Royal Manor
Portland
We have been working with Magna Housing, who are a community based Housing Association working primarily in Dorset and Somerset to take forward Phase 2 (the first building phase) of the Outline Planning Proposal WP19009190UT for the scheme prepared by Homes England on the site of the former Royal Manor Arts College, Western Road in Portland. Outline approval was granted in February 2021 and the Reserved Matters planning application for 41 homes for phase 2 was developed and submitted by One50studio in early 2022, with handover due in 2026.
Magna Housing have proposed to develop the entirety of Phase 2 as affordable housing. This is over and above the requirement of the outline approval to achieve a minimum of 25% affordable housing.
This will be spilt as follows:
- 14 homes to be shared ownership
- 27 homes to be social rent
Magna have pioneered a partnership with local volumetric MMC home manufacturing supplier Rollalong, in order to help progress a regional turnkey manufacturing solution for the provision of new homes on their development sites. This is in response to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) agenda to increase the use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) to accelerate the delivery of MMC homes in the UK.
One50studio had to also work with the requirement of the legal agreement established by Homes England and Magna that the design development should achieve a minimum of 10 from 12 of the criteria that define the Building for Healthy Lives urban design tool,. This was achieved through extensive dialogue with the BHL design assessors and the local authority through a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA).
The evolution of the site masterplan was integral to achieving the required level of urban design quality by balancing the principles of the BHL: assessment with the practical requirements of adopted roads and statutory highways design requirements as well as the fundamental needs of the client and their future tenants.