The Phoenix will provide a wide mix of high quality, energy efficient homes. There will be up to 700 homes in the neighbourhood, the vast majority of which will be apartments, mostly one-bedroom (37%) and two-bedroom homes (33%), with some three (24%) and four bedroom homes (6%), particularly aimed at young people, young families, and older people who are looking to downsize.
National Park policy is to seek to meet housing need, including the need for affordable housing, through the Local Plan. However, this is not easy to achieve in an area of high land values and with planning restrictions on land availability.
At the Phoenix, there will be up to 210 affordable homes, or 30% of the total number, which will be aimed at local people. These will be designated as either First Homes (discounted by a minimum of 30% against the market value) or as affordable rent (at a level of rent which does not exceed Local Housing Allowance). The 92 two and three-bed affordable rent flats qualify as Lewes Low Cost Housing, as the proposed rents are affordable on the average Lewes salary as required by the Neighbourhood Plan.
Those living at the Phoenix will enjoy lower utility bills due to energy efficient homes and the data-led renewable energy grid, saving around 10-20% on utility bills, with heating bills up to 80% lower than in traditional developments. Shared facilities and co-mobility services, together with reuse and repair libraries, will further reduce the everyday cost of living.
This will be the largest affordable housing building programme in Lewes District and the National Park, and will play a significant role in assisting the National Park in meeting its affordable homes target of 294 homes per year. The most recent figures show that a total of 196 affordable homes have been built in the Park in the five years to 20201/22, with an average of 16% affordable homes for each eligible housing development
The Phoenix has been designed to maximise benefits to the local economy – influenced by a Community Wealth Building model – creating jobs, investment and training. The development is expected to generate 381 jobs, of which 173 will be new jobs in the local economy including 139 new jobs on the Phoenix. It is estimated that 525 people will be employed during the construction phase, of which 173 will be new jobs.
The Phoenix will provide 10,000 sqm of service, commercial and employment space in healthcare, light industry, creative business, hotel and hospitality, and a small amount of retail. This will generate an estimated £11.8m spend each year, of which £3.9m will be new spend in the town. The development will also result in a Community Infrastructure Levy contribution of £7m.
The town is currently experiencing pressure in its local economy, with young people leaving town to find homes and jobs elsewhere, and high street shops closing as local incomes fall and shopping habits change. The legal duty of the South Downs National Park Authority is “to seek to foster the social and economic wellbeing of the local communities within the National Park in pursuit of [its] purposes.”
The Phoenix will provide homes, apprenticeships and public spaces designed with young people in mind. As above, one and two-bedroom homes have been prioritised to meet the shortage of this accommodation in the town. Fifty-three of the one-bedroom homes will be designated as First Homes (as defined by the government), which must be discounted by a minimum of 30% against the market value and be sold to first-time buyers for a maximum price of £250,000.
Apprentices will be trained in modern methods of green construction through a partnership with East Sussex College, learning about timber construction and reuse of materials and structures, with accommodation reserved for trainees. Workspace – including creative makers’ spaces – will encourage business start-ups and, once again, allow young people to stay and work in Lewes.
The Soap Factory, a repurposed industrial structure, will particularly appeal to the interests of teenagers – a group not always well catered for in Lewes. We are working with local partners to explore the inclusion of music studios (a new home for Starfish), a juice bar, fitness rooms, an indoor skatepark, parkour and bouldering centre.
The population of Lewes is ageing faster than the national average, with the working age population declining – the result, in part, of rising house prices and lack of opportunities in the town. If Lewes is to thrive as a town within the National Park then this trend has to be reversed, and the Phoenix will play its part in achieving that reversal.
The Phoenix is planned in a way that encourages social interaction and shared living. This not only responds to the global challenges of finite resources, ecological degradation and climate change, but promotes wellbeing, reduces social isolation and tackles waste.
