A range of housing developments across the UK are now involved as ‘study sites’ for the development of the Home Quality Mark, the new national quality mark for quality and sustainability in housing. This includes some of the country’s leading developers and housing providers from both the private and social housing sector. Some of the first examples include:
HAB Housing, King’s Worthy, Winchester
Located on the edge of the village of Kings Worthy just two miles from Winchester City Centre, HAB’s scheme comprises 50 one to five bedroom custom build homes, 30 private and 20 affordable housing. HAB are seeking to future proof the homes so that they are more resilient to climate change by paying attention to things like the orientation of the home and shadowing. In terms of digital connectivity, HAB plan to use smart home technology to enhance the customer’s experience of living on the homes. This aims to make people’s lives easier and allow them to have clear visibility on how the technology is helping them, for example including easy to understand information on energy consumption. As part of the scheme HAB are doubling the size of an adjacent park and delivering a range of community facilities including allotments and a running track.
Cala Homes, Curbridge Road, Witney
The CALA scheme on Curbridge Road in Witney will be an exciting opportunity for first and second time buyers to find a high quality, well designed and expertly crafted new home. The development includes affordable and open market houses. The development is designed to offer high quality housing on a small scheme and to appeal to those less keen on nearby large consortium developments. Witney is an attractive market town offering local employment, education and recreational facilities as well as good transport links to larger neighbouring towns.
Pocket Living, Mapleton Crescent, Wandsworth
Mapleton Crescent is Pocket Living’s landmark development, forming the single largest development to-date of affordable ‘Pocket Homes’ (38m² 1 bedroom 1 person) designed with the ambition of delivering housing on complex sites with innovative design. The scheme seeks to deliver 60 affordable dwellings and 26 market sale units, with ground floor communal facilities. The site is located on Mapleton Crescent and fronts onto the River Wandle to the east, it is in a sustainable location with good access to public transport including bus stops to central London and Wandsworth Town train station. During the initial stages of development, the team worked extensively to identify a form and mass for the building envelopment, seeking to maximise delivery of affordable housing whilst remaining mindful of construction and operational cost and as a result have always been driven by the scheme’s overall deliverability.
Study sites are also underway with developers including Gentoo Homes in Sunderland, Lend Lease in Elephant & Castle, London, and Kier Living in Royston. Overall there are now more than 26 study sites providing feedback, and the full list of supporters involved with HQM is shown here
About HQM
The Home Quality Mark (HQM) is the new national quality mark designed to give people the confidence that the new homes they are choosing to buy or rent are well designed, well built, and cost effective to run. It will also allow housebuilders to demonstrate the high quality of their homes and to differentiate them in the marketplace. It is being developed by BRE with an extensive list of partners from the private and social housing sectors and will promote the positive attributes of quality and performance in a new build home. More information at www.homequalitymark.com or follow HQM on Twitter at @homeqm
About HQM study sites
HQM study sites are used to inform the development of the new scheme, encompassing technical, operational and marketing issues. They consist of private and social housing developments across the UK, at various stages of development and various sizes and types of construction. Information obtained from the study sites is used to test the HQM approach and develop the HQM scoring system and indicators.
