Sutton Housing Society is looking up – literally. To expand and transform its housing provision for older people, it is pursuing what is, for a small provider, an ambitious programme of airspace (rooftop) extensions. Robin Roberts, their CE, explains…
Sutton Housing Society has a proud legacy to uphold: it was set up by a local businessman in 1964 to help the older generation at the time. It has remained independent and locally focused to this day.
Their purpose states ‘here for good, enabling happy lives’ – the ‘good’ has two meanings, to do good and the second is to continue to remain independent!
“We are a registered provider – a social landlord for older people, which covers an age range from 55 and up,” Robin tells us. “We own all of our stock, there are no leaseholder’s and our offer must suit this wide range of age profiles.”
Most of their housing stock was built by the original board members on plots of land they sourced locally in the 1960s and 1970s; several of their schemes are named after them. More homes have been added over the later years and when Robin joined in 2018, the board were ambitious to build more homes.
“In London, as a small provider, it can be hard to find suitable land opportunities” Robin states, “especially as you have to compete with much bigger residential developers”. He explains that there were also challenges around their existing stock, although there was nothing crucially wrong with the buildings, they were becoming tired and dated.
At his first board meeting, he proposed a comprehensive (100%) survey of the condition of the entire stock, including new EPCs (energy performance certificates) for all, as well as the commitment to phase one of a development pipeline. The board supported the ambitious plan: to submit five major planning applications all on the same day, which was intended to make a statement and create a pipeline, which was in their control.
“At the time of this bold move, we had no development staff, but we knew we could sweat our assets by increasing site densities and that the approved schemes would benefit from grant funding” Robin tells us. “If you take risks, you create an advantage: submitting all five on the same day was a statement of intent to the local authority and has allowed us to build an ongoing relationship with the GLA. All schemes were approved under delegated powers.”
All of these were airspace applications – extending their buildings upwards, although they did include some side/rear additions too. Proportionally, this was a big deal and these planning applications were equivalent to 16% of their stock. Their development aspirations sets out to extend every single site they own, which forms part of phase two. The larger schemes are being supplemented by smaller infill sites. They did take pre-app advice (on four of the five sites) and, as noted, all applications were approved under delegated powers.
“The first scheme that we completed was Norman House, increasing the density of a town centre site by 68% (increasing 19 homes to 32). This was achieved by building up: a new floor was added to the roof and we replaced the old lounge at the rear of the building, enabling the larger footprint to add new flats above: a combination of airspace and wider development.”
“All the existing residents benefited from the Norman House development – bringing forward future planned maintenance works, completing these works at the same time. A thermal imaging study was undertaken enabling the team to improve the thermal efficiency of the whole building. We redecorated, recarpeted, upgraded the fire alarm, installed lighting, created a new main entrance, replaced windows, built a new scooter store, extended the bin store, installed emergency lighting and refreshed the landscaping and fencing.”
There are economies of scale that make this cost-effective in the long-term. “If you are putting up scaffolding for the vertical development, for example, it makes sense to replace the windows at the same time – provided these are not too new.”
Norman House previously had an inverted butterfly roof. For the rooftop extension, prefabricated timber modules made from CLT were used – a Category 1 MMC (modern methods of construction) solution. Sutton Housing Society opted for modular solely to minimise disruption to residents, especially those that were decanted on the top floor. They also preferred the timber solution that was designed to suit the planning approval.
“For me, putting timber on an existing building made sense, everything moves and flexes together. To over-simplify a little, when you want to put a room in the roof, timber is what you opt for. We see airspace as large rooms in the roof! Modular can be problematic – and there was more work than anticipated – but the results look great.”
It is often said, when it comes to timber rooftop extensions, that the limiting factor is rarely structural but more planning. “Our structural engineers said that we could have actually added two floors to Norman House,” Robin says. He is justifiably proud of the fact that the transformed interior looks nothing like any of the stereotypes associated with social housing, which was part of their plan. “It looks like a hotel inside – we put a great deal of thought into the finishes and products. The residents love it and we have addressed all the legacy issues”.
Second on the list was Ronald House, which was completed in 1969. “This was also a timber airspace solution.” Robin explains “We opted for a cut and pitch roof this time – constructed on site with a new lift tower linking the two rooftop extensions. We removed the roof and placed steel joists to support the new floor. Essentially it is a large room in the roof – using regular C24 timber and some flitch beams.”
New interior communal space at Norman House
It helped to create five additional new homes and transformed a tired, dated building; Ronald House was recently shortlisted for a regeneration award.
“There was previously no communal lounge, so we took the opportunity, working with our architects, Arkon Associates, to alter the footprint on the ground floor, retaining a flat while creating a new lounge area. Again, we decided to completely overhaul the building in terms of windows, cladding, a new lift, new lounge, carpets, decoration, platform lift, lighting, emergency lighting, EV charging, landscaping and more. Our approach to rooftop extension is hand in hand with future-proofing. All the existing flats in Ronald House received a new kitchen and bathroom, undertaking these stock condition works at the same time.”
Trickett House, another of Sutton Housing Society’s schemes and the very first one built by the organisation and completed in 1967, will receive two floors at the rear and one floor at the front to add 19 homes to an existing scheme of 49. Works are due to start in October 2025.
Ensuring that the residents are comfortable during the redevelopment is an important consideration. It is crucial to consider the phasing on such projects to minimise impact on residents. Work on Trickett House, will take 25 months in total and will be done in two phases. Although carrying out all the work in one phase, Robin points out, would be quicker, “having the whole site under development would be too much for our elderly residents.”
Trickett House, as noted, is adding two floors to an existing two floor building at the rear; credit for this and the other schemes’ capability should go to Nigel Reynolds and his team at Eliter Designers.
Robin admits that regulatory change has made it harder to use timber – especially within projects that receive GLA funding. But airspace development remains central to Sutton Housing Society’s long-term plan.
Sutton Housing is fortunate in being able to decant residents into other properties in its portfolio – such as new flats they have created within infill space.
“Families say they love coming to visit,” Robin tells us. “By having a positive track record at the previous schemes, we have residents from the future schemes asking when their building will be done: they can see the results.”
