for the proposals.