The development brings together two adjacent sites – The Wood Yard and the current Ponsbourne Riding School. Both sites are in the Green Belt. It was their relationship to Ludgate Barn and Grangewood Stables that drove the concept designs.
When working in the Green Belt maintaining the openness is vital, and this was one of our reasons for partially sinking the large volume required for the riding school. The gently sloping site lent itself very well to this approach, blending it into the landscape around it.
The footprints are simple to allow for efficient construction. A mixed palette of materials – timber cladding, brick and slate – is used throughout the development, providing aesthetic links between the buildings and the landscape. This forms a strong connection to the environment in which the houses sit.
Ecological improvements to the immediate landscape in which the development sits, not only minimise the effects on the area’s biodiversity and wildlife, but improve on it.