The historic village of Marlfield located 3kms west of Clonmel, is defined by its compact centre with a large number of detached dwellings towards the edges of the settlement. Historic buildings such as Marlfield House and protected structures in the village, together with the mature historic landscape and proximity to the River Suir add to the defined character of the settlement. Marlfield has a strong residential history, and the area is defined by materials such as stone, wrought-iron fencing and by traditional building forms. The elevated and sloping site is located on the eastern edge of the Marlfield Settlement Boundary and provides an opportunity to provide high quality housing as a sustainable and compact extension of the village.  The elevated site benefits from dramatic landscape views to the south and the scheme has been designed to strongly respond to its immediate context.

 The scheme consists of 49 dwellings all of which are either detached or semi-detached houses. The houses have been limited to two storeys in keeping with scale and form of neighbouring dwellings and the pattern of development in the vicinity.  A contemporary play on the vernacular in this development will not only merge the scheme with its context but also define it as a new, ‘au courant’ development.  The scheme takes inspiration from the local clustered dwellings to ensure the scale of the village is maintained and the development compliments the existing settlement, while creating places / streetscapes of its own. Our design approach is to provide a phased scheme that will allow the village to grow sustainably over the next decade.

 Home zone areas have been designed to sit at the end of the access roads. The layout and concept of these home zones is derived from the village’s traditional dwellings which were clustered together in a sometimes non-uniform way. This concept leads to the creation of ‘mini neighbourhoods’ which allow for smaller, less dense, cul-de-sacs with space for landscaping and public amenity.

 The forms of the houses within the development are vernacular with steeply pitched roofs and gables, vertical windows and large entrance doors. The windows are simple in design, with the intent of having a clean and uninterrupted exterior.  Alight-coloured brick is proposed, which resembles a hand-cut aesthetic to beused as a finish on part of the exteriors of the houses and also as a finish onwalls encompassing the public open spaces. The light colour of the brick givesa clean and contemporary finish to an otherwise traditional material.  Significant Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUDs)measures are incorporated into the public open space and landscape design tofurther ensure the sustainable development of Marlfield village.

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