Ham Brook Mead
Three generous family homes shaped by landscape, ecology and the distinctive character of a West Sussex village.
Nutbourne, West Sussex, 2021
Set behind the Main Road in Nutbourne, this carefully considered proposal creates three new homes within a secluded site defined by mature trees, established hedgerows and its relationship with Ham Brook.
The site occupies a sensitive position within the wider landscape, close to an important ecological corridor linking the South Downs National Park with Chichester Harbour. Ham Brook forms part of this blue-green network, connecting habitats across the landscape and providing an important influence on the character and environmental strategy of the site.
Rather than treating the site as a conventional housing plot, our approach began with an understanding of its existing landscape and ecological character. The position and extent of development were carefully shaped around the site's mature vegetation, watercourse and sensitive environmental conditions, allowing the most important landscape features to remain integral to the scheme.
The three homes are arranged as individual dwellings within generous plots, creating a small-scale and informal character appropriate to their setting. Each has been designed to provide spacious, practical accommodation for modern family life, meeting or exceeding the requirements of the Nationally Described Space Standard. The standard establishes minimum gross internal floor areas, alongside requirements relating to bedrooms and storage, helping to ensure that new homes provide genuinely usable and adaptable living space.
Generous private gardens and a carefully considered relationship between the buildings and the retained landscape help the development sit comfortably within its surroundings. The proposals also seek to retain the sense of a green edge to the settlement, with existing hedgerows and trees reinforced by new planting and habitat creation.
The site's relationship with Ham Brook was a central consideration throughout the design process. Flood risk, drainage and ecology informed both the layout of the development and the wider landscape strategy, including the retention of appropriate buffers and the introduction of new wetland and reedbed habitats.
Environmental considerations extend beyond the immediate site. The proposals incorporate measures intended to deliver biodiversity and ecological enhancements, alongside a nutrient-neutrality strategy responding to the sensitivity of the wider Chichester Harbour catchment.
The result is a modest collection of high-quality homes that seeks to do more than simply occupy an available site. By allowing landscape, ecology and environmental constraints to inform the design from the outset, the scheme creates generous new homes while retaining and enhancing the qualities that make this secluded part of Nutbourne distinctive.
Location: Nutbourne, West Sussex
Client: Developer
Status: Planning
Design Team: Matthew Clay, Jack Jarrett
