The first residents have now moved into Adler Housing’s new development in Bensham. Our brief for the development was for large but affordable family homes which would not only meet the requirements of the HCA and local Planning Authority, but also support the specific cultural requirements of the HCA and local Planning Authority, but also support the specific cultural requirements of local community residents, which includes an established Jewish community.

The resultant design is for 12, three storey, five bedroom homes on a compact brownfield site, designed specifically to meet the requirements of the residents, with the size of the homes a response to the traditionally large Jewish family unit, just one of the specific needs of the residents.

JDDK Director and project architect, Nicky Watson explained, “Each of the new houses includes a particular requirement to incorporate a Sukka, a room with an opening roof to enable members of the household to eat, sleep and generally reside in the open air for eight nights each year, during the Sukkot festival.”

“Similarly, the design allows the dining and living rooms to be opened up and amalgamated for family gatherings but with retractable folding doors which can separate them for individual uses at other times. The dining room is particularly important for the traditional study of the Torah and associated texts and therefore needed space for extensive shelving for books and high levels of natural and artificial lighting. Whilst in the kitchen , the designs have to accommodate the requirement to prepare and cook meat and dairy products separately, as well as provide the potential for tenants to install  a separate smaller kitchen area for use only during Passover.”

“A household of nine people generates an awful lot of clothes and linen washing and it was a particular wish of the families we met during community consultation that the washing machine and tumble drier be on the first floor, accessible from the landing, in actual fact a common location for laundry facilities in European homes.”