“A company that is leading the way in sustainability and modern methods of construction,” said the judges of Crest Nicholson. And how.
The company is set to develop some of the most environmentally sustainable housing schemes in the country in the form of the zero carbon One Gallions development in east London and at New England Quarter in Brighton. Add to that the three sites it is developing using modern methods of construction under the government’s Design for Manufacture initiative and you have a considerable force for change and innovation.
Crest Nicholson is taking on all the challenges that the government has thrown at the housebuilding industry. Its zero carbon schemes in east London and Brighton, where it is working with BioRegional Quintain and Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects, will not only fit the government agenda, but will give the homebuying public and the housebuilding industry a glimpse of the future as the industry moves towards building zero carbon homes by 2016.
The company is one of seven housing providers to win sites through English Partnerships-run Design for Manufacture competition, which set the target of coming up with an innovative house design that could be built for £60,000. Crest’s Design for Manufacture house, designed by architect Sheppard Robson, was first shown off to the public when the housebuilder audaciously built one and exhibited it outside London’s Building Centre. The house is now being built for real at sites in Newport Pagnell and Maidstone.
Even without prompting from central government, Crest Nicholson has demonstrated that it will go the extra mile to create sustainable communities. In Birmingham, its decade-long Park Central regeneration project, designed by Gardner Stewart Architects, has become a model for the transformation of problem estates, combining new mixed tenure homes with a 3ha landscaped park. There are plans to end the scheme with a flourish. What else could that flourish be but an eco-tower.
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