The first accessible house for Camphill Milton Keynes Community (CMKC) opened in March 2025, providing homes for 6 adults with disabilities.  The house is on land owned by CMKC, previously used as the community’s allotments, and just 100-yards from a community of CMKC houses which are home to 17-long term residents.

The goals for the house were to involve the Camphill community, consider the end beneficiary throughout, to build sustainably and to build high quality:

Involve the Camphill community

Bradbury House was a well-considered and planned project as part of a masterplan for the growth of Camphill MK.  The leadership team spent eight years undertaking research, engaging the existing residents, identifying the right capital team to engage and then starting construction.

Residents were a key part of discussions, attending workshops and getting to know the architects before drawings were drafted.  Each milestone of the house build such as ground-breaking, pile-driving and to

pping off, included residents.  When the stone was being installed, Residents wrote their names on top of the uprights, the stonemason carved their names in using the ink as a template, and they were embedded into the fabric of the house.

The CMKC Residents received weekly updates from the build team through the community newspaper, the Camphill Chronicles and had verbal updates at their quarterly community assemblies.

The main contractor, Watson & Cox registered for Considerate Constructors and secured an excellent score for respecting for the community, caring for the environment, and valuing their workforce.

Consider The End Beneficiary

This house needed to be fit for those moving into it, having the correct facilities, infrastructure and design considerations.

The Bradbury House has a passenger lift which is large enough to carry the largest motorised wheelchair on the market, the buildings ceilings are pre-strengthened and hoist bolt points for the hoist tracking have been installed should the tenant require additional support to move around their bedroom and bathroom.

Their wash basins are rise and fall, as is the kitchen worktop which includes a height-adjustable sink and hob and a slide-and-hide low level oven.  Within the house, there are no visible grab-handles etc as these will be installed in response to the need of each resident.  It was essential to us, and our residents, that their bedrooms were not cluttered with aids they did not need / in advance of them needing them.

Build Sustainably

The substructure of the house is built through a method of micro-piling to reduce the use concrete on site and the extracted soil is being used for bunding on site.  The roof of the house is prepared for wildflower planting and is home to 65 solar panels, generating the power for electricity.

Heating is provided via air source heat pumps and the Air Handling Unit recycles air throughout the building which is hyper insulated.  The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) returned a 7A rating which is an excellent achievement.

Materials were sourced locally wherever possible such as the stone which was from a quarry 40-miles away, and although cost a little more, supports the local economy and reduced the miles the product travelled.

Build High Quality

Part of being committed to supporting the environment, is about building properties that are robust, with products with a long lifespan thereby reducing the amount of maintenance and replacement needed.  The Bradbury House feels high quality as you navigate around it, with wide corridors, automatic lighting, key-fob entry and Karndean flooring.

Top L-R Chair & CEO installing the Etched Stone, Bradbury House, Naming Stone, Kitchen, Ensuite to the Bedroom

Investing at the Right Time

The expansion of the Camphill MK facilities is being undertaken in a phased manner, addressing each discrete house as funding comes online.  The board of trustees have taken a pragmatic view to adjusting outputs to ensure the goals could be achieved within the budget scope available. 

This has resulted in some changes to the timeline.

An initial view of building two houses at once was amended when advice was received that investing in preparing the whole site and building just one house (at first) would be the best and most cost-effective choice.

Top L-R: Contractors Entrance, Attenuation Crates, Water Hydrant, Energy Centre & Sluice Room, Water Management System

Eventually there will be five houses on this site and the following works were completed during this first phase, which will benefit all houses:

• contractors’ entrance – removing all build traffic from the estate and our neighbours, keeping the deliveries on the main roads and reducing our impact on people’s lives.
• attenuation – holding water onsite that slowly releases back into the water network, helping to prevent flooding
• mains electric sub-station
• cycle storage
• parking and new community entrance
• sluice room – a facility for managing heavily soiled bedding etc
• energy centre – brings in all the mains electricity, mains water and network (fibre connection) ready for distribution to all our buildings. All site security systems (Paxton access control and CCTV) and the building management control system than monitors the buildings technology
• water supply – installing a non-standard fire hydrant and water connection
• sewage pumping station
• IT network centre (including VOIP Telecoms