A prestigious accolade for Accordia Living

Redeham Homes’ Accordia Living development in Cambridge has become the highest ranking residential scheme ever in the Building for Life Awards, the national standard for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods by CABE and The Home Builders Federation.

The Building for Life awards are given annually to new housing projects that demonstrate a commitment to high design standards and good place making. The awards are judged by a panel of experts who score the design quality planned or completed housing developments against the 20 Building for Life criteria.

Accordia Living was recently awarded the winner scoring 18 out of 20 – the highest score ever given and is now a case study on the Building for Life website for future entries and people interested in knowing more about the awards.

The 20 Building for Life criteria embody their vision of functional, attractive and sustainable housing. New housing developments are scored against the criteria to assess the quality of their design. Accordia Living scored highly in all four categories a - environment & community, b - character, c - streets, parking and pedestrianisation and d - design & construction.

The judges’ comments included Dominic Church Senior Policy Advisor at CABE saying “what makes Accordia work so well is a mix of many different elements, partly to do with the location and partly to do with the actual design of the scheme.” Wayne Hemmingway Hemingway Design and Chair of Building for Life adding “Sometimes you walk into a development and you can clearly feel that this is a great place to live and it’s been well thought out.”

Pamela Reardon, Sales and Marketing Director of Redeham Homes comments: “The Building for Life awards celebrate the best practice in the house building industry and we are delighted that Accordia Living has been recognised and scored so highly. It is fantastic that in today’s competitive marketplace it is seen as a development that reflects design excellence – awarded for its innovative design which fuses together top quality layout, specification and landscaping to produce a variety of inspirational homes, which appeal to a wide range of people from investors and young-professionals to families.”

The Building for Life judges awarded Accordia Living such high marks due to it being an exemplary new residential scheme, which shows that it is possible for a volume housebuilder to support high quality architecture. The aim of the project was to create a close, cohesive community with as much open garden space as possible. The site was formerly occupied by low rise government offices and this project takes an innovative approach to external spaces.

The development comprises 212 houses and 166 apartments combining private buildings and affordable housing, and takes full advantage of the existing 700 trees on the site. There is a strong landscape framework, with courtyards, roof terraces, large balconies and a communal garden all designed as an integral part of the architecture.

Once complete, Accordia Living will provide a total of 203 one and two bedroom apartments and three and four bedroom townhouses. Designed by a team of award winning architects including Alison Brooks Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley and Macreanor Lavington Architects, the exterior of the properties have striking modern facades incorporating extensive glazing, brick, copper, wood and stainless steel.

The scheme is set alongside some of Cambridge’s most stunning period properties on Brooklands Avenue and is within walking distance of both the University’s Botanical Gardens and city’s mainline train station, which provides services to central London with journey times of just 48 minutes.

To view the case study and find out further information on the Building for Life Awards visit buildingforlife.org.uk. For more information on Accordia Living, visit redehamhomes.co.uk.