The Meadow Flats project created 27 new fully accessible and affordable sheltered living apartments on a steeply sloping site overlooking Porthmeor Beach, St. Ives. The aim of the project was to create homes for the most vulnerable elderly residents in St Ives. Meadow Flats replaces a series of smaller sheltered accommodation units constructed in the 1960’s that were suffering from subsidence and damp, compounded by poor access.
The project addressed St Ives’ chronic shortage of sheltered accommodation while at the same time providing quality accommodation and an undisrupted sea view putting older members of the community in the very highest standard of accommodation. It demonstrates that apartments with shared facilities offer a great way for older members of the community to enjoy life to the full. This includes space for mobility scooter parking, lifts and level access decks with shared courtyard spaces. The project has also enabled Tate St Ives to expand on the land to the rear.
As well as receiving Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 certification, the scheme also integrated ground source heat pumps into the substructure design for the heating and hot water systems to cost effectively provide lower ongoing living costs for the residents.
The external fabric was detailed and built with high levels of insulation, and excellent airtightness, with careful attention paid to overheating in order to greatly reduce the energy required to heat and cool the homes, and therefore reduce the buildings operational carbon footprint.
