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Contract Name: Desborough Road, High Wycombe
Contract Sum: £6,931,920
Contract Period: 78 Weeks
Architect: Baily Garner
Client: Catalyst Housing Group

Project photos

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The scheme at Desborough Road, High Wycombe was carried out under a PPC 2000 contract between Rydon Construction, Catalyst Housing Group and Baily Garner, with the end user being divided between Catalyst Communitities Housing Association, with 31 units for rented accommodation, and Key Start Housing Association with 32 units for shared ownership occupation.

The 63 units comprise a combination of one and two bedroom flats, all built in one block around the perimeter of the site, thereby creating a central private courtyard. The central courtyard accommodates car parking facilities linking in to some additional undercroft parking as well as a communal, landscaped area for use by the residents.

The site slopes from one side to the other by a total of 2.5m and as a result is constructed of four storeys to the Desborough Road street elevation and three storeys to the West End Road elevation, with the single storey undercroft car parking tying the levels in.

Planning consideration was sympathetically progressed by Rydon Construction in parallel with Baily Garner and Catalyst, working with the Wycombe District Council Planning Officers. Principal planning considerations discussed included the treatments to the external elevations, particularly those along Desborough Road and West End Street and at the corner of the two.

The materials that were selected on the street fronts are a combination of cedar cladding and brickwork, chosen by the Planners to complement and enhance the surrounding buildings, in particular the listed church adjacent to the site.

Planning consent was granted for the development in January 2005, with construction starting in February 2005. The Scheme was completed in October 2006.