‘It’s overwhelming,’ says Sam, outside his new almshouse in Girton, Cambridgeshire. ‘When I say this has changed my life, I’m not joking.’
Sam has moved just a few hundred metres down the road, from a one-bedroom flat where he had lived for 35 years to a one-and-a-half-bedroom flat in Dovehouse Court. He calls it a fresh start and describes all of the possibilities he can imagine in his new home: space for a dining table, a separate room for a crosstrainer, shelves for his records and record player, a brand new sofa. These are such simple home comforts; they represent peace and stability.
Moving into later-life housing can be a profound uprooting, a time that symbolises a loss of independence and a stark reminder of one’s own vulnerability. So how did Girton Town Charity come together with Mole Architects to infuse this experience with joy and hope?
The charity’s history goes back to a bequest by William Collyn in 1521. Through a series of land acquisitions, it built up an income that it used to assist those in need in the village. In 1807, it established a row of five almshouses. With the addition of Dovehouse Court, it now has 28 almshouses, and this is the primary way it fulfils its main function to help the residents of the village.
Almshouses conjure images of rows of twee cottages – timber and stone, wattle and daub walls – facing immaculate green lawns. They are the oldest form of social housing in the UK, mostly not state owned, started by religious orders or singular wealthy benefactors to provide truly affordable housing to vulnerable groups.
But this is only half of the story. They were also commonly referred to as poorhouses, and the quaint historic versions that survive can obscure the rather more austere conditions. Although a step up from the poverty-stricken workhouse, they still provided the most basic accommodation, and residents often had to follow strict rules and worship regimes. Almshouses stepped in to provide for those that the state had failed, though more recent studies have linked the housing provision to the ageism that today runs through British society.
George W Leeson, director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, has pointed to almshouses as being partly responsible for the demonisation of older people, as they evolved in the 18th century to cater mainly to older individuals due to targeted welfare efforts for other groups. This shift flattened the diverse and complex experiences of old age, shifting older people to the peripheries of the society to which they were seen to be a burden.
Today, there are 35,000 people living in almshouses. They are legally unique: residents are ‘appointees’, not tenants, live in the almshouse under licence, pay a monthly maintenance contribution rather than a rent and are exempt from shared equity schemes and the right-to-buy legislation that has hoovered up swathes of the UK’s council housing stock. As they are most often built on endowments and bestowals of wealthy benefactors, they can be subject to strict, sometimes archaic, eligibility criteria. At Dovehouse Court, that is limited to having a financial need, being over 55 and having a connection to Girton, a small leafy village on the outskirts of Cambridge.
In its 500 years, Girton Town Charity has always existed for the betterment of the village, but its plans were not always welcomed. A previous planning application made by Mole Architects in January 2019 for 16 almshouses in a more linear block, went to committee for review.
‘I think there was a lot of upset that it was affordable housing, actually,’ remarks Mole director Ian Bramwell, adding that ‘it was the perception of overlooking’ that concerned them. ‘The charity didn’t want to upset the neighbours. We took it on board, we reconsulted and we came up with this design.’ The resulting scheme is for 15 units and an office for the charity, with 10 two-storey deck access apartments flanking the two short sides of the site, and five bungalows enclosing a U-shaped courtyard.
At the second committee, the project had 100 per cent support. This more enclosed and human scheme allows community to run through it.
The roughly textured white rendered walls push up against the smooth white brick patio dividers that also make up the window sills. Sitting on one of the many built-in benches, made up of timber slats resting on a low-level patio wall, Ann Bonnett, chair of trustees at Girton Town Charity, notices how ‘people have to walk past everybody else’s front door in order to get out from this intentionally not-gated community. Everybody looks out into the central court and, even if it’s just a wave, they have an ability to communicate and connect with other people.’
The front doors, each one with its own bright colour, are continually animated by neighbours, visitors or the postie. In the middle are raised bed planters that residents are invited to make their own, marking a more communal and shared garden.
