A Stunning New 11 Bed Supported Living Facility
Great progress is being made at one of our Bedfordshire sites for Keystage Housing where an 11 bed supported living facility with associated office space is being provided via a conversion and extension of an existing building.
With a key part of the brief to deliver a highly energy efficient building so that tenant bills are kept to a minimum and to provide a sustainable and comfortable living environment, Juwo Evolved Smartwall, a monolithic clay block system, is being used for the new building fabric. Monolithic blocks create solid walls with no need for a cavity, offering high thermal performance and airtightness. It can also be constructed at a significant pace, reducing site programme and prelims and is cost-effective alternative to tradition cavity wall construction. Yet to be commonly used in the UK, it will be interesting to see if this innovative system becomes more widespread!
Working closely with Construction Managers Costcap Ltd, we were appointed by Keystage Housing as Lead Designer, providing Architectural RIBA stage 4 & 5 drawings, a site support package and have also fulfilled the role of Building Regulations Principal Designer. It has been great fun producing construction detailing using unique construction methods for this project, as well as matching historical architectural features for an adjoining building that is over 100 years old.
We do love a challenge at LDS, and this project has thrown endless challenges with the existing site providing some significant constraints, but the design team has been phenomenal at responding to this, being pro-active and bringing solutions to the table. With completion on the horizon, we look forward to sharing the success of the project delivery with the whole team. The same must be said for the construction managers, Costcap, who are consistently down-to-earth, easy to work with, proactive, and have put a real shift in to drive this project forward.
We are proud to feature and promote in our architecture magazine this innovative supported living project in Bedfordshire
