Westwick Row, Hemel Hempstead for The Crown Estate and TOWN with David Lock Associates, Periscope, Mole, Archio, David Lock Associates

Westwick Row, Hemel Hempstead for The Crown Estate and TOWN with David Lock Associates, Periscope, Mole, Archio, David Lock Associates

 

Westwick Row will deliver 75 new homes in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. The project is exploring innovative community engagement methods and alternative housing models, including collaborative housing and intergenerational living and seeks to build on its location close to one of the first post-war New Towns to create a welcoming place of community, homes and green space for a new generation.

 

 

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

 

Westwick Row sits on the eastern edge of Hemel Hempstead, in Leverstock Green — a long-established neighbourhood with a village feel, shaped by its hedgerows, trees and quiet lanes. The two-hectare site lies between Westwick Row and Green Lane, close to homes, a primary school and community facilities. Hemel Hempstead was one of the first post-war New Towns, planned to give people good homes, access to nature and strong local communities. Westwick Row picks up that legacy for the 21st century, creating a neighbourhood that balances growth with a strong sense of place and belonging. The project builds on this position at the edge of Leverstock Green to explore how new housing can strengthen local connections. It will bring together different types of housing —a cohousing community shaped and managed by its residents, alongside homes for rent — in a shared landscape of gardens, play spaces and green routes. Local people and future residents have been closely involved from the start, through public consultation and a nine-month programme of codesign workshops. Their priorities: for sociable streets, safer walking and cycling routes, and homes that are genuinely sustainable, have shaped the proposals from the outset. Westwick Row is designed as part of the fabric of Hemel Hempstead’s future: a small but important piece of a larger story about how suburban growth can be community-oriented and low-carbon. The project reinterprets the spirit of the Hemel New Town – renewing its original promise of community, homes and green space for a new generation.

 

Please describe your approach to this future place and its mix of uses. How will it function as a vibrant place? How does it knit into, and serve the needs of, the wider area?

 

Westwick Row is a compact, mixed neighbourhood that reimagines what suburban living can be. It combines two different housing models – cohousing and Build to Rent (BTR) – to create a place that responds to local needs , supports community life and offers choice and long-term stability. The mix of homes reflects local demand for high-quality, energy-efficient housing in a well-connected part of Hemel Hempstead. The cohousing element offers an opportunity for people to buy into a strong, participative community, and the BTR homes provide flexible, well-managed housing for a wider range of households. Together they bring healthy social and tenure mix, with residents connected by shared spaces and amenities. Cohousing brings an immediate social richness to a place that is still growing. It creates an anchor for community life and a model for neighbourly living that can ripple outwards: influencing how future residents connect, how public spaces are used, and how the wider neighbourhood’s culture evolves. The masterplan is organised around shared spaces rather than roads. Homes cluster around gardens, courtyards and play areas that encourage daily encounters and make it easy for children to play safely and independently within sight of home. The Square and Community Hub create a sociable focal point for events and activities open to both residents and the wider community. New walking and cycling links further connect it into Hemel Garden Communities network.

 

Please explain the governance of the project, such as its viability, purpose, motivation and any consultation and community engagement undertaken. 

 

Westwick Row is being developed in partnership between TOWN and The Crown Estate and aims to explore how participative development can deliver better social and environmental outcomes. Its purpose is to create a neighbourhood that is shaped and stewarded by its residents and neighbours, offering a model that can be scaled to inform other Crown Estate projects across the UK. While ensuring a financial return is essential to the responsible management of public money, The Crown Estate is able to take a longer-term view, prioritising environmental performance and social value alongside financial outcomes. This approach enables higher environmental standards and supports meaningful community involvement. Governance will evolve through the project. It is expected that the cohousing group will take responsibility for its own homes and common facilities; whilst build to rent tenants will have deeper levels of engagement; and both, alongside other stakeholders will be represented within an overarching management body. Extensive engagement has underpinned the design. Local people, councillors and community organisations have been involved through public exhibitions, interviews and workshops. Future residents of the cohousing group, a Renters Panel made up of people renting in the local area, and the Ideas Exchange – a demographically representative panel of local residents – have all been participating in a codesign process, shaping everything from home layouts to shared amenities. In total, twelve codesign sessions have been held, amounting to more than 35 hours of collaborative workshops.