Housing Case Studies
Heathside and Lethbridge
Contract Value: £17.3 million
Contract Period: 105 weeks
Client: Family Mosaic
This £17.3 million design and build contract with Family Mosaic provides 138 mixed tenure flats to include general needs, shared ownership and private sale units over four six-storey concrete frame blocks with undercroft parking.
To assist in the sale of the private sale units Rydon provided Family Mosaic with a marketing suite. Rydon also handed over units in phases, enabling the decant process from the existing estate to the new estate to begin earlier, facilitating the demolition of future phases.
All flats have been designed to achieve Lifetime Homes. The project is SDS and Secure by Design compliant and achieves Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. In order to achieve this rating, Rydon increased the building fabric and provided the first phase of a district heating system and multi-functional green roofs for sustainable water drainage and other environmental benefits. SUDs were also incorporated into the hard standing drainage system to reduce the surface water run-off on the scheme.
With Rydon working alongside another contractor, traffic management and contractor parking had to be closely monitored. To ensure that no site personnel or subcontractors parked on the existing estate, Rydon carried out patrols to minimise parking issues.
Due to the location of the site being situated in a densely populated area, resident engagement was imperative. As a result of this, Rydon arranged a number of community events including a five-a-side football tournament, carnival day and funday. In addition to these initiatives, Rydon has also been able to offer job opportunities to the residents in site catering, cleaning, traffic management and labouring together with specific trade placements in carpentry, drylining and blockwork. Two apprentices were employed on site, one as a carpenter, the other as a Rydon site management trainee.
The following renewal features were incorporated:
- Green roofs as the most sustainable way to attenuate and utilise rainwater and enhance the overall biodiversity of the site. The green roofs include biodiverse planting of wildflower mix and sedum.
- District heating system to serve the entire housing estate.
- Sustainable urban drainage: An aqua system storm holding tank which collects rainwater to ensure that the main municipal drainage is protected from flooding.