Small Residential Development, Liss

Case study

Five homes that belong in the South Downs.

This small residential development brings forward five new homes near Liss, within the South Downs National Park. Delivering new housing inside a National Park is a demanding proposition, the bar for design quality and landscape fit is high, and the policy presumption is cautious. We acted as both architect and planning consultant from the outset.

The scheme is deliberately modest in grain: five well-proportioned houses that take their cues from the local vernacular, materials, roof forms and boundaries that read as part of the settlement rather than an estate dropped into it.

A carefully argued case

We tested the design against National Park landscape and character policy throughout, so the proposal that reached the authority was one it could support. The result is a scheme that adds housing where it is needed, without eroding the qualities that make the Park what it is.