The location for Countryside Properties’ Accordia was a brownfield site, but not the archetypal patch of contaminated industrial land. This was the site of sprawling former government offices and its buildings were surrounded by more than 700 mature trees. The buildings were demolished but the remaining trees became the framework for the project’s masterplan, created by Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects. They also gave the scheme its theme: living in the garden. To achieve design diversity across this rather special site two more architectural practices were brought onto the project to work alongside the masterplanner, each designing a collection of homes. Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects, Maccreanor Lavington and Alison Brooks Architects have however all taken the wooded setting as their inspiration, using complementary building materials such as stock brick, copper and timber to create very different home designs, ranging from modern mews with cleverly integrated car parking to luxury townhouses whose open plan living is wrapped in extravagant expanses of glazing. No wonder the design innovation impressed our judges. All of the houses, apartments and duplexes are surrounded by green spaces planted in a variety of ways: with fruit, trees, herbs and berries, with formal lawns, or as a more natural environment of reed beds and meadows. The generous provision of terraces and balconies at varying levels in the homes allows all residents to enjoy the glories of the garden. Add to this the fact that all homes have a rating of very good under the EcoHomes environmental performance standard and it is clear that this scheme is green all the way through. Environmentally friendly living has seldom looked so appealing.
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