Thank you! We hadn’t come across this in our research, but we see Horam has a history as a breeding area for swifts. Unlike swallows or house martins, swifts are clean and do not make a mess when they nest in the walls of the houses, so we’ve incorporated swift boxes under the eaves [...]

Typically, because Custom and Self-Builders are not building homes as speculative financial assets to sell or rent, but as places to live themselves, logically they build the best, most sustainable, most healthy, most future-proofed homes they can. Leaper is setting a high benchmark by embedding a ‘fabric first’ approach, ensuring a low energy and [...]

The beauty of Custom and Self-Build homes is that new homes are demand-led, where homeowners get directly involved in setting their own priorities for the look and type of home being built. The majority of self-builders tend to be older people building for their retirement (74% of self-builders are aged 45 to 65+: Wallace, [...]

On reflection, we agree. Learning from the Wealden Design Guide and our own further studies of precedents in Horam and the surrounding area we have removed the coloured paints from the palette of materials available for facades. There are a few examples of white painted brick facades which we have left in as an [...]

We’ve studied the Wealden Design Guide and done or own survey of buildings in Horam and the surrounding area. Traditional oast houses and barns evidently tie the village back to its agricultural history. Houses developed along the main roads from the late 19th and early 20th century are clearly under the influence of the [...]

We’ve since had further dialogue with the Housing Development Officer at Wealden District Council who confirmed 50% of applicants on the Housing Register are in need of one-bed accommodation. Accordingly, we’ve increased the number of one-bed homes within the development. One- and two-bed homes account for half the homes available. We’ve allocated 8 homes [...]

We have submitted a Design Code as part of our application. The purpose of the Design Code is to explain and ultimately safeguard the design principles and construction quality that make the development the best it can be. It will help ensure the new homes fit in with the village, are well-designed, and built [...]

We agree. Enhancing biodiversity by creating new habitats and foraging opportunities for wildlife is key in the considered landscape design we’ve submitted at planning. We appointed landscape architect and ecology experts Collington Winter and ecology consultancy Ecology by Design to undertake detailed surveys of present wildlife and to come up with a sensitive landscape masterplan [...]

Indeed, the British Geological Survey (BGS) Maps show that Wadhurst Clay Formation underlies the site. This means the flood risk from groundwater is low, as Wadhurst Clay will prevent the transfer of high concentrations of groundwater. But conversely it means that infiltration techniques such as soakaways are not suitable for surface water drainage. We [...]

We know the site has some areas of surface water flooding. The site is ‘greenfield’ and does not currently have any existing foul drainage or surface water drainage infrastructure. We appointed civil and structural engineering practice Price & Myers to undertake a detailed flood risk and drainage assessment and prepare an initial drainage design [...]