Norwich City Council Housing Programme

Employers Agent: Davis Langdon
Structural Engineer: Scott Wilson
Environmental appraisal: Delta Simons
Landscape Design: The Landscape Partnership
Energy Assessors: Amanda Stevens

In spring 2010 Norwich City Council invited tenders from Housing Associations to deliver and manage a housing programme across 16 sites in the City for affordable housing. Barefoot & Gilles was invited by Orwell Housing Association (OHA) to work with them and with ISG Jackson building contractors to tender for the contract.

Our tender was successful and OHA was commissioned to deliver the programme. We acted for OHA to obtain planning permission and subsequently novated to ISG Jackson for the on-site works.

The 16 sites presented challenges typical for inner urban development both at the planning stage and during construction. Planning required extensive consultation not only with Norwich Planning Services but also with the public. Accordingly, we set up a series of public meetings across the City the results of which were used to support our applications. Each site was treated as a separate planning application and a separate build contract.

The sites themselves varied from vacant land to garage sites and a range of design approaches and construction methods was required in response to context and site constraints. Where possible Modern Methods of Construction were employed with prefabricated structural panels craned in to pre-formed substructures. Where access was very restricted, materials were delivered to site for traditional masonry construction.

The programme was the first of its kind for decades in Norwich and delivered affordable homes on secure tenures to satisfy to a growing housing need. Norwich City Council now delivers housing on its own account and the success of this initial programme can be seen as a first step to achieving this capability.