Lowfield Green – York

Bowman Riley partnered with YorSpace Community Land Trust to design this innovative, community-led scheme on the site of a former school in Lowfield Green in York.

Adjacent to the development featured in Grand Designs: The Streets, Lowfield Green was supported by organisations including Homes England and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with residents placed at the heart of the design and delivery process.

We brought together expertise across architecture, passive house design, technical coordination, and Principal Designer services under CDM and the Building Safety Act, helping translate an ambitious vision into a deliverable, high-performance neighbourhood.

The completed first phase provides 14 townhouses, with future phases planned to include six apartments and a community hall. Five homes were delivered using modular prefabricated construction, while the remainder were timber-framed and designed to meet Passivhaus standards, significantly reducing energy demand while creating comfortable, healthy homes.

But the innovation went beyond construction. The project was rooted in YorSpace’s community-led and co-operative model, giving residents a genuine stake in their homes and the wider neighbourhood. Shared spaces, sustainable transport and self-build principles helped create a community designed around connection, not simply occupation.

Lowfield Green demonstrates what can be achieved when housing is designed around the people who live there, creating homes that are more affordable, more sustainable and more connected to their community.

See our other residential schemes here.