Heath Clark North
Project: Heath Clark North
Location: Croydon, London
Client/Applicant: LSL Partners/Conegate Limited
Status: Planning permission granted
The brief
Heath Clark North is a mixed-use development site in Waddon, Croydon adjacent to the beautiful Duppas Hill Park. Designed to provide outstanding social value in a rapidly evolving London Borough, the proposal is to build 140 new homes around a lush central green space, and two new community facilities; one café/flexible use centre and one park pavilion.
The intention is to create a thriving new neighbourhood, focused on community and connectivity, surrounded by a highly sustainable and biodiverse environment.
Our approach
The Heath Clark North site is vacant but easily accessible and therefore viable for a mix of high-quality housing. It is bordered by the locally listed Duppas Hill Park, which is largely underutilised and could be revitalised as a community asset. An adjacent site, Heath Clark South, has consent for a residential development of 126 homes which our design proposal responded to.
Our approach began with extensive site analysis to gain a macro level of understanding of usage, local significance, heritage and aspiration, as well as the approved scheme for Heath Clark South. From here, we engaged the local planning authority, interest groups, wider community and other stakeholders before undertaking two pre-application processes.
Challenges were threefold; flood risk, green space and air quality. In the northwest corner of the site, an area was identified as high risk for surface water flooding. A multiple approach was developed to mitigate this risk, leaving the north-west, low-lying portion of the site undeveloped to avoid risk to homes, as well as retaining and improving an existing berm running the length of the eastern boundary. This topography increased opportunities for different types of planting, including 180 new trees, resulting in an Urban Greening Factor of 0.43 and a biodiversity increase of over 16%, both far exceeding minimum standards.
Our design
Our design strategy emerged through a combination of feedback from stakeholders, responses to local policy and lessons learned on Heath Clark South. Six key principles were established:
Community at the Heart;
Duppas Hill Park;
Connections;
Sustainability;
Green Spaces to Gather;
2023 Borough of Culture.
Placing community at the centre, the design evolved to have a head and a heart. The ‘head’ provides a new frontage to Duppas Hill Road and focal point for the community facilities while the ‘heart’ incorporates a central green space/garden with children’s play area and informal seating.
Design for the housing includes a mix of terraces, townhouses, maisonettes and mansion apartment blocks, all indicative of the local area. Homes are family-oriented, with the majority (40%) having three bedrooms, a flexible, open plan layout and dual aspect views. 10% are designed as wheelchair accessible or adaptable. Circa 200 cycle spaces are included.
Local character and landmarks informed massing, materiality and architectural detailing. Croydon Airport, one of Britain’s first international airports, is situated nearby. The building’s rational rhythm has informed the design for the new apartment blocks, including criss-cross detailing in the balustrading to mimic 1920s aeroplane wings.
In terms of energy, we promoted a fabric first approach supplemented with green and blue roofs and major investment in photovoltaics that goes well beyond the new Part L requirements. To cope with the major issue of summer overheating now experienced in the UK, we have designed an external shutter scheme, following examples from European schemes.
Finally, the current access to Duppas Hill Park is unattractive, not cohesive and in need of conscious planning. Our design seeks to thoughtfully link the new development with the Park, introducing new entrance points, pedestrian and cycle routes, public artwork trail and extensive landscaping.
The result
A planning application was submitted in November 2021 and permission was granted following a positive outcome at appeal in November 2022.