Totnes housing scheme wins design award

At the national Housing Design Awards in Whitehall last week the Totnes Housing Scheme ‘South Gate’ not only won a completed scheme award, but was also the overall winner.

The presentation was made by the Right Honourable Ian Austin MP, the Secretary of State for Housing who stated: “This was a collaborative effort. The local authority asked for Eco-homes excellence and then shared the higher costs attributed to this with the landowner and the developer. It is a remarkable story of teamwork and, as such, it shows the partnership can still deliver our ambitions for quality homes and environments to live in”.

South Gate in Totnes provides 51 contemporary new homes, comprising a range of family houses and apartments of which 26 are ‘affordable homes’. The development is situated on four separate sites originally owned by South Hams District Council.

The Council initially suggested a scheme which was not accepted by the local community. This led to a greater involvement of the local community through a partnership of the district council, Totnes Town Council, Design Our Space and architects working together to design a more acceptable solution. It was this solution which was then built by Midas Homes, working in a joint venture partnership with South Hams District Council, and the original architects Harrison Sutton Partnership ensuring that their design was completed satisfactorily.

The architect, Peter Sutton, paid tribute to the community of Totnes in the acceptance speech, thanking them for their ‘hands on’ involvement and for requiring a contemporary design and not a pastiche.

Alan Robinson, Strategic Director (Community) for South Hams District Council said: “Winning this prestigious national award is welcome recognition for all the hard work and dedication put into this project by a large number of people especially Design Our Space and Totnes Town Council.

“It is of prime importance to us that this land is used to meet the needs of the town, particularly contributing to providing affordable housing to meet local demand.”

Nick Hodgson from Midas Homes said: “The success of the project was a reflection of the way the Council engaged with the community, remained involved in the project and supported the appointment of local architects, Harrison Sutton, to ensure the delivery of a quality scheme.

“Midas Homes are delighted that the scheme was given this award and we have enjoyed working on a challenging but high quality project which enabled us to utilise our skills and experience to meet the aspirations of all the partners.”