A green and flourishing new community in the heart of the Midlands

Houlton is a sustainable new urban extension for Rugby, delivering over 6,000 new homes with three new primary schools, one new secondary school, more than 31-hectares of employment floorspace, new footpaths and cycleways, 2,900 sqm of community facilities and new healthcare provision.

Designed around the principles of healthy placemaking, an essential component of the design approach has been the embedding of Active Design Principles – ensuring formal and informal opportunities for residents to be physically active. homes are defined by green ecology corridors – natural landscaped wildlife passages between the neighbourhoods – with tree planting, grassland and sustainable urban drainage ponds providing an abundance of natural habitats. These wildlife corridors preserve the area’s existing population of great crested newts and provide wider biodiversity and recreation opportunities.

A historically important site, Houlton was formerly at the heart of the nation’s radio communications systems playing a leading role in global communications since the first transmitter was opened in 1926. The C-station on the site has been retained and embedded into the new neighbourhood through its refurbishment and integration as part of the new secondary school – helping to embrace and preserve its connection with British history whilst signalling the growth of Rugby. The award-winning retrofitted school has received many accolades including winning the AJ Design of the Year 2022 and the RIBA Reinvention Award at the RIBA Stirling Prize Awards 2023.

A mixed-use hub, converted from the former Dollman Farm, already forms a focal point for the new neighbourhood, accommodating community and commercial activity with offices, exhibition space, children’s nursery, retail store and the Tuning Fork café run by local people in Rugby.

The project invested heavily in public communication and consultation to develop and maintain active engagement with Rugby’s existing community, local parish councils, elected members and neighbouring residents to help steer the direction to bring forward the new community at Houlton.