Chevington Close

Ingleton Wood were engaged by Havebury Housing Partnership to develop 25 new dwellings on the site of the former South Court Care Home and Brooklands School in Bury St Edmunds. The site was previously occupied by the vacant South Court Care Home and Brooklands school buildings and is flanked by the neighbouring Riverwalk School, which is a school for children with profound and complex learning needs as well as sheltered accommodation.

The topography of the site was challenging due to the sloping nature of the local area and this ultimately dictated the proposed layout of the scheme. The need for a new access road into the site was also required, due to the existing access road not meeting the current adoptable standards, which again proved challenging due to the extreme differences in site levels around the perimeter of the site.

After lengthy negotiations with the neighbouring school and Suffolk County Council who owned the site, Ingleton Wood architectural and planning services facilitated a swift planning submission and determination of a planning application to secure 25 new dwellings. This included the provision of 6 one bedroom Home Ownership properties for long term disabled residents, as well as 8 one bedroom homes for people that require assisted living support, some of which were designed to a be fully wheelchair accessible.

This modern looking scheme predominantly uses a careful mixture of white render and lignacite rough faced blockwork to create an interesting aesthetic. Coloured cladding panels and corner windows have been used to enhance the visual amenity of the main built form within the site, whilst using the difficult levels within the site to add further interest to the built environment. Glass front first floor terraces have been incorporated to a limited number of the flats to provide additional outside amenity space, which provides quality outside space whilst being respectful to the sensitive surrounding aspects of the site.

This attractive and sustainable development has been designed to fully comply with Lifetime Homes, as well as achieving full accreditation from Secured by Design. Traditional masonry construction was used in tandem with a high-performance insulation, meaning that building regulations were easily surpassed.

The site was officially opened by Jo Churchill MP for Bury St Edmunds, Julia Wakelam, Mayor and Karen Mayhew, Chief Executive of Havebury Housing Partnership.