The Phoenix will be an inclusive, intergenerational neighbourhood for all to enjoy. Public squares, gardens and community buildings will bring new beautiful and green space to Lewes, encouraging people to be together. A new river walk will open up the Ouse to Lewes and span the full length of the site, connecting to a raised garden, the Belvedere, and down to Foundry Yards, a public square built around two repurposed Ironworks structures.
A community canteen will serve low-cost, seasonal food, grown by local, regenerative farms and in urban farms on the Phoenix, part of a wider food strategy to promote healthy living, reduce waste and provide opportunities for community gardening.
To protect the site and Pells area, Human Nature will add to the existing flood defenses along the river with a new flood wall to defend the site against the one in 100 year event, including an allowance for climate change, designed for a 120-year life.
The Phoenix will also be a low-traffic, walkable neighbourhood. With many amenities provided on site, and new routes to the centre of town and the retail park across the river, those living on the Phoenix will be able to walk or cycle to meet most daily needs. This will result in streets safe for walking, wheeling, cycling and for children to play in, while also improving air quality.
The neighbourhood will be home to a new state-of-the-art Health Centre, which will not only enable services to be transferred from existing buildings that are not fit for purpose but enable further service development and space for integration with mental health, community services, and the voluntary sector.
(Image credit: Human Nature with Periscope / Carlos Penálver)
Human Nature is a Lewes company, with the majority of its Phoenix team living in the town. This local knowledge will help ensure that the Phoenix stitches into and connects to Lewes, taking influence from its existing architecture, economy and its radical history. We will always seek to collaborate with local people, businesses and regenerative farms first, creating a vibrant new neighbourhood that complements, but doesn’t compete with, the existing town.
An estate management company, owned by Human Nature, will manage communal aspects of the neighbourhood once built and retain ownership of all green infrastructure, public realm, sustainable drainage and flood defences. Tenants and residents of the site will be invited to participate in the running of the company, with public spaces protected in perpetuity and any surplus made by the estate management company reinvested into community infrastructure. This is crucial in ensuring that the ideals upon which the Phoenix is built remain in place.
The Phoenix will provide a wide mix of high quality, energy efficient homes. There will be up to 700 homes in the neighbourhood, the vast majority of which will be apartments, mostly one-bedroom (37%) and two-bedroom homes (33%), with some three (24%) and four bedroom homes (6%), particularly aimed at young people, young families, and older people who are looking to downsize.
National Park policy is to seek to meet housing need, including the need for affordable housing, through the Local Plan. However, this is not easy to achieve in an area of high land values and with planning restrictions on land availability.
At the Phoenix, there will be up to 210 affordable homes, or 30% of the total number, which will be aimed at local people. These will be designated as either First Homes (discounted by a minimum of 30% against the market value) or as affordable rent (at a level of rent which does not exceed Local Housing Allowance). The 92 two and three-bed affordable rent flats qualify as Lewes Low Cost Housing, as the proposed rents are affordable on the average Lewes salary as required by the Neighbourhood Plan.
Those living at the Phoenix will enjoy lower utility bills due to energy efficient homes and the data-led renewable energy grid, saving around 10-20% on utility bills, with heating bills up to 80% lower than in traditional developments. Shared facilities and co-mobility services, together with reuse and repair libraries, will further reduce the everyday cost of living.
This will be the largest affordable housing building programme in Lewes District and the National Park, and will play a significant role in assisting the National Park in meeting its affordable homes target of 294 homes per year. The most recent figures show that a total of 196 affordable homes have been built in the Park in the five years to 20201/22, with an average of 16% affordable homes for each eligible housing development
The Phoenix has been designed to maximise benefits to the local economy – influenced by a Community Wealth Building model – creating jobs, investment and training. The development is expected to generate 381 jobs, of which 173 will be new jobs in the local economy including 139 new jobs on the Phoenix. It is estimated that 525 people will be employed during the construction phase, of which 173 will be new jobs.
