Clive at the Goldsmith Street development site
Clive at the Goldsmith Street development site

It was a privilege to recently visit Goldsmith Street (just off the city end of Dereham Road): a development of homes owned and managed by Norwich City Council, built by RG Carter and designed by architects Mikhail Riches.

105 eco-friendly and spacious homes are being built at this site: 56 one bed flats, and a mixture of two, three and four bedroom flats and houses. All are being built to Passivhaus standard, and all will be let for social rent through Norwich Home Options.

As I learnt when I visited the Rayne Park development in Bowthorpe – where the majority of properties will also be Passivhaus – Passivhaus standard involves having high levels of insulation, airtight building fabric and a mechanical ventilation system with highly efficient heat recovery. This results in drastically lower energy bills, cleaner air quality within the property and almost complete peace and quiet when the windows are shut.

This development has quite rightly achieved local, national and even international recognition and has done Norwich proud. It’s fantastic to see Norwich City Council leading the way: helping to tackle the social housing shortage, whilst maintaining the highest environmental standards.

Thank you to those who took the time to show me round the site and answer my questions – and to everyone involved in this brilliant project.

EDP – “See inside the Norwich Council house scheme hailed as among the world’s best architecture”: LINK

The Guardian – “Out of the box: councils try innovative projects to provide social housing” LINK

The Times – “The best new architecture of 2018” LINK

Link to Instagram Link to Twitter Link to YouTube Link to Facebook Link to LinkedIn Link to Snapchat Close Fax Website Location Phone Email Calendar Building Search