Restoration of seventy Victorian properties in the Turner prize winner neighbourhood. The new houses have sustainable thermal improvements and layout changes to create ‘The 21^st Century Parlour House’.

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Cairns and Jermyn Street are part of the Granby 4 Streets initiative to regenerate a large historic area of housing close to the town centre. 

The area has suffered from a high number of voids over ten to twenty years but as part of a co-ordinated approach between registered providers, the Local Authority, community land trusts and stakeholders, there was a vision to revitalize the neighbourhood.  Cairns and Jermyn Street have a variety of small and larger terraced houses and although many were dilapidated, the buildings have a strong heritage character.  The area adjoins the historic Prince’s Boulevard and Princes’s Park designed by Joseph Paxton.

HLP’s designs for the area include the concept of creating the ‘21st Century Parlour House’.  The principle is to upgrade the fabric of the buildings whilst maintaining and restoring the historic character.  Another key concept was to demolish unsound outriggers and to create larger gardens. In the smaller properties internal layouts were reconfigured to create a number of options including large open plan ground floors increasing the feeling of space.

Larger double fronted houses were successfully divided into two, two bedroom properties with their own front door access maintaining the historic streetscape and diversifying the housing offer.  The front boundaries were reinstated with simply railing designs.

The ‘21st Century Parlour House’ retains the heritage values of the area and provides modern living standards in terms of, improved thermal values, lower heating costs and improved amenity space.  The investment in the area was complemented by other projects, such as Homes for a Pound and the Community Land Trust and Housing Cooperative projects which won the Turner Prize 2015.