Hayes social housing project cleared for construction

London housing association A2Dominion has secured planning permission for a development of 400 apartments near Heathrow airport.The development on Clayton Road in Hayes, next to the Grand Union Canal, has been designed by Assael Architecture as part of a wider masterplan that includes the neighbouring Crown Trading Estate site.The 400 new homes will be for a range of sizes and for a range of tenures. They will be powered by solar PV panels and an air source heat pump hybrid heating strategy.The project will see additional public amenity being introduced in the form of parks and gardens, as well as access to the canal bank opened up, A2Dominion said. The development also includes 1,300 sq m of commercial space.The architectural design sets out to combine three aspects of the local vernacular: industrial, residential and canalside. The ‘industrial’ buildings reference the site’s history with features from the existing warehouses transferred to the new buildings, such as large window and transom bars; the ‘residential’ buildings respond to the existing architecture on Clayton Road, with lower building heights and identifiable front doors accessed directly from the street; and the ‘canalside’ buildings respond to the waterside with full height windows to maximise views and a contemporary design that includes sash windows, recessed panels and horizontal datum banding.