Cherry Garden Road, Affordable Housing Architecture Portfolio

Great Waltham, Essex

Urban Affordable Housing Code Level 3

Cherry Garden Road is an example of a garage site which became redundant as local residents prefer street parking closer to home and the garages themselves were no longer suitable for modern vehicles. The CHP estate includes many of these sites and Barefoot & Gilles is involved in a programme of re-purposing them for residential use.

Developing these sites can, however, prove to be a long-term commitment as complexities such as established access rights, possessory titles and parking displacement need to be resolved before on-site work can begin.

Cherry Garden Road is a good example of this process. Initial Local Authority planning discussions took place in October 2012 but planning permission wasn’t granted until November 2015. Following numerous consultations and scheme revisions

Even so, access rights to an adjoining premises were not agreed until late 2017 with work starting on site in November 2018. The houses were completed in March 2020.

As a secluded site surrounded by the rear gardens of adjoining properties the area was susceptible to anti-social behaviour. The development now provides 10 new dwellings with access to an adjoining scout hut, an area of public open space and illuminated footpaths to the neighbouring junior school.