Celebrating Great Barn Court, Keynsham – New Homes. New Beginnings - Ten Energy Efficient Affordable Apartments.

Block 2

 We’re delighted to have worked alongside B&NES, Aequus and H. Mealing & Sons to help deliver ten high-quality affordable homes in the centre of Keynsham.  Alongside the delivery of much needed housing, this project has been about the transformation of this challenging, constrained council-owned brownfield site into a welcoming, permanent place to live.

Great Barn Court looks to improve well-being, support a thriving community and strengthen council sustainability.  In miniature, this project begins to tackle some of the wider challenges and ambition within B&NES, related to the delivery of affordable homes and the current unmet need. 

Our role was primarily focused on the technical delivery of a previously consented scheme, taking the design through the detailed stages and into construction. Along the way, we looked for opportunities to enhance the consented proposals, improving performance, detailing, sustainability and the overall quality of the development without losing sight of the original planning framework.

The completed scheme provides six one-bedroom and four two-bedroom apartments, with 100% affordable housing provision. Every home has achieved an EPC A rating, supported by a fabric-first approach incorporating high levels of insulation and airtightness, air source heat pumps, MVHR and rooftop solar PV.

The project demonstrates how previously underutilised brownfield land can be carefully and efficiently brought forward to provide much-needed permanent homes. The constrained town-centre site presented a number of technical and construction challenges, including complex ground conditions and archaeological requirements, requiring close coordination and collaborative problem-solving throughout delivery.

Importantly, the project is about more than simply delivering buildings. The ten homes are now providing secure accommodation for people with identified housing needs, including care-experienced young people, residents moving on from temporary accommodation and someone progressing from the rough-sleeping pathway.

The scheme forms part of the wider B&NES Homes Affordable & Specialist Housing Programme, which aims to increase the supply of affordable homes while supporting better long-term outcomes for residents. Great Barn Court demonstrates the value of connecting housing delivery with the pathways and support that enable people to establish secure and independent lives.

For us, the project is a great example of how technical delivery can be used as an opportunity to make a good consented scheme even better – improving environmental performance, build quality and long-term value while responding carefully to the realities of construction.

A successful project made possible through strong collaboration between the client, developer, contractor, design team and wider project partners – turning a challenging brownfield site into ten sustainable homes and ten new beginnings.

Flat entrance