Project of the Year – Residential
Awarded for the new build of a residential building that most effectively demonstrates high levels of user satisfaction and comfort while delivering outstanding measured building performance, including – but not limited to – residential developments and refurbishment projects.
Winner: Agar Grove Estate Regeneration: Phase 1A – Max Fordham
‘If all residential projects were like this, people would be very happy!’
That was the verdict of the judges who named Max Fordham’s Agar Grove Estate Regeneration the residential project of the year.
The judges said the Agar Grove project team had not just done one thing well: the M&E design is great, the architectural design excellent and the pre- and post-occupancy evaluation very thorough.
The £11.5m first phase of Camden’s largest community investment project comprises 38 social-rented homes, and more than 90% of the estate residents were engaged in commenting on the proposals.
The M&E design brief focused on reducing residents’ fuel bills, cutting carbon, and minimising maintenance requirements. A logical extension of this approach was the Passivhaus (PH) standard, using fabric-first design to reduce heat losses and to model building performance more accurately.
The scheme is now one of the largest PH developments in the UK, and the first to make use of communal MVHR. The award judges said it showed how ‘Passivhaus can be delivered at scale and in the public sector’.
After handover, the contractor and client teams created clear, understandable home user guides – described as ‘excellent’ by the judges – to explain the PH standard to residents and give them guidance on controls.
Three sample flats were used to monitor building performance, and results showed that comfortable air quality is achieved, with humidity and CO2 within recommended parameters most of the time.
This was confirmed by resident feedback, collected via questionnaires and one-to-one meetings. All respondents felt the air quality was good, and there were no significant complaints about summer temperatures.
Project team:
Building services consultant: Max Fordham
Building owner: Camden Council
Project manager and quantity surveyor: Arcadis
Architects: Hawkins\Brown (lead) with Mae
Mechanical/electrical engineering contractor: Mark Robinson Associates
Main contractor: Hill Partnership
Passivhaus certifier: WARM
Contractor architect/Passivhaus consultant: Architype
Structural engineer: Peter Brett Associates
Shortlist
Park View Student Village - Desco (Design & Consultancy)
Quayside, Totnes - FairHeat