Hockley Gate

Client: Hanehouse Developments

With BPN Architects

[2025]

A landscape concept for a large residential development on the outskirts of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

A working title ‘The Reserve’ began as a conversation about a previous bank on the site, though this transformed into the idea of creating a landscape with a highly ecological focus.

The design was developed through my process of research into historical maps; a 19th century painting of Hockley and industries that occupied the site and surrounding area.

Amongst the wider influences was Lucas Industries. This began with Joseph Lucas, a jobless father of six, selling paraffin oil from a barrow cart around the streets of Hockley.  Oil and ink drawings then simply became a starting point to help shape spaces, landforms and planting densities. Metal Pressings from APS (who occupied the immediate site) influenced, shapes, rounded corners and straight edges that contrasted with the amorphous nature of oil and ink.

I gave the landscape DAS a working title of The Reserve as a nod to the use of 175 Hockley Hill as a bank but also to define an internal park beyond the traditional mown amenity green spaces of the area, with a sequence of habitats to be retained within the walls and on the roof of the new development.