Our vision was to bring an updated form of housing to the Isle of Thanet, designed for modern living from inside to outside. Our design response sought to create a strong sense of place and contemporary identity and to take references from the historical background, but to treat them in a more subtle way – using forms, colours, materials, textures, reflectance values and natural landscaping to meld with the context. We summarised this design approach as ‘agriculture meets coastal’.

The development offered an opportunity to create an oval of new housing, with a protected central area acting as focus for the new community. The edges of the parcels face New Haine Road, a new access road and the southern boundary, formed from a new ’greenway’ landscape feature. Our landscape strategy forms a key element of the design, creating a relaxing and protective environment with a good balance of public and private amenity space.

New Haine Road offers the opportunity to set a new standard for small and medium sized family housing which will provide an aspiring character and sense of place for future residents.

The initials designs were presented in series of pre-application meetings with Thanet District Council which were well received, and the design team and client were encouraged to progress. Following this we prepared and submitted the detailed design proposals for a reserved matters planning application for 54 new build homes and associated landscape areas which was later granted consent.