Residential
Creating places for people to live
The UK continues to face a growing need for high-quality permanent homes, as well as temporary safe and bespoke housing that meets individualised user needs – from extra care facilities for an aging population to retain independence to transitional housing for vulnerable families.
Our residential projects come in all shapes and sizes
Our residential work includes brand-new buildings or extensions, refurbishment or remedial works. Capability includes private rental or sales and affordable housing, extra care living accommodation, single-living and family homes for the UK Armed Forces and home-from-home student accommodation.
Our approach is rooted in Intelligent Solutions, identifying the unique requirements of the project and creating practical residential solutions that respond to the housing crisis, needs of end users and community economic growth. Also ensuring the project aligns with legislation like the Building Safety Act, Procurement Act, and Net Zero Targets.
As part of Morgan Sindall Group, we're also partnered with experienced specialists in the residential partnership and regeneration sector - Lovell and Lovell Later Living, Morgan Sindall Property Services and Muse.
Aligning to local master-planning
Canning Town is one of London’s fastest growing residential areas, characterised by low-density housing and limited green spaces due to its proximity to London’s industrial docklands.
The £124m Manor Road scheme has delivered 355 of the 804 new homes for the London Borough of Newham, 50% of which are affordable housing stock. The project incorporated a new 2.9ha linear public park, reinvigorating a previously disused car park and commercial sheds. The park enhances the council’s strategy on biodiversity and resident wellbeing.
We worked with Morgan Sindall Group company, Muse as part of the project for English Cities Fund, a partnership with Legal & General and Homes England.
The project was exceptional in generating social, economic and environmental impact, including; £4.9m local spend, £6.6k social value spend, 437 jobs created and 2,152 apprenticeship weeks.
In the preconstruction phase the local social value team identified a local needs analysis and sought aligning organisations to support. Issuing monthly social value reports that culminated into a completion report to showcase community enhancements made.
Read the Manor Road Social Value Report
Repurposing buildings so they can have a new lease of life
We’ve worked with developers, planners and local authority regeneration teams as they take redundant industrial mills, warehouses, offices and department stores and revitalise them into significant community assets.
At the same time, we’re employing circular economy principles and considering each existing material for its viability. For example, what can be reused or refurbished as part of the new building? What can be downcycled for non-critical use elsewhere or locally in the community?
The team worked with Poundland Ltd to refurbish a listed High Street property, reinstating the corner retail unit alongside four modern one and two-bed apartments. This was a unique project for the retailer as the building is the only one owned by the business.
The team refurbished the Georgian sandstone, in some cases carefully removing elements one piece at a time. They also removed 14 tonnes of carbon from the project during its construction by reusing onsite materials and even existing hoardings. It’s a project and process that the local authority hope will kick-start further regeneration work in the town.
Providing high-quality temporary accommodation
Approximately 123,000 families (160,000 of these children) are housed in unsuitable temporary accommodation (Feb 2025) – a solution unsustainable for long-term living and community growth.
We're working with London Borough of Camden on two projects procured via the Pagabo framework in Somers Town. The hostels will provide a safe and secure temporary home which could be a result of a sudden eviction, life event, or those escaping domestic violence. One site is dedicated to family units, with gardens and play areas, the other single and double ensuite rooms. All with access to onsite support services.
The urgent need for temporary accommodation in London meant that the team has deployed offsite methods of construction to fast-track the completion.
Find out more about the projects here.
Home-from-home student accommodation
High-quality student accommodation plays a vital role in a modern university campus, not only in terms of comfort and safety but also fostering environments that support social learning. Creating an environment for students that aids interaction, observation and shared experience. Whilst for the University, supporting recruitment, retention and their institutions reputation for commitment to student wellbeing and academic excellence.
We work with universities to deliver energy and cost-efficient student accommodation, often considering with such a large estate the need for brand new or refurbishment of existing buildings.
A unique phased approach, where a completed floor was handed over each week ensured the on-time delivery of the 117-bedroom project at the University of Derby. Included in the works were kitchens and communal areas and work to improve fire protection, water heating and M&E systems.
As part of the projects procurement via the SCAPE framework, the team pledged to achieve 30% return social value. Upon completion achieving a 52.6% return focusing on local labour spend and recruitment of four social enterprises to the project.
Read about the team’s social value achievements on the project here.
Our team delivered the four-unit student Clive Booth student village for Oxford Brookes University, incorporating 342 double bedrooms and associated amenities. Whilst the campus, which is 20-minutes from the city centre remained operational.
Safety is key to our Perfect Delivery strategy. But in this instance, it’s the careful consideration of processes, equipment and customer objectives that ensured its unique approach.
- Newsletters and WhatsApp communications were issued to affected students
- Traffic management, road barriers and designated walkways were all designed to mitigate pedestrian and student interface.
- Crane instead of forklifts as it posed less safety risks for this site
Read more about the Clive Booth, student village here.
Remedial works to address fire and safety risks
The implementation of the Building Safety Act and provision of the Building Safety Fund and Cladding Safety Scheme means that significant remediation work is taking place across the UK to address fire safety risks in occupied buildings.
The Code of Practice for the Remediation of Residential Buildings also emphases the need to minimise disruption to residents during the work. Our decentralised approach means our teams can assess on a project basis unique resident needs to ensure security and wellbeing.
The Azure South Facade Works is a remedial re-cladding project in an occupied residential block, which also included works to replace some heating units.
The team employed a hands on and empathetic approach to resident engagement, given that the works were sensitive. The team organised events, seasonal gifts and newsletters to build relationships and liaised closely with the buildings management team.
But unique to this project was the individual approach they took to each resident in assessing their needs. For example, accommodations were made to ensure one resident with a severe medical condition had constant access to her balcony for her companion dog.
Targeting brownfield as a solution to the housing crisis
A wealth of the UK’s former industrial and commercial sites is resourcefully being transformed into eye-catching regeneration schemes. Their proximity to established transport links and communities due to their industrial history means that whilst they can be technically complex due to years of development or neglect – they're a prime space to create much needed homes.
Across the UK, we're involved in residential schemes on Brownfield sites. In addition, learnings from projects in other sectors such as Commercial & Industrial, Healthcare and Education have also contributed to the experience our teams have when tackling these unique challenges.
Extra care housing to support Leeds City Council’s ambitions
Middlecross development in Armley, Leeds will provide 65 affordable rent, energy efficient apartments. The homes will address a wider strategy to address the shortage of extra care housing in the city for those over age 55. The project is being built on a two-acre piece of brownfield land which benefitted from a £1.3m contribution from the Brownfield Housing Fund via West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Read more about the Middlecross scheme here
Case Studies
