This design for new housing and associated community facilities responds to the current UK shortage, by rethinking the concept of the Green Belt. Controversy surrounds the Green Belt, with opinion divided over its policies and protection, as discussed by the economist Alan Mace.

The chosen site is in Enfield, opposite Oakwood underground station on the Piccadilly Line, the line’s penultimate stop on its northern end.

Two-hundred metres from the site are the tube depots in Cockfosters, scheduled for demolition now that a new fleet of Piccadilly Line trains are to be introduced. The disused materials are to be reused for the project and means 675 tonnes of embodied carbon can be salvaged. While the depots provide an array of construction materials, like bricks and steel, there are still some fundamental building components missing.

The scheme, therefore, adopts a ‘hyper-localised’ approach to harvested and salvaged materials. Two-hundred-and-fifty metres from the site is arable land, where straw is be grown for insulation and thatched roofs, and the adjacent pine tree wood provides timber. This localised sourcing significantly reduces the scheme’s carbon footprint.