The development is Passivhaus-certified – a panelised timber-frame construction method, with lightweight Larsen trusses, creates thick walls that accommodate 300mm of Warmcel insulation. A regular rhythm of chimneys on the roofs continues a familiar motif among the stone and brick cottages of Girton, but at Dovehouse Court they enclose the ducts that serve each unit’s personal MVHR which, along with an air-source heat pump, creates a fully electric scheme. Inside, the dim hum of the nearby A14 is silenced by triple-glazed windows.
One-and-a-half-bedroom flats invite residents to spill out and make the additional spaces their own – a study, an artist’s studio, a small home gym for Sam’s crosstrainer, a single room for grandchildren, but it can also accommodate the possibility of temporary care should an overnight carer ever be needed. The living area opens out to the kitchen, with kitchen cupboards all at reachable heights. Each detail of later living has been considered and so many various needs anticipated in a level of detail that new-build more easily afforded.
But, despite the development’s Passivhaus credentials, a cluster of houses was demolished to make way for it: four existing post-war almshouses, two further homes and Girton Town Charity’s previous offices.
Ageism casts a long shadow over the search for dignified and affordable living in the UK. The spaces we retire to are shaped by society’s values and marked by its biases. Against a widespread housing crisis, the need for inclusive, compassionate housing solutions for older people can become lost. Almshouses, by their definition, arise from scarcity. What makes Dovehouse Court remarkable is that it goes beyond basic provision and, in doing so, proves the rule that has so few exceptions. ‘The longer I stay here, the more I’m missing it, if you see what I mean’, said Sam, ‘I wish I’d found this place 10 years ago.’
It is remarkable, but it shouldn’t be.
Ellen Peirson is a writer and architectural assistant at Mike Tuck Studio
Architect’s view
Girton Town Charity’s vision was ambitious and the result is a credit to its trustees’ perseverance. The homes feel safe and are welcoming, light-filled and warm with direct access to communal gardens.
Building on our experience designing Marmalade Lane co-housing in Cambridge, we minimised personal private amenity space to create a generous shared courtyard. Each front door faces on to the courtyard, with a small terrace forming a threshold. This strategy follows HAPPI principles – gently encouraging people to be outdoors, be visible and come into contact with one another.
To minimise residents’ heating bills, the homes are designed using passive solar principles, good orientation, limited openings to the north, and deep overhangs to provide solar shading. The homes have achieved Passivhaus certification despite planning constraints and the site’s challenges.
Benches are positioned on low walls, dotted around the gardens so residents can observe comings and goings, promoting a feeling of safety through passive surveillance, and creating a sense of community.
The recent Almshouse Longevity Study, published by Bayes Business School, found that living in an almshouse can boost a resident’s lifespan by as much as two and a half years. Strategies to bring people together and eradicate loneliness make a significant contribution to this.
Boldly coloured front doors add joy and fun but also have a practical function enabling residents to describe their house by the colour of the front door.
Ian Bramwell, director, Mole Architects
Engineer’s view
Realising the low-energy design as an operational outcome for any residential building relies on the mechanical and electrical systems being readily understood by the occupants. When they aren’t, people will do what is necessary to stay comfortable, which will often use more energy.
The design concept to allow this was strong – electricity is decarbonising, simple electric heating and hot water tanks are understood by all, energy demands are kept low by the Passivhaus certification. However, electricity is valuable and has a primary energy demand that is greater than the amount of energy coming through the meter. The increasing use of wind and solar is benefiting the whole grid but we still use gas for around half of our electricity and so it is important we use it well.
The PER (primary energy renewable) criteria of the Passivhaus calculation couldn’t be satisfied with using electricity directly for heat so the project responded by using it more effectively. The opportunity for external air-source heat pumps or heat pump-led heat networks was limited on the site. The response was to place the heat pumps inside.
Ducted air-source heat pumps are integrated with a hot water cylinder to use around a third of the electricity associated with this load, the largest demand given the low space heating needs. The ‘heat pump’ is a small compressor similar in scale to that of a domestic fridge.
The tanks behave exactly as electric hot water tanks and the space heating is provided by a simple electric radiator. Simplicity is retained and efficiency is increased, with occupant satisfaction delivered with lower bills – a good engineering outcome.
