Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes
Key Principles
- Combining environmental standards and innovative design
Details
The Design for Manufacture competition challenged the development industry to build high-quality sustainable homes to a construction cost of £60,000 or £784 per m2. Within the strict cost parameters, homes were required to meet all of English Partnerships Quality Standards, whilst creating successful neighbourhoods that maximise the potential of each site.
Consortia were encouraged to develop construction efficiencies by working collaboratively with all the key players in the supply chain in order to maximise the potential quality and environmental performance of new homes.
The competitions’ success is reflected through the quality of homes currently under construction. At Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes, Taylor Wimpey with the Richard Rogers Partnerships are delivering 145 innovative and imaginative homes which demonstrate that rigorous environmental and quality standards can help generate an exciting urban design response; creating homes that function well internally and contribute positively to the surrounding streetscape.
The homes have been conceived with two distinct zones, services and living spaces. Walls, floors, ceilings, stairs, heating and ventilation systems are all prefabricated in a controlled factory environment, reducing on-site construction costs whilst ensuring the quality of the finished product.
Homes are designed to maximise ‘free’ features such as volume and light. An ‘Ecohat’ acts as a new generation chimney stack, creating interest to the streetscape, whilst filtering fresh air and recirculating hot air. The ‘Ecohat’ can easily be adapted to incorporate photovoltaics and solar hot water, achieving a 50% reduction in carbon emissions.
The Education Centre at Oxley Woods explains the social, economic and environmental advantages of the homes, helping to raise the understanding and aspirations of potential homeowners, and act as a practical demonstration to other house builders – how to achieve design quality and high environmental standards within reasonable construction costs.
“We’re proud of what we have come up with. By taking an exciting step outside our comfort zone, we’ve also taken house building a big step forward” Ian Sutcliffe, Chief Executive, Taylor Wimpey
Other Information
- Location: Milton Keynes
- Project Team: Key partners: English Partnerships, Developer: George Wimpey South Midlands, Masterplanner: David Lock Associates, Architect: Richard Rogers Partnership, Roger Stirk Harbour and partners
- Contact: www.designformanufacture.info
