Projects
Cliffemount Hotel – Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire Coast
Bowman Riley is designing the Cliffemount, a unique new Passive House hotel on the stunning clifftop of Runswick Bay, capturing scenic views of the North Yorkshire coast.
In 2022, the Fojt family became the new owners of the existing property, with plans to rebuild the business into a 20-bedroom luxury boutique hotel, restaurant, and bar within this popular summer holiday destination and part of the Cleveland Way National Trail.
The vision is to create a unique destination that enhances the coastal village’s community facilities and visitor offer by providing a luxury hotel with high-quality food and beverages to ensure a top-quality guest experience and provide local people with excellent career opportunities.
Our plans are to limit Cliffemount’s impact on the environment and the local community alike. In addition to the exceptional sustainable targets, the building is designed to deliver significant community benefits.
We are creating an exceptional-standard Passive House building that reflects the local history and character and aims to be a beacon for sustainable development and community benefit for years to come. The Passive House building will meet stringent energy-efficiency standards while ensuring comfort, affordability, and ecological considerations.
We held a public consultation event to involve local people in the planning process. The project team received overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding the design, the restaurant and the pub. Cliffemount achieved planning consent and works have started on site
Please see our other hotel projects.
Lowfield Green – York
Bowman Riley designed Lowfield Green, a pioneering community-led housing development in Acomb, York, delivered by YorSpace Community Land Trust.
York’s first housing co-operative, YorSpace has created a new model for permanently affordable, sustainable housing, giving residents a genuine stake in their community, which ensures the homes remain permanently affordable, with land retained in community ownership and resale values restricted to around 70% of market value.
The first phase is complete and provides 14 two, three and four-bedroom homes across three terrace blocks, forming part of the wider 20-home development. Our design takes inspiration from the traditional Yorkshire terrace, creating a compact, contemporary neighbourhood around a shared, car-free street and communal landscape. Private gardens sit alongside larger shared spaces, a common house, cycle storage and shared resources, encouraging residents to connect and reducing reliance on private cars. Community involvement has been central from the outset.
The scheme has been designed in-house to passive house principles and One Planet Living, combining high environmental performance with a strong focus on community. Sustainability is embedded throughout the scheme. The homes are designed to passive house standards, with timber-frame and modular construction used across the development.
The first residents moved into Lowfield Green in late 2025, turning a decade of community-led development into a thriving new neighbourhood. Lowfield Green demonstrates how thoughtful architecture, sustainable design and community-led development can create high-quality, permanently affordable homes with a lasting positive impact.
Lowfield Green was commended in the RTPI Yorkshire Best Homes and Communities Scheme category and was also shortlisted for the Placemaker Award at The Yorkshires Residential Real Estate Awards 2026.
To see more of Bowman Riley’s residential experience, click here
Spring Meadow Passive Houses – Leeds
Bowman Riley is supporting the delivery of 20 new build Passive Houses, Spring Meadow in Drighlington, Leeds for PureHaus.
We created technical details for building control and construction whilst taking on the Passive House certification role. The houses far exceed the performance target of 0.6 air changes per hour, compared to the typical building target of eight air changes per hour and the Passive House default of 0.6.
Our scope expanded to include the discharge of planning conditions related to drainage and highways, handling complex level changes on a former landfill site, and assisting with construction details. We produced a suite of technical drawings, conducted regular site visits and reporting, investigated and opened up materials, and collected photographic documentation for submission to an external certifier.
The project incorporated several sustainable features, such as triple-glazed windows, solar panels, electric charging points, and advanced air filtration and monitoring systems, ensuring healthier living environments.
The project focused on repeatability and efficiency in deliverability to develop standard house types to bring high-quality Passive Houses to future sites. The homes boast 78% less embodied carbon than the RIBA 2011 ‘business as usual’ benchmark and are 1000% more effective than standard building regulations. This high level of efficiency and sustainability translates into ultra-low energy bills for homeowners.
Our efforts assisted in the early sale of 25% of the units before the show home was opened, reflecting the market’s confidence in the development.
Our efforts assisted in the early sale of 25% of the Spring Meadow units before the show home was opened, reflecting the market’s confidence in the development.
Images credit – PureHaus