The redevelopment of the former Friend’s Garage site offered a rare opportunity to repair a neglected corner at the northern approach to the Orford Conservation Area. For years, the site had been defined by dilapidated industrial buildings, patchy fencing and overgrown vegetation. The ambition was to replace this with a small group of homes that felt naturally part of Orford, while giving new residents light, privacy, useful gardens and comfortable places to live.

The starting point was the village itself. Orford is characterised by red brick, pitched roofs, hedgerows and gable ends, with buildings often glimpsed through planting and boundary walls rather than fully exposed to the street. Rather than copying historic details, the design takes these familiar qualities and uses them to shape a simple, contemporary development that feels rooted in its setting.

The site is organised around two distinct groups of homes. Three detached family houses sit deeper within generous garden plots, while a terrace of three smaller dwellings sits closer to Front Street, helping to re-establish the rhythm of the village frontage. This arrangement also creates a gradual transition between the historic character of the Conservation Area and the more suburban development to the west.

A key challenge was to make six homes work comfortably on a constrained brownfield site without compromising neighbours or the quality of the new spaces. The houses were positioned to make the most of daylight, privacy and garden orientation, with south and west-facing outdoor spaces where possible. Two-storey elements were pulled away from shared boundaries, while upper-floor