Kensington Street

This proposal, to provide 12 affordable units across three infill sites, forms part of Brighton and Hove City Council’s New Homes for Neighbourhood Estate Regeneration Programme. This aims to tackle a shortage of affordable housing and meet the City Plan housing target of 500 new homes on HRA land by 2030.

A central location

Kensington Street is a narrow street within the North Laine area of central Brighton, running north-south from North Road to Gloucester Road.

The street was originally laid out circa 1823-30 with very small two to three-storey cottages with very shallow plots, stretching approximately 7.5m from the back of the pavement to the rear of the plot, with a continuous frontage along its length.

‘Slum clearance’ in the late 60s and early 70s saw the removal of numbers 4-7, 9 and 11-14 Kensington Street. Vacant sites were paved over for parking, leaving three gaps along the length of the street.

the chance to be bold

The scheme forms part of Brighton and Hove City Council’s New Homes for Neighbourhood Estate Regeneration Programme, designed to help tackle a shortage of affordable housing and meet the City Plan housing target of 500 new homes on HRA land by 2030.

The proposals seek to provide 12 affordable units across the three infill sites. There are no obvious clues to suggest what architecture is appropriate for the new development, surrounding buildings being eclectic in style, period and materials.

The opportunity therefore exists to make a bold statement, without any obvious constraining features other than the tight urban nature of the site and the scale of the buildings nearby.

responding to surroundings

However, features of the North Laine and other local conservation areas will inform the material palette and the form of development.

The scheme itself uses repetition in the manner of the local Victorian streets to give a rhythm to the elevations. Windows are finished in a complimentary grey colour, whilst vibrant coloured panels nod towards the brightly painted shop fronts in the North Laine area.

Many new infill developments in the North Laine area use render as their main facing material, a cheap and contextual reference in most cases. As proposed units will front directly onto the pavement, making them vulnerable to graffiti, we propose a more robust and low maintenance brick finish.

Planning approval was granted in November 2016 and construction will commence in Spring 2018.