King Street Car Park, Maidstone | ZEDPods

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About the project

Online Exhibition

Community Notice Board

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King Street Car Park

Maidstone Borough Council

About the project

Maidstone Borough Council and Maidstone Property Holdings, has been working with ZED PODS to design an innovative, low-carbon, highly energy-efficient housing development aimed at creating a mixed tenure scheme comprising of market rent and affordable social rent in Maidstone town centre. The scheme seeks to utilise the ‘airspace’ over the existing King Street Car Park, whilst retaining the parking spaces beneath — thus delivering an excellent solution to making efficient use of land, retaining parking capacity for visitors to the town centre, contributing to the challenge of delivering sustainable development and contributing to meeting local housing need.

It is a pioneering environmental and socially focused development which will deliver much-needed living space for young professionals, keyworkers and vulnerable households in need of affordable housing.

Site Location

Project Team

Maidstone Property Holdings Ltd

Real Estate

ZED PODS Ltd

Architects

Key Principles:

Activating under-utilised land within a highly accessible town centre location.
Delivering sustainable and energy-efficient homes aimed at meeting the needs of local Maidstone residents.
16 new homes consisting of a mix of 1 and 2-bed apartments (of which 10 will be market rent and 6 will be offered as affordable social rent units).
All apartments will meet the Nationally Described Space Standard with most, having access to private amenity space.
All apartments are super-insulated, airtight homes with minimal energy demand to ensure the lowest possible running costs.
Solar power generation to provide low-energy water/heating — annual production will generate more energy than the development consumes.
Robust party wall construction performance to achieve fire ratings to comply with Building Regulations and a Fire Safety Plan.
The proposal will activate the site, improve the street scene and improvements to the boundary with planting.
The solar panels combined with the DER improvements should result in 100% offset of regulated carbon emission — creating a net-zero development.
The proposed design will enable parking underneath the apartments, with ample lighting.
Enabling upgrading of existing car parking services at no cost to the Council

About the project

Massing Options

We explored several different positions on site to situate the proposed massing. We have sought to develop a balance of providing more units whilst minimising the disruption on surrounding views, over-shading and overlooking concerns.

Option A — King Street Frontage

Citing the mass on the frontage of king street would continue the topology of the street however it would directly impede views from the lodge and present issues of overlooking with the office façades on the opposite side of the street.
1. Losing units (at least 3) and parking spaces. 2. Blocking Emergency vehicle access. 3. Unsafe Pedestrian access

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Option C — King Street Setback

Setting the bulk of the mass back from King Street maximises the distances from any existing buildings in the nearby context and by situating habitable rooms towards the front prevents any overlooking issues from occurring maintaining the open feel and nature of the current site. Also allowing space for HGVs and emergency services to operate effectively.
1. Retaining maximum no of parking spaces. 2. Safe pedestrian access 3. Minimise impact on existing car park 4. Avoid over-looking / over-shading

Site Massing

The scheme comprises of 16 self-contained residential units of the following configuration:

6 x 1B 2P (1-storey)

10 x 2B 4P (1-storey)

Communal facilities include secure external bin store and cycle store, public and private green space

58 no. parking spaces including 4 disabled parking spaces, 2 EV charging bays and 2 motorcycle bays

The scheme also shows allowance for site-specific constraints and opportunities whilst respecting existing amenities.

Set Backs and Key Distances

The massing is set back from all surrounding buildings with 10m being the closest corner to corner distance and significant distances of more than 40m between overlooking windows. The building is also set back at least 5m from any road.

Project Timeline — Preparing Planning Applicaiton

Project Brief approved by the Council

Undertook Feasibility Studies

Agree on Project Budget

Prepare Project Programme

Completed

Completed

Architectural Concept approved by the Council and aligned to the Project Brief

Obtain pre-application Planning Advice

Initial Cost Plan

Completed

Planning application to be submitted

2021 - To be confirmed

Upcoming

Building Regulations Application

Construction Phase Plan

Upcoming

Building handed over to the Council

Upcoming

Residents move in

Upcoming

Develop Business Case

Review Project Risks

Review Project Budget

Undertook Site Appraisals

Completed

Construction off-site to minimise disruption and site installation

Upcoming

Upcoming — Preparing to Submit our Planning Application

Winter 2020/21 • In Progress

We will provide a further update to our website in the next couple of weeks when we have a more precise date for submitting the application, and we will inform the local community before any application is submitted.

Timeline

Online Exhibition

Open Consultation Events

Wednesday, 26 May 2021 from 18:30 to 20:30 — Completed
Thursday, 3 June 2021 from 18:30 to 20:30 — Completed
Thursday, 12 August 2021 from 18:30 to 20:30 — Completed

Tell us what matters to you about housing delivery in Maidstone.

We are seeking public comments to understand how the community feels about the proposed development and to identify ways in which we can better meet community needs.

Polls

Community Notice Board

Coming soon...

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Community Notice Board

Feedback

We are preparing to submit our application to Maidstone Borough Council.

In the meantime, our project team is on hand to answer any questions you may have. Please feel free to get in touch at any time.

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ZED PODS is the British leading accredited specialist in modular built homes over car parks & land that cannot otherwise be developed.

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+44(0)20 3983 3114

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ZED PODS Ltd, 3rd Floor,

6 - 8 Bonhill Street

London EC2A 4BX

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