The Mail on Sunday British Homes Awards 2009

PCKO Architects is one of seven finalists selected for the Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods Competition

The competition challenges architects to rethink the design of homes that comply with and surpass Lifetime Homes Standards at the same time demonstrating attention to environmental and resource issues.

PCKO's submission, 'Light Gallery House', is an architectural concept that goes beyond a tick box mentality of standards and regulation, creating a framework of spaces that will offer a truly flexible and adaptable home for life. The design philosophy challenges the preconceptions of the typical housing which is prescriptive in terms of life style and use of space. These spaces for living - each of which can be used for relaxing, working, eating, sleeping, playing, entertaining and celebration can support a diversity of change, occupancy, mobility and cultural preferences over time.

The short-list of the 7 designs was featured in The Mail on Sunday 19 July 2009 in order for the readership to vote for the winning design.

PCKO is also short-listed in the British Homes Awards annual categories of:

• Architect of the Year Award
• Small House of the Year
  Stone Rise, Horns Cross
  Countryside Consortium (including Countryside in Partnership and Hyde Housing Group)/ PCKO Architects
• One-Off House of the Year
  Jodlowa House
  PCKO & MOFO Architects

The winners will be announced at The London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, on the evening of Thursday 17th September 2009.

Click here to see the short-list

For further information contact Andrew Ogorzalek
or Peter Chlapowski

PASSIVHAUS

PCKO on Zero Carbon Hub tour reviewing Europe’s emerging standard for energy efficient construction

Paul Webb of PCKO joined Zero Carbon Hub, Design for Homes and other delegates representing the DCLG, NHBC, Energy Saving Trust and members from the house building industry on a two day tour of Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Reidberg to examine the Passivhaus standard of construction, and learn lessons for the delivery of energy efficient housing in the UK. The tour included a brief explanation of the concept at the Passivhaus Institute and visits to urban apartment developments, suburban family housing and offices, all constructed to the Passivhaus standard.

The event clearly demonstrated the benefits of achieving very high standards of energy efficiency. It highlighted the issues that will need to be addressed in achieving the necessary construction standards for zero carbon housing in 2016, the adoption of appropriate M&E to support this standard without overwhelming building occupants (and those responsible for maintaining it) and the dovetailing of new standards into the increasing volume of new regulation already facing the UK house builder.

Lessons learnt from the trip build upon PCKO’s expertise in sustainable design and as licensed Code for Sustainable Home Assessors, already has practical application in some of our new designs for housing to achieve Code Level 4 and above.

Links

Passive House Institute
Zero Carbon Hub
Design for Homes

For further information contact Paul

Example of Passive Solar Design Feature at PCKO's award winning scheme, Spinney Gardens

"House built for £60K" Design for Manufacture Site Complete!

At Horns Cross the contemporary design of PCKO's £60K House (build cost) has created an aspirational development which is proving very popular with homebuyers, even in the present market conditions.

Client: Countryside Consortium (including Countryside in Partnership and Hyde Housing Group)

Competition Winner!

The Stone Rise development at Horns Cross resulted from winning the two stage Design for Manufacture Competition organised by the ODPM and English Partnerships (EP), now Homes & Communities Agency (HCA), to build a house for £60K.

The competition was open to a number of consortia who provided costed design proposals for £60K build solutions. The winning consortia were then invited to provide bids for sites allocated by EP and SEEDA. Countryside Properties was successful in winning the Stone Rise site with the innovative design by PCKO Architects.

Each house boasts a 'wow factor' of gallery zones and large roof glazing to the middle of the house. The gallery lets in light and life and provides that extra quality flexible space we need in contemporary living.

The 100% sale price for the shared ownership house is from £165,000, which is below Dartford's market average of £178,200 for a terrace house.

The development has been procured and delivered in accordance with the criteria set out under the terms of the Design for Manufacture competition now administered by the DCLG and HCA (Homes & Communities Agency). The delivery of the scheme has incorporated a stringent monitoring and audit process for the purposes of assessing actual delivery against the Design for Manufacture competition brief. This assessed the scheme in respect of achieving the cost efficiency and design standards required such as EcoHomes ‘Very Good’, Lifetime Homes standards and achievement of a Building for Life award.

The procurement route was innovative with the Contractor and prefabricators involved in the design process from inception; therefore a true partnership was formed between the designers, suppliers and constructors in developing the £60K House from the first sketch to delivery of the finished product.