Joel Gustafsson, founder and director, JG Consulting
Client’s view
This flagship project started way back in 2006 when the trustees stated their wish to provide our residents with more up-to-date and efficient houses than our older bungalows.
The completion of Dovehouse Court is a major milestone, seeing our plans to future-proof housing in our village come to fruition. It has been a special project, building to Passivhaus standards to deliver energy-efficient almshouses that will be cost-effective to run and comfortable for residents, ensuring it is cosy in winter, cool in summer and has good air quality all year round. This helps reduce energy bills for residents, as well as providing a sustainable and environmentally responsible development for the future.
Today, thanks to the effort and dedication of many trustees, advisers and contractors, we’ve delivered 15 cutting-edge 21st-century houses, and a community for individuals and couples to enjoy for as long as they are able to live independently.
Residents are thrilled with the spacious accommodation, including such carefully designed details as the height of the kitchen cupboards, somewhere to sit down to take shoes off by the front door, and raised beds to plant out. A resident has told us that living here has transformed his life, enabling him to have friends over to dinner, something impossible in his old home as it wasn’t large enough.
Ann Bonnett, chair of trustees, Girton Town Charity
Working detail
Bungalows naturally have a high form factor (the ratio between volume and external surface area) meaning these houses needed increased insulation to walls and roofs (when compared to the apartments).
The presence of trees around the site perimeter and in neighbours’ gardens resulted in piled foundations and suspended block-and-beam floors, creating challenging potential thermal bridges. These were designed out using aerated concrete blocks and extending external wall and cavity insulation below ground.
Further challenges were caused by the 3m level change across the site. Floor levels along the terrace of bungalows, which run up the site, had to be stepped along party walls. Additional insulation lines the party wall floor and wall junctions as well as on the gables. Careful modelling of the thermal bridge’s PSI values prevented these areas becoming points for heat loss.
The achieved air tightness for all homes was 0.6 m³/hr/m² @ 50Pa. The bungalows were treated as a single unit, with knock-through holes left between units until after the testing was complete. Airtightness layers included a mix of Smartply Propassiv, Pro Clima Intello membrane and Pro Clima Tescon tapes. A membrane below screed formed the airtightness layer at ground level.
We were able to accurately calculate timber fractions in the walls and roofs using the timber frame manufacturer’s shop drawings. Lowfield Timber Frame’s Larsen Truss wall system maximises insulation volumes and minimises timber to 13 per cent (nearer 19 per cent for the two-storey houses) of the overall wall volume. The load is transferred down the inner 89mm-deep leaf, and the outer stud cantilevered. The void is pumped with Warmcel insulation. An additional layer of wood fibre insulation wrapped the buildings beneath the render.
Ian Bramwell, director, Mole Architects
Project data
Start on site August 2021
Completion June 2023
Gross internal floor area 996m²
Construction cost £7 million
Construction cost per m² £7,025
Architect Mole Architects
Client Girton Town Charity
Structural engineer Conisbee
M&E consultant Hoare Lea (Stages 1-4a), JG Consulting (Stages 4b-6)
Quantity surveyor Faithful + Gould
Project manager Northmores
Principal designer Mole Architects
Approved building inspector 3c Shared Services
Main contractor Barnes Construction
CAD software used Vectorworks
Annual CO2 emissions 19 kgCO2/m²
Landscape consultant Jamie Buchanan Landscape
Passivhaus certifier Warm
M&E contractor Munro
Sustainability data
Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >2% Not supplied
Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >5% Not supplied
On-site energy generation 0%
Heating and hot water load 10 kWh/m²/yr
Total energy load 15 kWh/m²/yr
Carbon emissions (all) 23.6 kgCO2/m²
Annual mains water consumption 37 m³/occupant
Airtightness at 50Pa 0.6 m³/hr/m²
Overall thermal bridging heat transfer coefficient (Y value) 1.8 W/m²K/yr
Overall area-weighted U-value 0.1 W/m²K
Predicted design life 50 years