The house is being designed to be hidden with the external wall built to allow natural self-seeding to take place and encourage plants to grow and camouflage the building
(Image: Andrew Davison Architects)
Plans to build a ‘contemporary’ three-bed home in an affluent Essex street is ‘unlikely ever to be built’, councillors have been warned. Plans have been submitted for a contemporary three-bedroom bungalow off Mount Avenue close to Hanging Hill Lane in Brentwood.
The house is being designed to be hidden with the external wall built to allow natural self-seeding to take place and encourage plants to grow and camouflage the building.
But the plans which are up for discussion at a planning meeting on January 16 has been questioned by one councillor who has questioned whether the structure will ever be built.
Councillor Jason Gibson, who has called the application in for committee determination, added that over the past 20 years, multiple proposals for the plot have been refused, several on appeal.
He said: “The latest proposal adopts an earth-sheltered design with a green roof, which appears to underpin the recommendation for approval. However, this approach does not overcome the longstanding concerns regarding access, overlooking, or the fundamental physical constraints of the site.
“The specialist and costly construction method may also create surface-water drainage issues, and it is doubtful that a dwelling of this type would ultimately be built. Approval could simply pave the way for a more conventional resubmission.”
A design statement said the “shape, the layout and scale of the new home seek to create a deconstructed bungalow that forms pockets of internal and external spaces, that are woven across the site to form a “tree root” plan.”
It added: “The aim is to hide in plain sight, to minimise impact on neighbouring properties and be sympathetic to the site itself. Therefore, the building is cut into the hill side and although it seems an evasive response against the natural environment, it helps to hide the building.
“It will allow nature to claim back the space afterwards as it spreads across the roofs and walls.”
A consultant to the council has praised the design saying “this proposal constitutes a contextually sensitive piece of contemporary domestic architecture.
Paulette McAllister added: “It responds convincingly to the site’s topography, respects neighbouring amenity, and retains the visual impression of a green parcel within the Hutton Mount landscape.”
A statement as part of a planning document in front of councillors said: “The current proposal is viewed as a refined and contextually intelligent evolution of earlier iterations.
“Through pre-application engagement, the design has been shaped to respond to the landform and constraints rather than impose upon them.”