Having acquired a mews of 35 Victorian lock-up garages and workshops in 2001, full planning permission to develop the site was not granted to Lincoln Holdings until 2004 with firm guidance from the planners on the minimum distances that would be allowed between facing windows. The design by Brooks Murray architects with the roof pitch aligned with what adjacent residents used to see was ingenious, achieving a remarkable density of 140 units per hectare, higher than that of many apartment developments. The sedum roofs, supported by steel frames on load bearing walls, have effectively replaced the previous shabby business premises with green space. Although the there are no windows to the backs, the new houses do not feel claustrophobic. The angled, staggered bays and tiny balconies- with obscured glass on the principal first floor windows required by planning conditions solved the problem of over looking, despite the fact that the face to face dimension of the mews is only 3.6 metres. The Judges commented: “The development is an inspired complement to perimeter blocks in the hunt for housing density”.
Photography: Tom Crocker (07985 751994)
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