Working with City Lofts and timber-frame specialist GN² Design, Conran & Partners were invited to take part in the design stage of the JRF’s ‘21st Century Suburban Housing’ competition for a small site, New Earswick, the model village planned by Parker and Unwin in 1906.

The brief asked for design proposals for ‘good ordinary homes’, that would be appropriate for the competition site but also widely applicable on other, larger JRF developments. Great emphasis was placed on cost and sustainability. Using GN²’s innovative site-assembled glulam timber frame, the four houses would have been built-out in only ten weeks. Using a heavily insulated ‘breathing wall’, rainwater recovery and solar-boosted hot water stystem, the detailed proposals achieved ‘Excellent’ in an Eco-Homes Pre-Assessment Rating.