Development name: Rayne Park Housing

Location: Norwich

Architect: Norse Group/Hamson Barron Smith

Developer: Norwich Regeneration Company, Norwich City Council

Accommodation type: Residential

This large development of 172 new homes on the edge of the city, 112 of which are Passivhaus, demonstrates how stakeholder engagement can help create a new community from scratch. The new, integrated, convivial public realm comprises private, semi-public, and public spaces and is integrated with a dementia and extra care home, all designed by Norse Group’s interdisciplinary design consultancy, Hamson Barron Smith (HBS).

The rear facing nature of the layout allows for a complete rethink to the alleyway space between two rows of terrace housing, creating a new public realm between the private garden spaces which features communal low-level planting along a pathway that is overlooked by the properties.

The development will be made up of a mix of apartments and terraced houses, with 33% being affordable housing. The construction process has benefitted from the offsite fabrication of the structural insulated panels (SIPs) provided by Kingspan TEK and delivered by PHT member Kingspan Timber Solutions. The method means accurate production away from the vagaries of the weather, and swift and accurate erection on site. The airtightness of the system’s OSB/3 panels, fitted together with a proprietary jointing system, is augmented using internal membranes and tape.

The playful variation of different brick colours with painted renders gives the two-storey terrace at the south of the site a jaunty air. Behind, the more sober brick terraces are decorated with laser-cut metal Juliet balconies, inspired by the local historical textile industry, following the design of the Norwich Drawloom Shawl (1840).