The New Heritage Collection is a set of 34 different homes, available in brick and render, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement.
One of the most popular and enduring of domestic architectural styles, the Arts and Crafts influence can be seen in many so-called ‘character’ homes from later periods, especially the 1920s and 1930s.
Just as the Arts and Crafts era (c1850 – 1915) grew from the desire to bring back the skill and creativity of the individual craftsman and revive the simplicity and honesty in the way buildings and furnishings were made, Redrow has deliberately set out to reintroduce a high degree of
individuality to the way its homes look and feel.
It comes as Redrow seeks to build the kind of homes that people want to live in, with overwhelming demand from customers for the traditional looking homes they’ve often grown up in – but with contemporary interiors and built-in efficiency.
Steve Morgan, chairman, explains: “The architectural influences, the styles, shapes, colours and textures reflected in the Arts and Crafts movement have been brought right up to date with highspecification interiors styled for modern living.”
Evidence of Arts and Craft style housing can be seen in most villages, towns and cities, often on arterial routes. Redrow has researched, photographed and catalogued many of these homes and their features to ensure authenticity in its designs.
External features which typify the era and are being reproduced within Redrow’s New Heritage Collection include dropped eaves, projecting plinths, bays and other distinctive window styles, often with leaded lights, timber or tiled canopies over doors and windows, supported by decorative gallows brackets, and the use of larch lap boarding as a feature. Front door colours reflect the ‘heritage’ feel, including ‘Brunswick’ green, deep burgundy and rich dark blue.
There are rough cast rendered and brick elevation versions of every housetype in the new collection, allowing individual developments to be designed in keeping with the local vernacular, with options to adapt the styling when strict regional planning guides apply.
Redrow’s new collection features predominantly two-storey detached family homes, with fewer apartments or three-storey townhouses. However, there are smaller terraced and semi-detached properties to suit first time buyers, single purchasers, young families and people looking to downsize.
Steve adds: “These homes have the familiar look and external character of older period-style properties but everything is brand new; home owners can start living straight away and don’t need to spend money or time on redecorating or repairs. Indeed, why spend tens of thousands of pounds knocking down walls to make an old property more open plan, replacing kitchens and bathrooms, when a home from our New Heritage Collection will save you the trouble?
“Today’s rigorous building standards and greater awareness of sustainability issues, also means brand new homes are much more efficient than the character properties of yester-year, which can mean drastically reduced running costs.”
The traditional exteriors of The New Heritage Collection hide a contemporary interior specification, featuring convivial open plan living spaces, fashionable kitchen designs with floor to ceiling units, central islands, top brand name appliances and even American style integrated
fridge-freezers in some of the larger properties; plus bathrooms that are sleek, modern and pleasing to the eye, with a tile range that is unique to Redrow.
Fully furnished New Heritage showhomes are already open at developments in Lancashire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire, Derbyshire, plus North and South Wales. It will also be available soon in Bristol, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, North Lincolnshire and Scotland’s central belt.
Initial prices* are from circa £161,995 for a three-bedroom New Heritage home in Liverpool, from £187,995 for a three-bedroom detached home in Chorley, Lancashire, from £162,995 in Wrexham, North Wales, and from £179,995 in Caerphilly, South Wales.
See Also: Property News (6699), Redrow Homes (115), New Heritage Collection (32), Steve Morgan (6)
Date Published: 11 February 2010
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