At Parkmount & Princedom, we worked with MSV to secure planning for 46 affordable homes across 2 sites in Harpurhey. The new developments form part of Manchester City Council’s low carbon affordable homes programme ‘Project 500’. The 24 homes at Parkmount achieve Passivhaus Classic and Low Energy Standards.

In 2019 Manchester City Council announced its Project 500 programme. This involves disposing of underused brownfield land in its ownership to local housing associations to deliver a range of low carbon, Affordable Housing to meet the increasing demand in all areas, tenures, and property types.

MSV acquired two of these sites, Parkmount and Princedom in Harpurhey. Parkmount comprised a 0.65 ha site situated on grassland in a largely residential area. Meanwhile, the Princedom site measured 0.5 acres and comprised two adjacent parcels of grassland, formerly occupied by terraces.

MSV appointed AEW to design a new affordable housing development on each of the sites. In light of the low carbon brief, we employed the expertise of our in house Certified Passivhaus Designer to lead the project. Together with MSV, the wider Design Team and local stakeholders, he worked hard to develop and refine proposals. This included encouraging the client to step away from maintenance-reliant sustainability technology towards a fabric-first approach and Passivhaus principles. This would ensure that MSV were delivering future-proofed homes for their residents who in turn will benefit from lower bills and comfortable, warmer and healthier homes which offer better air quality.

Engagement to refine and test the emerging proposals included public consultation events as well as extensive pre-app discussions with the Local Planning Authority and other departments within the Council.

Our final proposals achieved planning and secured the potential for 46 new affordable homes in the local area – 24 on Parkmount and 22 on Princedom.

At Parkmount, the 24 dwellings comprise a mix of townhouses and walk-up apartments, with buildings of 2- and 3-storeys in height. Princedom meanwhile accommodates 22, 2-storey terraced houses.

On both sites, the housing has been carefully designed to respond to the local area and are of a comparable scale, character and massing to nearby properties. Material choices were in keeping with the site’s surroundings and comprise red facing brick elevations, grey concrete roof tiles and light grey coloured doors and window frames. The elevations of the buildings are characterised by detailing within brickwork to break up the façade, emphasise positions and create further visual interest.

Following planning approval, we were retained to work with the Contractor to oversee the delivery of the 24 homes at Parkmount. All the houses achieve Passivhaus Classic Standard, while the apartment block meets the Passivhaus Low Energy Standard.