Maple West, Chell

Maple West situated in Chell, Stoke-on-Trent, was completed in 2017 and was the third and final scheme to be delivered as part of the £55m Stoke-On-Trent Extra Care PFI project along with Willow Barns and Oak Priory. Sapphire Consortium was awarded the contract to build, finance and operate the villages over a 25-year period in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent Council. This included the Eric Wright Group who worked collaboratively with Seddon Construction to utilise a local labour force to boost the local economy. We provided Building & Energy Modelling, plus full M&E design for all three projects, which in total provided 390 extra care units.

Maple West provides 140 apartments comprising of one and two bedrooms on the former Westcliffe Hospital site. It uses retained and refurbished elements of the original hospital building, whilst being carefully scaled to respect the surrounding residential areas. The design provides two courtyards with one featuring meandering paths and an orangery. A communal lounge, a restaurant and a hairdressing salon that are open to the public.

This building also had to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’, together with a contractual requirement to reduce the carbon emissions of the building (when tested against the target building) by a minimum of 25%.  This building achieved an overall carbon reduction of 34.03% which will save 29,414.7 kg/CO2 per annum. To achieve such a highly efficient building we added PV panels to the roof, which produces 11.96 kWh/m2 per annum for the communal areas and approximately 3.96 kWh/m2 per annum for each apartment.

CHP units were also utilised in this project, producing 3.48 kWh/m2 per annum for the communal areas and approximately 2.8 kWh/m2 per annum for each apartment within the three properties. As well as utilising renewable technologies we also ensured that the mechanical and electrical services that were provided were high efficient units.

Awards

This project won the Residential Property of the Year: RICS Awards, West Midlands 2018 (read here)