Agar Grove, London Borough of Camden for The London Borough of Camden and The Residents of the Agar Grove Estate with Hawkins\Brown and Mae

The masterplan in Camden delivers 496 new homes, including affordable council homes, Camden Living Rent, and private sale units to fund the scheme. With a tenure-blind design, 70% of homes meet Passivhaus standards. A phased approach ensures residents are not displaced during construction, and responsive seasonal assessments optimize living conditions. The project combines sustainable design with diverse housing options to meet community needs.

Healthy Homes is supported by Wates Group and in association with the TCPA

Who is on the project? 

Architects: Hawkins\Brown and Mae

Landscape architect: Grant Associates

Contractors: Hill Partnerships LLP 

Planning consultant: CMA Planning

Structural engineer: Peter Brett Associates

Services engineer: Max Fordham

Passivhaus assessor: Max Fordham

Passivhaus consultant: WARM

Project manager: EC Harris

Financial viability & quantity surveyor: EC Harris

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and how the project was informed by health evidence and housing need.

The new buildings of the Agar Grove estate are designed, built and certified to Passivhaus standards, reducing carbon emissions in use by reducing energy for heating and cooling to maintain comfortable temperatures in the building throughout the year; using fabric first Passivhaus standards of increased insulation levels, better airtightness, minimised thermal bridging, high performance windows and a mechanical ventilation system with heat exchangers. Built in the mid-1960s, Agar Grove has always been a popular place to live, but by today’s design standards, the layout of the estate was inefficient, outdated and disconnected from the wider community. The masterplan provides 496 new homes in the London Borough of Camden, including affordable council homes and temporary accommodation as well as private sale homes to help fund the scheme. The design prioritises energy performance in order to tackle fuel poverty. 70% of homes will be built to Passivhaus standard using a ‘fabric first’ approach for superior energy performance and human comfort, making it the largest Passivhaus development in the UK. The new homes built to Passivhaus standards also create better quality homes in terms of air quality with air filters, reduced drafts, peace and quiet and increased comfort overall.

How does this housing or mixed-use project address the Healthy Homes Principles, including ensuring affordable and secure tenancy arrangements?

All existing residents of the Agar Grove estate were offered the right to return to the estate by Camden, and the detailed phasing and decant of the residents has been developed to help this happen with as little disruption to residents as possible. Active frontages with double-height shared entrances and single-height entrances to maisonettes and wheelchair flats line the street-side elevations. Bedrooms are placed either at first-floor level or face onto the courtyard gardens. Natural light and open spaces make the homes welcoming and spacious. Double-height communal entrances offer a direct view through the building to the residents’ garden on entering. Stairwells and corridors are naturally lit and ventilated. Internal glazing within the flats also helps to bring light into the deeper parts of the plan, and tall external windows bring light deep into the flats while offering engaging views out. The buildings are designed to Secure by Design standards and the public realm and streets are overlooked by windows of the surrounding maisonettes and flats. Central to the new estate layout are amenity spaces and play spaces including a Multi Use Games area and new tree and plant provision within new communal gardens and courtyards. A new community hall and Tenant Management Organisation offices are also being provided in the current phase already under construction. As part of a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) led by Camden, tailored occupant feedback questionnaires for summer and winter were handed out to residents. All respondents felt the air quality was good. The feedback on summer temperatures was more mixed and prompted Camden to help educate residents on how to best keep their flats cool, such as by closing blinds to reduce solar gains. Learning lessons from the previous phases, the thermal envelope of the larger building has been simplified, reducing the area exposed to the elements. We added glazing to any recessed balconies not at the buildings’ corners to create ‘solariums’. Utilising large, triple-glazed windows, two-thirds of the window can be opened to create the experience of a winter garden. The development is Passivhaus certified, and Phase 1A received the UK Passivhaus Trust Award in 2021. Wheelchair-adapted ground floor flats fulfil the 10% quota of wheelchair-adaptable homes with spaces planned for easy adaptation to AD M4(3) standards. With the design for the ground floor laterals, we have placed kitchen units internally and a wide strip of low-level planting externally to ensure residents would have as much privacy as possible whilst encouraging passive surveillance of the street. Agar Grove is tenure blind, with no distinction between the build quality of the market sale, affordable, and social housing. All communal play facilities are integrated and shared between the blocks. Ground floor flats and maisonettes have private gardens and some flats at 1-15 Milburn Lane have access to a roof terrace. Alongside the communal gardens and children’s playgrounds there are residents’ growing areas, including espalier fruit trees which offer residents the benefit of connecting with nature which is a well understood benefit for mental and physical wellbeing.  

Tell us what you did to help promote, monitor or manage health and how this informed the design, delivery and the ongoing governance of the project. Was the community engaged in the process?

Agar Grove is the largest project under construction under the London Borough of Camden’s Community Investment Programme. Following intensive consultation with existing residents, the masterplan design is based on the traditional concept of ‘streets and squares’ with an emphasis on buildings which have doors at street level, creating liveable spaces between them and allowing people to move across, through and within the estate. We adapted our approach to services and heating systems in response to the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) following Phases 1A and 1B. Phase 1A included a communal MVHR system, while Phase 1B used individual MVHR units for each apartment. Phase 1C is entirely electrically heated, using an ambient loop heat pump system. Agar Grove was showcased by the Department for Communities and Local Government Estate Regeneration National Strategy as a great place to live and work; one that gives people the power to shape what happens in their area. “The Agar Grove estate is a great example of how estate regeneration should be done: helping existing residents play an active role in shaping the future of their neighbourhood and ensuring the development works both for them and for future residents,” said Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills.