We were part of a collaborative competition team shortlisted to design a new Garden Community for Latimer (Clarion Housing), the UK’s largest housing association. The Tendring and Colchester Borders Garden Community is expected to deliver thousands of new homes over the next 20 years as well as employment space, a new country park, an expansion of the University of Essex campus, a rapid transport system as well as shops, leisure and community facilities.

Given Latimer’s role as the UK’s largest Registered Provider, our approach focused heavily on the notion of stewardship and the physical and social benefits that can be brought forward by a developer able to take a long-term interest in creating a new homes that foster community. We proposed progressive and diverse forms of new suburban housing, set within a rich tapestry of enhanced blue and green infrastructure. New productive and wild landscapes, hedgerows and forests were to be established alongside housing typologies capable of providing an uplift to standard suburban densities. The masterplan proposed flexible and adaptable forms of live-work units for graduates of the University of Essex, as part of a web of modern industry.

The shortlisted scheme sought to embed the principles of regenerative design in environmental, social and economic dimensions to create a genuinely innovative and resilient new community.