Our aim is to make Northshore a landmark community: An urban garden which combines different types of public and private areas and is designed for sustainable living on both macro and micro levels and connects the residents with the city and the river alike. In order to strengthen the link between the riverside and the Master-plan we have created strong pedestrian links and great views from every house to the riverside. There is a main Street going from West to East, connecting the city to Northshore and another Street going from South to North, which connects Northshore to the river Tees. The secondary mews streets cut across the main streets to provide access to each of the housing clusters.
Due to the site's direct exposure to cold winds coming off the river Tees we have chosen to create a series of sheltered small public gardens and mews throughout the site which emphasize the notion of a community. In order to create a sense of shared ownership over these gardens, these will be used and looked after primarily by the neighbors who live in close proximity to them. Alongside these we have also introduced more conventional public spaces along the river's edge and surrounding the commercial area in the Ground floor plinth.
We have created a communal parking area which is hidden inside the ground floor plinth on the North-Western edge of the site. From here each resident can access their house via the network of paths, lifts and stairs which surround the parking area. Bicycles, on the other hand, are integral to our scheme and we hope every resident will have a bike with which to cycle to and from their house.
We have worked heavily on the Environmental strategy in order to come up with a scheme which reduces each resident's energy bill. Rather than trying to replace the conventional systems of heating, cooling and electricity, we have chosen to centralize these into shared service areas whilst also backing them up with a series of integrated environmental systems which reduce the amount of billable energy consumed by each household.