A rural housing project catering for social housing need in Northumberland.  The layout reflects the form of a traditional Northumberland farmstead incorporating a hierarchy of built form around a courtyard space and a 'cottage garden'.

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HLP won a design competition held by Isos Housing for the development of twenty units on a site at the edge of Seaton Burn in North Tyneside.  The project, wholly for social rent, comprises of six apartments, four bungalows and ten family houses.

The site layout reflects the traditional Northumberland ‘farmstead’ arrangement, typically comprising of clusters of barns, workers cottages and a farmhouse arranged around a courtyard.

The richly landscaped proposals also include a cottage garden providing amenity space for the adjacent bungalows and wider community, along with pedestrian links to a proposed meadow and children’s play area.

The development is designed to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3, with high levels of thermal insulation to external walls and windows, reducing the annual energy consumption and cost of heating.  Additionally, rainwater attenuation is to be incorporated beneath the courtyard, to reduce the impact of the proposals on the existing waterways.