Plans in for Lancaster council housing
The local authority wants to build 135 homes at the former Skerton High School as it looks to deliver affordable living.
Subject to securing planning permission, the design proposals reimagine the former school site in a scheme featuring modern apartments and housing “that reflect the heritage of the area”.
Planner Turley leads a professional team that also includes Azymuth Acoustics, Energy Counsel and MD Landscape.
At the heart of the proposals are two sets of new apartments, at the centre of which is a large square providing shared amenity space.
The central square is complemented by a lawn with cafe style seating around the edge, with an additional community area on the ground floor of one of the apartment buildings providing an indoor space.
Behind the apartment blocks will be three terraces of two-, three-, and four bedroom houses, with reduced traffic flow and play space for children. All of the buildings have been designed to create highly insulated homes to keep the amount of energy required to heat them to a minimum.
Solar panels on all of the flat and south facing roofs will allow renewable energy to be generated on site.
Cllr Caroline Jackson, cabinet member with responsibility for housing, said: “These ambitious plans represent a once in a generation opportunity to transform the lives of people in this area of Lancaster with new, modern homes that benefit from the latest energy efficiency measures.
“We’ve placed the community at the heart of the proposals and we’re grateful to all those who helped us shape the plans through the many engagement events we held.
“Many of the suggestions people had about the development, such as providing areas where residents can grow their own food, have been incorporated into the final design. If approved, these plans will breathe new life into this area of Lancaster with a development that’s fit for the future.”
Additional facilities provided as part of the proposals include children’s play facilities and two new football pitches, complete with changing facilities for players and officials.
The two rows of cherry trees that line the entrance way and frame the playing fields at the front of the site will be retained as part of the proposals, details of which are viewable on Lancaster’s planning portal with the reference 24/00509/FUL.
Yet again a colour scheme is chosen that is utterly dismal and not good for the human spirit . Its all very well showing a bright and sunny sky but that hardly reflects the usual reality here in the North West of England . It is usually dull and gray . So let’s have more dullness shall we ? No thank you .
By Anonymous
Designing homes for a low standard of living, people need houses with gardens
By Anonymous
I understand that affordable housing has to be delivered in the Local Authority, and in doing so, a cut in costs has to be made in the design and materials to make the development viable. However, claiming the proposals “reflect the heritage of the area” is a bit of a joke. There is nothing in these designs that add or blend in to the heritage of the city at all.
By Anonymous
Great to see another council pushing its own affordable housing schemes.
By Sceptic
Utterly horrendous. Ugly, depressing, a scar on the landscape more in keeping with 1960’s and 70’s slum blocks. God help us. Who thinks this is ok in 2024?! Honestly, who? What architect and developer thinks we want to look at this?
By James D
@May 23, 2024 at 1:32 pm
By Anonymous
The answer here are townhouses with rear gardens – gentle density.
Bar the recessed balconies, these are downright ugly.
By Anonymous
Loving the ‘tell me you’re a NIMBY without telling me you’re a NIMBY’ vibes on this thread.
By Rich X
Glad to see they’re keeping the cherry trees, looks better than expected but it was a shame to loose the art deco style school building, time moves on though.
By Anonymous
@May 23, 2024 at 9:21 pm
By Rich X
This is false equivalence in my view. It’s perfectly reasonable to be pro-development but be very critical of a mediocre scheme.
All the developers need to do is come back with a better design.
By Anonymous
If we are setting the bar for Lancaster that Peter Barber has to design council housing, then a lot of people who struggle are going to get housed. Can’t see the lay-outs, but they appear to have generous balconies, and durable cladding, and would easily pass muster in Manchester or Leeds, why is Lancaster so special.
By Rich X
Share all the concern raised in the comments. Anybody who knows Lancaster is aware of the socio-economic challenges around Ryelands and Skerton, in large part a consequence of awful design (Acre Court, Miller Court) and concentrating dense social housing in one spot, hemmed in and severed by car centric infrastructure.
Ryelands / Skerton is crying out for mixed income housing. Exclusively building high density council housing in the most deprived parts of Lancaster and Morecambe hasn’t worked for the last 70+ years, why keep following a discredited strategy?
By Anonymous
There’s a lot to like about this scheme but the elevations facing Owen Road need to be revisited.
By Gene Walker
Looks more like student Citi-blocks than family housing
By Anonymous
I thought that picture was of the monstrosity that is Mainway, not what they are aiming for, for the future. Hideous. Just because people need social housing doesn’t mean they can’t live in nicer surroundings.
By Horrified
With all the pressure on housing, why give so much space to football pitches etc, when there is a lot of provision just over the road in what is now sadly a very run down park? And given the issues picked up on Mainway in various consultants reports, why repeat the issues of flats, relatively high density housing, and “communal” spaces that seem to be magnets for anti-social behaviour?
By Anonymous
Question to the designers – If you really had a choice about where to live, would you want to live in a block that bordered on to a football pitch? A pitch that presumably runs the risk at night of becoming a no go area?
By Anonymous