Human Nature

We are proud to be part of The Phoenix project, a transformative initiative aimed at creating one of the UK’s most sustainable neighbourhoods in Lewes. 🛡 Following the historic flooding of the River Ouse, our team, led by Fred Labbé, has been working closely with innovative developer Human Nature to design flood defenses that protect the community while enhancing the environment. 🏘 In 2023, Fred led a series of guided walks along the River Ouse to address community concerns and highlight our sustainable approach – including green infrastructure, a sustainable surface water drainage system, and a 900m-long flood wall that integrates seamlessly with the landscape, improving flood protection and biodiversity. As climate change heightens flood risks, our work ensures that Lewes is future-proofed against these challenges. 🔗 Read our latest Impact Report to learn more - https://lnkd.in/eXDeF34j. #ImpactReport #Sustainability #CircularEconomy 

Lovely to see Lewes make the 2024 Great Town / Small City finalists at The Academy of Urbanism (AoU) Awards, with a nice mention of the Phoenix too. Some pictures included to prove their point! Here's what they had to say: "Lewes’ Saxon roots and location in the South Downs National Park create an attractive town that embraces both its cultural and physical heritage. This is turn has made it a desirable place to live and visit, and its public transport and walkability contributes to a lower number of car commuters compared to similarly sized towns. Notably [Human Nature's] Phoenix project, which was recently given planning approval, presents an opportunity for Lewes to be at the cutting edge of truly sustainable development." More here: https://lnkd.in/etReuNyy

Last week, we hosted a half-day workshop at Phoenix House to explore the opportunities and challenges of creating and managing renewable energy assets at neighbourhood level. We were joined by leading experts across the industry – from specialist clean energy lawyers to geothermal engineers – for a fascinating discussion. Thank you to all those who came, including Adrian Ross; Kristina Roszynski and Oliver Riley representing GreenSCIES; Chris Crookall-Fallon and George Gillow at Kensa Group; Piers Watts-Jones and Michela Mangiarotti at Atelier Ten; Howard Johns of Onezero; Karl Farrow at Geothermal Development Company - CeraPhi Energy; Jim Mathieson at CloudConnX; Damon Rand and Mark Cordle at Cepro; and David Short and Sandy Abrahams at Lux Nova Partners Ltd.

Housing costs are prohibitive, housing supply is restricted and young people, having missed out on the boom years of property (when housing became an investment not just a place to live), are spending far too much of their income on sub-standard homes. Poverty is on the increase, economic productivity has stalled, and private landlords, landowners and volume housebuilders have extracted excessive value from the housing economy. Ours is an industry in crisis and in need of a new vision and a plan. While there is no silver bullet, and the transformational change needed will take time, there are many sensible actions that can set the UK on a clear, exciting and rapid path to better homes for all, while bolstering the creative and circular sustainable economy and generating common wealth. 'Getting Britain on the move' presents 10 such actions – read it in full below.

I’m still buzzing from something that happened on Tuesday! I joined Human Nature and a multi-disciplinary team to workshop energy solutions for the incredible emerging Phoenix project in Lewes, East Sussex. To paraphrase the project’s driving force Jonathan Smales - ‘a better world is possible - but it has to be seen to be believed’. In this new 680 home mixed-use neighbourhood it will certainly be seen. The ethos goes to the heart of the problem of volume housebuilding and perhaps the decline of our towns and cities at large: we celebrate incremental ‘sustainability’ wins, whilst allowing destructive lifestyle patterns to be baked in and accepting the wholesale blandification of our places. Here better ways are being conceived from the outset. Streets for people and nature; mobility when and where you need it. Food from deeply-supported local supply chains. Culture, education and development embedded. Materials and waste in circularity. And of course, self sufficiency and equitality in energy. The technical approach is obvious: architectural design and high fabric standards that minimise energy use and overheating risk. Fossil free from the start: hot water and heat through heat pumps. But exciting questions and possibilities are come next. What kind of heat pumps, and should there be a heat network, for example? How should energy be structured and managed? Kristina Roszynski and I represented GreenSCIES where some learnings from development of the Ambient Loop heat network concept in Islington were shared. What is clear is: there are many technological ways to skin a cat. The right way comes from asking better questions and a good dose of reflection on what is unique about the place. In this case - everything! 💚 Thank you to Andy Tugby and the Human Nature team for the warm welcome and hospitality. #PhoenixLewis #Placemaking #UrbanDesign #HeatNetworks #HeatPumps #Energy #Neighbourhoods

10 actions to help create a durable, inclusive and sustainable development model Read the first issue of the Human Nature newsletter, detailing our new report, 'Getting Britain on the move'

I've enjoyed working on the editing and design of this document with Jonathan Smales for Human Nature. It lists 10 sensible actions for the new government to help set the UK on a path to better housing – bolstering the creative and circular sustainable economy and generating common wealth, rather than maximising private wealth. The report also acts as a warning, noting that “if planning reform makes it easier for volume housebuilders to build in their care-free way, carbon emissions caused by construction and private cars will soar, precious habitats will be lost, roads will be congested and the edges of our villages, towns and cities will become ever more banal.” You can read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/dPeYF7c7

#profitableneighbourhoods Earlier in the year we decided to call time on sprawl. Now, with our new government and with the flurry of housing manifestos circulating online, we are taking a proactive approach in shaping neighbourhoods. Our idea for #DensityDesignDrills are a series of agile charrettes, hosted alongside Space Syntax, where we adopt a "just do it" attitude and blend our talents. The starting point is rooted in the toggled and stacked housing typology we explored in our campaign for housing density: https://lnkd.in/gY_z5z-t In the spirit of a life drawing session, we draw up 5, 10, and 15-minute sketch plans that demonstrate density is a crucial factor for success. The charrettes and their output aim to have an impact on mainstream thinking, maybe catching the attention of politicians, investors and house builders to consider new perspectives. We have developed a quick tool for the ipads that enable us to connect and densify sites across the country! Keep posted for the plan outputs! What is a Profitable Neighbourhood? It's housing profitable enough to be delivered, profitable in the long term for residents and adjacent communities. Feel this way too? Follow along and contribute… Send us a site, see how we can double the density! Photos from session 01 - with our thinking caps on: Density Design Drills! 💭 Space Syntax Anna Rose Yolande Barnes Human Nature Xavier Smales Angela Koch ImaginePlaces Cany Ash Beth Allen George Sunderland

Housing costs are prohibitive, housing supply is restricted and young people, having missed out on the boom years of property (when housing became an investment not just a place to live), are spending far too much of their income on sub-standard homes. Poverty is on the increase, economic productivity has stalled, and private landlords, landowners and volume housebuilders have extracted excessive value from the housing economy. Ours is an industry in crisis and in need of a new vision and a plan. While there is no silver bullet, and the transformational change needed will take time, there are many sensible actions that can set the UK on a clear, exciting and rapid path to better homes for all, while bolstering the creative and circular sustainable economy and generating common wealth. 'Getting Britain on the move' presents 10 such actions – read it in full below.

I've enjoyed working on the editing and design of this document with Jonathan Smales for Human Nature. It lists 10 sensible actions for the new government to help set the UK on a path to better housing – bolstering the creative and circular sustainable economy and generating common wealth, rather than maximising private wealth. The report also acts as a warning, noting that “if planning reform makes it easier for volume housebuilders to build in their care-free way, carbon emissions caused by construction and private cars will soar, precious habitats will be lost, roads will be congested and the edges of our villages, towns and cities will become ever more banal.” You can read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/dPeYF7c7