Assisted living care facility, Thornbury

Our design proposals for this area provided for 26 flats on two levels and two large rooms for communal activities, as well as auxiliary spaces for a communal kitchen, WC facilities and plant room. 

The buildings were positioned around a central communal green space, with a reed-bed pond and flowform water features, to provide a quiet, protected outdoor and bio-diverse space for residents’ and nature’s benefit and enjoyment. This would also provide the final processing of the waste water produced by the residents. 

The soil removed to lower the development in the landscape would be re-used to create large earth berms to the outer side of the flats, so that the lower ground floor flats were protected from the elements. This would reduce heat loss and allow for ground-level, ramped access to the upper ground floor accommodation.

We proposed that the roofs not being used for solar thermal and PV collection be turned into green roofs, to maintain and improve the existing level of bio-diversity on the site. We were looking at using natural and sustainable building materials such as straw bale and cob walls, and sustainably sourced timber.