Award for Best House of Three or More Storeys
OUTDOOR LIVING
The Hazeltine, 34 Rougemont, Kings Hill Park, West Malling, Kent ME19 4QD
This is a house designed for outdoor living. Located next to the golf course at Kings Hill, the award-winning new community now taking shape on 650 acres of the former Battle of Britain airfield at West Malling in Kent, it has views over the course not only from almost every room but also from its balcony, rooftop terrace and the garden. The best views of all – in every direction – are from the tower room.
The Hazeltine is the show house of the four-acre Kings Hill Park, the latest development by a joint venture of Sunley Estates and Environ Country Homes. Their first development, which is now in its final phases of construction, was the much larger Lacuna site at Kings Hill, where 180 new houses and apartments are being built on 7.6 acres, to achieve a density of almost 24 homes per acre (58.6 homes per hectare), which is well above the Government’s PPG3 target.
Lacuna was one of the first residential developments in Britain to achieve the gold standard in the Building for Life awards by CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, last year. With only 33 new homes, Kings Hill Park does not achieve the same high-density standards, but it has gone further down the road of exploring new techniques of construction and achieving high standards of energy efficiency and economy, resulting in its winning the award this year for the Best House of the Future (see page 138 for details).
The new houses and apartments at Kings Hill Park range in price from £395,000 to £925,000, the Hazeltine being one of the most expensive. This three-storey house of 2,139 sq ft has a dramatic and distinctive design, picking up its cues from the light and airy houses of New England, but cleverly combining the traditional white weatherboarded elevations with the elements of the Kentish vernacular.
Externally, as has been mentioned, it has all the advantages of a New England house, with its wooden-decked patio, its balcony and its attractive roof terrace, which is large enough for tables and chairs and a sun umbrella. Internally, the emphasis is on space, with contemporary open-plan living areas designed to give the house more of an urban style and feeling.
This large three-bedroom house has floor-to-ceiling windows, with a study gallery overlooking the double-height family room, and a lofty ceiling open to the ridge of the roof. Glazed gable ends give even more natural daylight and create a calm, airy atmosphere indoors. It is unusual in that all the main living rooms are on the first floor, to enjoy the views, while the master bedroom suite is on the top floor and the other two bedrooms are on the ground floor.
The innovative nature of the new houses at Kings Hill Park, of which the Hazeltine is only one, ensures that every home has underfloor heating and double glazing – a reminder that, for all its outdoor appeal, this is in England. But a house such as this, in a glorious location in the South East where climate change will see even more sunshine, is as good as it gets at the moment, which is why the judges had no hesitation in giving it the award for Best House of Three or More Storeys.
The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, may be amused that there is a Hazeltine House on the National Register of Historic Buildings in the United States, where it is part of the City of Prescott, Arizona. The city’s vision for 2020 is: “Prescott is a livable, dynamic community where there is a range of housing choices for all, where residents and guests enjoy an active lifestyle with great recreation and leisure amenities, where people have quality living, where the community acts as a responsible steward, and where there is pride in our home town.” That also sums up Kings Hill.
Homebuilder: ENVIRON SUNLEY - a joint venture between:
ENVIRON COUNTRY HOMES LIMITED
Patrixbourne House, The Street, Patrixbourne, Canterbury, Kent CT4 5DQ
Tel 01227 831040
Fax 01277 831030
Website: www.environcountryhomes.com
Contact: Anthony Dowse, Managing Director.
Email: anthonydowse@environcountryhomes.com
SUNLEY ESTATES PLC
1 Horsham Gates, North Street, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 5PJ
Tel 01403 230033
Fax 01403 214 900
Website: www.sunley.co.uk
Contact:Pamela Reardon, Sales & Marketing Director.
Email: preardon@sunley.co.uk
Architects: CLAGUE
62 Burgate, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2BH
Tel 01227 762060
Fax 01227 762149
Website: www.clague.co.uk
Contact: Paul Edwards, Architect.
Email: paul.edwards@clague.co.uk