Woodnook is a historic Victorian neighbourhood located on the doorstep of Accrington town centre. The neighbourhood has declined over recent years with a view that the overwhelming number of empty terraced properties in the area should have been demolished to make way for new homes.

MCAU’s development and design strategy seeks to retain these stone-faced millworkers terraced cottages and convert for modern, energy efficient family homes.

We stripped the properties back to their original structure, revealing the work required to remodel the original and very cramped two up two down properties into a more meaningful and varied mix of house sizes and types.

We turned 90 empty properties into 72 family homes of two, three, and four bedrooms. We have knocked through into adjacent properties to create spacious, light-filled homes with a focus on long-term ‘liveability’.

A fabric- first approach means these new homes are significantly cheaper to run than a typical terraced house in the area.

Working closely with the local authority, the developer and their JV partner (Together Housing Group), we also managed shop front facelift scheme for the local adjoining high street and creating a new public square for local events in front of a renovated community hall. An area wide housing facelift programme for adjoining streets was also funded by the local authority.