The Phoenix will provide 10,000 sqm of service, commercial and employment space in healthcare, light industry, creative business, hotel and hospitality, and a small amount of retail. This will generate an estimated £11.8m spend each year, of which £3.9m will be new spend in the town. The development will also result in a Community Infrastructure Levy contribution of £7m.
The town is currently experiencing pressure in its local economy, with young people leaving town to find homes and jobs elsewhere, and high street shops closing as local incomes fall and shopping habits change. The legal duty of the South Downs National Park Authority is “to seek to foster the social and economic wellbeing of the local communities within the National Park in pursuit of [its] purposes.”
The Phoenix will provide homes, apprenticeships and public spaces designed with young people in mind. As above, one and two-bedroom homes have been prioritised to meet the shortage of this accommodation in the town. Fifty-three of the one-bedroom homes will be designated as First Homes (as defined by the government), which must be discounted by a minimum of 30% against the market value and be sold to first-time buyers for a maximum price of £250,000.
Apprentices will be trained in modern methods of green construction through a partnership with East Sussex College, learning about timber construction and reuse of materials and structures, with accommodation reserved for trainees. Workspace – including creative makers’ spaces – will encourage business start-ups and, once again, allow young people to stay and work in Lewes.
The Soap Factory, a repurposed industrial structure, will particularly appeal to the interests of teenagers – a group not always well catered for in Lewes. We are working with local partners to explore the inclusion of music studios (a new home for Starfish), a juice bar, fitness rooms, an indoor skatepark, parkour and bouldering centre.
The population of Lewes is ageing faster than the national average, with the working age population declining – the result, in part, of rising house prices and lack of opportunities in the town. If Lewes is to thrive as a town within the National Park then this trend has to be reversed, and the Phoenix will play its part in achieving that reversal.
The Phoenix is planned in a way that encourages social interaction and shared living. This not only responds to the global challenges of finite resources, ecological degradation and climate change, but promotes wellbeing, reduces social isolation and tackles waste.
The Phoenix will be an inclusive, intergenerational neighbourhood for all to enjoy. Public squares, gardens and community buildings will bring new beautiful and green space to Lewes, encouraging people to be together. A new river walk will open up the Ouse to Lewes and span the full length of the site, connecting to a raised garden, the Belvedere, and down to Foundry Yards, a public square built around two repurposed Ironworks structures.
A community canteen will serve low-cost, seasonal food, grown by local, regenerative farms and in urban farms on the Phoenix, part of a wider food strategy to promote healthy living, reduce waste and provide opportunities for community gardening.
To protect the site and Pells area, Human Nature will add to the existing flood defenses along the river with a new flood wall to defend the site against the one in 100 year event, including an allowance for climate change, designed for a 120-year life.
The Phoenix will also be a low-traffic, walkable neighbourhood. With many amenities provided on site, and new routes to the centre of town and the retail park across the river, those living on the Phoenix will be able to walk or cycle to meet most daily needs. This will result in streets safe for walking, wheeling, cycling and for children to play in, while also improving air quality.
The neighbourhood will be home to a new state-of-the-art Health Centre, which will not only enable services to be transferred from existing buildings that are not fit for purpose but enable further service development and space for integration with mental health, community services, and the voluntary sector.
(Image credit: Human Nature with Periscope / Carlos Penálver)
Human Nature is a Lewes company, with the majority of its Phoenix team living in the town. This local knowledge will help ensure that the Phoenix stitches into and connects to Lewes, taking influence from its existing architecture, economy and its radical history. We will always seek to collaborate with local people, businesses and regenerative farms first, creating a vibrant new neighbourhood that complements, but doesn’t compete with, the existing town.
An estate management company, owned by Human Nature, will manage communal aspects of the neighbourhood once built and retain ownership of all green infrastructure, public realm, sustainable drainage and flood defences. Tenants and residents of the site will be invited to participate in the running of the company, with public spaces protected in perpetuity and any surplus made by the estate management company reinvested into community infrastructure. This is crucial in ensuring that the ideals upon which the Phoenix is built remain in place.