Client
Housing People Building Communities (formerly Habitat for Humanity)
Location
Liverpool
Value
N/a
Date Completed
Spring 2016
Development Overview
Housing People Building Communities (formerly Habitat for Humanity) is a charity building homes for people and families on a low income. Since 2001 we have worked together with HPBC to deliver their project of 32 new dwellings on Kingsley Road in Liverpool.
The construction method is designed to be simple to enable the houses to be built by unskilled volunteers and the future homeowners through their ‘Sweat Equity Scheme’, A timber framed construction has been selected for ease of erection by unskilled hands. Externally at ground floor level the walls are clad with inert building boards screwed to the timber frame and coated with a roller applied textured render. At first floor level the cladding consists of shiplap boarding screw fixed to the internal timber frame. The frames are filled with thermal insulation with plasterboard internally fixed to the external and internal walls. The windows include high specification triple glazing to keep heating costs down and to provide improved security.
The houses are grouped in small terraces with no protruding outriggers or porches to avoid complicated construction junctions. The roofs are pitched steeply at 45 degrees creating an opportunity for the home owner to convert the loft into an additional room at a later date. This can be an extra bedroom or a home office space. The simple clean design of the houses and the coloured shiplap boarding give the scheme a distinct character, encouraging a sense of community and ownership between the homeowners who will have helped to build them. The project has been very successful and has won a number of awards.