Design

Three house types were designed derived from the same generic core concept (living wall, flexible space, gallery zone), which can deliver differing internal and external characteristics. The concept can generate a variety of street frontages within an overall unifying rational discipline and with a flexibility that responds to orientation and site specific contexts from suburban to urban. The intention of our competition entry was to demonstrate that it is possible to deliver high quality housing at radically reduced cost involving off site manufacturing. While the Horns Cross site was too small to fully utilize volumetric prefabrication, houses and flats were constructed using a highly rationalised timber frame system, fabricated on site using an innovative micro-factory system of production.

The scheme occupies a brown field site reclaimed from high levels of contamination and ground abnormalities. High levels of gas contamination and requirements for future proofing gas protection from a land fill site resulted in a majority of the site area suited only to communal use, with a restricted area permitted for homes with private gardens.

The Consortium managed to demonstrate that the design can provide high quality accommodation with the potential of becoming a model for further developments. The scheme delivered high quality houses and flats, more spacious than the requirements of the competition, adding value for residents, outstanding value for money, and showing a positive way forward. In addition, the simple contemporary design has created an aspirational development which is proving very popular with homebuyers, even in the present market conditions.

Key consultants: Countryside in Partnership (Main Contractor), Brand Leonard (Structural Engineer), Waterstone Design (Service Engineer)

For further information contact Andrew or Paul

For hi-res images contact Chris

Building for Life – a scheme for better quality of residential environment

Achieving Building for Life minimum standards has become part of the funding requirement for affordable housing and will gradually become part of the planning application process.

PCKO is very experienced in delivering projects achieving excellent scores in this scheme, including Gold Standard Award for the Cala Domus project in Newhall and Silver Standard Award for the Fishing Village in Chatham.

PCKO is delighted to share this knowledge and experience with its clients and partners in development and recently Peter Chlapowski conducted a seminar on Building for Life principles for the Network Housing Group development team.

For further information contact Peter

Cala Domus, Newhall - Gold Standard Award

Swansea University wins 'Local Authority Building Control Award'

Swansea University wins 'Local Authority Building Control Award' in Public Building Category and will go on to regional awards in April. The scheme was recognised for close liason between design team and City & County of Swansea (CCOS) building control with PCKO maintaining a good relationship between the client and local authority partners.

Client: Grwp Gwalia Cyf Subsidiary Tai Cartrefi Cyf

With a large park to the rear and a beach sea view to the front the campus is a picturesque place to study. Two new buildings adjacent to the park have been designed to work within an existing framework master plan and deliver contemporary high quality student accommodation.

The two new buildings create a defined pedestrian route across the campus linking the residential quarter with the university faculties. The buildings also create a formal entrance to the park and protect the view to the beach and sea. The 10 storey tower has envious views over the park, sea and campus. The 360 student rooms with ensuites also includes ground floor office space and healthcare facilities, and was successfully handed over in January.

Key consultants: Hicks Titley Partnership (Service consultants), Faber Maunsell (Structural engineers), Cowlin Construction (Contractor), M3FX (Imaging), ER Brown & Partners (Employers agent), Shaun Condron Partnership (Employers agent)

For further information contact Paul

Loncin Petal Valley project in Chongqing Province, China

The design of the holiday complex in China is well advanced and the full architectural design of the Spa Hotel has just been submitted to the client for final approval.

Design work is progressing now on the master plan for a development of holiday apartments and clusters of luxury villas and cottages. The client has acquired further land enlarging the project site to 90 ha.

The design team has been travelling regularly to China to consult with the client’s team. PCKO's Directors spent some time in Shanghai exploring new design and business opportunities.

For further information contact Peter or Hansong

Southern Quarter, Oakfield, Ryde Urban Village scheme Southern Housing Group

Short listed for Housing Design Awards 2007

The Southern Quarter scheme is a housing regeneration project that not only seeks to repair the land back to an useable status, but hopes to repair a run down area of Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

The affordable housing scheme is championed by Southern Housing Group (SHG) with aid from Southern Space, SHG's in house development company (68% affordable units for Southern Housing Group and 32% sale units for Southern Space). This creates a high quality scheme for the residents of Ryde secured with additional funding from the sale component of the development.

The scheme comprises of 30 houses and 119 Flats on a 2 hectare site.

The ambition for the architecture was to create a new identity and sense of place for the area incorporating the following.

• Urban village feel
• To take advantage of the good views across the valley
• To provide an attractive roofscape from the other side of the valley
• Create a good relationship between larger flat blocks and houses
• Design that works with the sloping nature of the site
• Create good architectural legibility
• A sympathetic mix of traditional and contemporary

The layout creates a series of linked spaces and good permeability to the wider community. The architecture also relates to the scale of the existing adjacent buildings while creating its own identity and place.

For further information contact Andrew or Panos