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Terra Firma were in the limelight recently with the opening of Southampton’s first zero carbon footprint housing development by Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud.
Stoneham Green, a development of eleven Code 6 sustainable homes designed by Ken Scaddan Architects with associated landscape designed by Terra Firma, was commissioned by Eastleigh based Housing Association Radian for local family rental and to the highest sustainable standards.
With roofs covered with PV panels, a communal biomass boiler heating system and each house fitted with a touch-screen Building Energy Management System, the dwellings encompass latest building technology within designs that maximise the benefits of orientation, shade and insulation.
The layout centres around two courtyards alongside a semi-rural lane adjacent to Stoneham Cemetery at the northern edge of the city. The landscape treatment includes shared surface small unit paving; retained trees; new native hedgeline to grow up around a sturdy wattle fenced boundary; plantings with loggeries and insect houses and also provides allotment beds for each home.
Radian’s ground maintenance and community development teams held gardening surgeries for new residents who moved in this spring; its contractors Drew Smith, donated allotment starter kits and tools; and the winner of the residents’ scarecrow building workshops (to watch over the newly planted vegetables) was judged by Kevin McCloud immediately prior to the official opening.
