Client: Diocese of Leeds
Working with the Diocese of Leeds, we were asked to explore a sensitive housing scheme against the backdrop of Earby All Saints’ Church and the Old Vicarage. It’s a beautiful setting, but also a sensitive one, with a number of existing neighbours and a fairly long list of things to get right.
So we started by listening.
We spoke with local residents and neighbours early in the process to understand how the site was used, where the pinch points were and what people felt was important. This gave us a much clearer picture of the practical issues around access, overlooking and development, as well as a better sense of what might, and might not work.
That local knowledge fed directly into the masterplan. The result is five homes carefully arranged within the site, responding to the scale and character of the surrounding buildings while making sensible use of the land.
For us, consultation isn’t about presenting a finished scheme and asking people to approve it. Done properly, it’s a way of making the project better.
In Earby, the conversations helped shape a scheme that both our clients and local residents could get behind, and one that feels more at home in its surroundings as a result.
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