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Caterham Village

Figure grounds showing location of central reservation and housing square

Information

Location: Caterham, Surrey, Caterham, Surrey CR3 5XY

Built: 2001

Designer: Linden Homes (developer) / John Thompson & Partners (architects)

Type: suburban

Density: 37 homes per hectare

Parking ratio: 195%

A mixed-use redevelopment of Caterham Barracks relies on unallocated parking alongside commercial elements to manage demand for parking. The scheme illustrates techniques for putting the car on street in an easy to park arrangement which supports the streetscape.

This former brownfield site contains 348 dwellings, 27% of which are affordable homes administered by the Guinness Trust. There is also an appreciable amount of mixed use development, with a major supermarket and other smaller retailers present.

The use of slate roofs and a light coloured brickwork is reasonably consistent throughout, occasionally with reconstituted stone dressings to windows; two-storey stained softwood loggia/balconies are constructed outboard of the main buildings, sometimes to gable ends and in other locations, at right angles to the principal elevations. There is a strong formal geometry to the principal street, which is designed as a planted boulevard. This is met at its conclusion by a large square, curved at its far end and partially colonised by houses two thirds along its length, effectively dividing the landscape in two parts.

A smaller landscaped square is located to the side of the boulevard. There are a sensibly limited number of parking solutions on site, mostly complementary to the overall geometry of the plan. Vehicles are parked in angled bays along the entire length of the boulevard, separated from the homes by the approach carriage-ways themselves. The bays are laid in the same diagonally laid paviors as the roads, but defined separately by three rows of granite setts. Planting reduces the scale of the straight vista down this street. The sympathetically scaled and generously planted smaller square off the boulevard provides simple layby parking to its four, unequal sides. These spaces are defined by paviors with flush precast edging, separating the blacktop roadway. The corners of the square are crisply detailed in a combination of turf and granite setts.

Interestingly, the larger square, which promises to be the focus of the development is less successful, with both the landscaping and surrounding housing somewhat raw in their detail. Simple hardstandings formed in paviors and separated from houses both by a footpath and deep planting beds, provide the final parking solution.

The development consists of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom houses arranged in 2, 2.5 and 3 storey terraces.

This image created from stitching several together shows how the user has the option to go to side courts, on square bays or parking on own plots. Some still park in front of larger houses as the tandem arrangement of one bay in front of another in the garage does not work for some residents.

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Properties face onto amenity space. Most buyers sought views rather than garages.

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The size of the square, the height of the homes (including gables) and the size of trees support this treatment

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This front court parking treatment is improved by the trees and the use of pavers. Residents will appreciate immediate access to homes

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The buildings not he left are apartments converted from officers' blocks. The parking here needs more tree planting to soften its impact

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Some of the streets suffer from not having parking where people feel it is most accessible

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More street trees are needed to break up the long run of bays

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Space submitted by Sam Brown

9 October 2013