Somerbrook

Location

Great Somerford

Main contractor

Stonewood Homes Ltd

Products

Facing Bricks

Cast Stone

Walling Stone

Overview

Somerbrook is a beautiful new housing development of 38 dwellings in Great Somerford, North Wiltshire. Rooted in the area’s farming history, the scheme utilised traditional construction methods to produce premium and affordable housing options, featuring natural stone and slate roofs for a village-style development with a modern feel. The site is well connected with a fast railway line to London only seven miles away, or a short drive to join the M4 and M5.

Stonewood Homes worked with Taylor Maxwell and Vobster Architectural to specify and supply facing bricks, semi dry cast stone and reconstituted walling stone to the project. Somerbrook prioritised high-quality materials and thoroughly considered architecture, resulting in winning the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) South West House Builder Award.

Somerbrook Housing Wiltshire 1 Large half

Somerbrook Housing Wiltshire 10 edited Large

Concept to Completion

Stonewood Homes prioritised mitigating the environmental impacts of the construction and optimising the homes for committed use by the residents, through providing generous window openings and high ceilings that flood the spaces with light and allow views across the beautiful countryside. The development was largely inspired by the 1500’s farm that borders the space and is visually cohesive with other restored neighbouring plots along the approach.

Stone, roughcast render and brick homes vary to produce a comfortable countryside village-style across the site, comprising of two, three, four and five bedroom homes that are terraced, link detached or detached. Reconstituted walling stone was utilised beautifully in thinner stone sizes to give the appearance of brickwork. Walling stone offered an affordable alternative to natural stone, while retaining the desired premium appearance and paired perfectly with the other building materials. The reconstituted walling stone was chosen in a tumbled finish and an oolite stone shade to give an old, weathered appearance that blends with the local existing village and rural South West location.

The chimneys combine the dominant building material, be it brick, stone or render, with capping of semi dry cast stone manufactured by Vobster Architectural, for an extra distinctive design touch that creates a cohesion across the different materials used in the premium home options, ‘The Harrington’ and ‘The Hendon’. Semi dry cast stone elevates the appearance of any build, providing a smooth finish that contrasts beautifully with the other, more textured materials. The cast stone was also used across other components, such as cills and corbels to accent key building features.

To respect the historic surroundings of the development, the main challenge was designing a secure boundary that incorporated modern technologies while maintaining integration with the bordering farm sites.

A huge priority for Stonewood Homes was the high standard of living across the development. This was undoubtedly achieved with premium and environmentally considered materials. The site provides a well-connected, modern haven for residents that fully respects the rural surroundings of its Wiltshire base.