Alice is awarded 2019 RIBA research grant

September 2019

ESTATE REGENERATION IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE AND ECOLOGICAL EMERGENCY

The research will examine an alternative model of estate regeneration, based on reconciling the need for works to improve existing Council-owned social housing with the need to take urgent action to cut carbon dioxide emissions and enhance biodiversity. What would development look like if climate and biodiversity imperatives were taken as primary brief requirements, alongside residents’ needs?

 Research will use an existing estate as a case study, to look at possible construction outcomes concentrating on a ‘fabric first’ approach. West Kentish Town estate in the London Borough of Camden is currently planned to be demolished and rebuilt. This research will include the development of an alternative model that retains the existing buildings and places primacy on the following:

• avoiding CO₂ emissions caused by demolition of existing homes and building new ones:
• extending, adapting and improving the existing buildings using sustainable and recyclable building materials wherever possible, ie. timber-based products, cement- alternatives, recycled products;
• retaining all the significant trees on the site and linking via a green network to nearby green spaces.

These criteria would produce a radically different master plan and building design from that which is currently proposed and offer a low-cost, low-impact and low-carbon regeneration model to consider.