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Our work with Cambridge Housing Society involved two major projects, Peter Maitland Court on Victoria Road and the Nuffield Road masterplan.

Peter Maitland Court:

The site of the United Reformed Church which has been rehoused in the nearby extended St Luke’s Church was offered for redevelopment. Bland, Brown & Cole prepared a feasibility study for this site and the adjacent houses on behalf of the Cambridge Housing Society in October 1985.

The brief was for a massed, phased development comprising flats for predominately single people and a warden-supported group for seven young single parents with babies, and a group home for nine mentally handicapped residents.

The brief grew in January 1986 to include a Nursery with facilities for the single parents as well as the surrounding community. It also provides a focus of activity in the heart of the development.

The scheme is arranged on three storeys around a central private courtyard overlooked by balconies, and designed to present a low profile to the busy Victoria Road.

Our role as Architects throughout what amounted to a seven year period ranged beyond that of simply the designers. As executors of a complex series of buildings, knit back into the existing street pattern with considerably increased density, but we had to take due regard for appearance and Planning issues.

We also acted in preparation of the Briefs, liaised with a wide range of statutory bodies, and supported our clients in keeping the projects alive throughout a lengthy and sometimes frustrating process, whilst maintaining good relations with the local community.

Client: Cambridge Housing Society Ltd Quantity Surveyor: Fellows and Ballard Structural Consultant: Hannah Reed & Associates Services Consultant: IBS Design Partnership Main Contractor: Sindall (Cambridge) Ltd Contract Value: £2.1 million Completion Date: November 1991

Nuffield Road:

Our masterplan developed with Cambridge Housing Society for this area of east Cambridge has three main elements, which were designed holistically but implimented under separate contracts.

As well as a medical centre, there is a group home for Cambridge Mencap and fifteen dwellings for single parent families in association with Harvey Housing Association.