We are delighted to report another awards success, this time at the annual RTPI awards for Keepmoat’s ‘The Sycamores’ scheme in Stockton on Tees.
House builders often use trees to name their developments, but in this case the name is truly well deserved since the site is host to dozens of mature trees. This scheme was unusual, as it was a genuinely landscape-led housing development driven by the vision of keeping the best existing mature trees.
Ros Southern commented, ‘I remember burning some midnight oil on this job because we had to select which of the 250 mature trees to keep, to inform the architectural layout. This felt like an incredibly tough decision, because we sadly could not keep them all. The tree survey was helpful, but did not include aesthetic value, which we felt was also a key factor. We assessed each individual tree on site to add that category to the survey, and ensure that the best trees were protected and weaker trees removed. Stockton Borough Council had highlighted the importance of the trees in their brief for the development site, and Keepmoat Homes were fully supportive and made sure we had the time and opportunity to do this properly at the start of the bidding process- their leadership was critical in making this happen in priority to other pressures.’
This approach is evident today in this town centre scheme by IDPartnership, of 167 affordable family houses now under construction. The scheme already feels like a leafy community oasis, bringing about a genuinely transformational development to this brownfield site.
Design Progression:
- Site notes assessing existing mature trees for amenity and aesthetic value
- Using best trees to create green space areas
- Landscape Strategy
