Derwenthorpe is a housing development situated approximately to the east of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

city centre which is adjacent to

Osbaldwick Osbaldwick is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the Census 2011 was 2,902. It has been in existence since at least the 11th centur ...

, Tang Hall and Meadlands. The design and planning for this new estate was undertaken by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) and the building contract for all four build phases has been awarded to

Barratt Developments Barratt Developments plc is one of the largest residential property development companies in the United Kingdom operating across England, Wales and Scotland. It was founded in 1958 as Greensitt Bros., but control was later assumed by Sir L ...

(under the brand name "David Wilson Homes"). The original name of "New Osbaldwick" was dropped in favour of "Derwenthorpe" in 2004 in reference to the

Derwent Valley Light Railway The Derwent Valley Light Railway (DVLR) (also known as The Blackberry Line) was a privately owned standard-gauge railway in North Yorkshire, England, and was unusual in that it was never nationalised, remaining as a private operation all its ...

that used to run through the site.

Environmental aims

All homes built will meet or exceed the

Code for Sustainable Homes The Code for Sustainable Homes was an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes in United Kingdom. First introduced in 2006, it is a national standard for use in the design and construction of new homes ...

level 4 standard and include features such as MVHR in order to reduce energy consumption. Hot water and central heating is provided by means of a

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating ...

biomass furnace system which is housed in the "Super Sustainable Centre" in the middle of the site.

Awards

The development has won a number of awards for both design and build, including: * Civic Trust Award, 2014 for Phase 1 * Housing Design Award, 2013 (completed category) * What House? Awards, 2013. Silver awarded in the "Best Development" category * Royal Institute for British Architects (RIBA) Yorkshire Award for sustainability, 2017 for Phase 1 * Royal Institute for British Architects (RIBA) Yorkshire Award for Best Large Residential Development, 2017 for Phase 2

Controversy

A number of objections to the development were raised based on environmental and wildlife concerns. However most of these concerns were determined to be unfounded in an expert report which was commissioned by JRHT. Local residents submitted a petition in opposition to the development and, as a result, a

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal commission in that ...

was conducted. Ultimately, the development was referred to the

Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government ...

department for approval but the development was given the go-ahead in May 2007. Work on the first phase and infrastructure began in late 2010.

Transport

Between 1913 and 1926 Osbaldwick was served by a station on the

. This line remained open to freight until 1981 but has now been completely dismantled.

Sustrans Sustrans is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United Ki ...

National Cycle Route 66 now runs on the former track bed which bisects the Derwenthorpe site. The site is currently served by the Number 6 bus service which runs between the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

and Clifton Moor but there are plans to create a new route featuring new zero-emission electric buses in future. The number 25 by

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of ...

runs directly through the estate. This runs from Derwenthorpe to Fulford under the ''York & Country'' branding.

References

{{reflist

External links

Derwenthorpe
Villages and areas in the City of York