We are excited to announce that RNIB Redhill has been shortlisted for the Housing Design Awards Judging Panel Awards.
The judging visit was marked by dramatic thundery showers, which cleared just in time to reveal a magnificent sky and provide the perfect setting to experience the scheme and its landscape in full.
At RNIB Redhill, the landscape is not simply a setting for the architecture, it is fundamental to how the place is experienced, navigated and understood. Working in close collaboration with the Royal National Institute of Blind People and residents, the design process focused on how external spaces could meaningfully support visually impaired users in their day to day lives. The ambition was to create a landscape that promotes independence, confidence and wellbeing, whilst avoiding any sense of institutional character.
A key driver of the scheme is the use of landscape as a primary wayfinding tool. Rather than relying on signage, the masterplan is structured through a series of distinct character areas, defined by planting, materiality and spatial form. Changes in surface texture, shifts in planting character and clear, legible routes enable residents to intuitively navigate the site, building familiarity and ease of movement over time. Central to this is a sensory trail that runs throughout the development. This has been carefully designed to engage multiple senses, integrating scent, sound, texture and seasonal variation. Planting is selected not only for its visual quality, but for how it can be experienced through touch and smell, creating a richer and more immersive landscape that evolves through the year.
These principles build on earlier work developed through the award winning The Mind’s Eye Garden, created in collaboration with RNIB. That project explored how landscape can support sensory experience and orientation for visually impaired users. At Redhill, those ideas have been translated into a permanent residential setting, embedding them into everyday life.
Alongside this, the planting strategy has been developed to be both climate resilient and robust, ensuring long term establishment and reduced maintenance requirements. The scheme also responds to Biodiversity Net Gain principles, delivering measurable ecological uplift through habitat creation and species rich planting, whilst maintaining clarity and legibility within the residential environment.
Importantly, the landscape is shared across both RNIB residents and open market housing, helping to foster a genuinely integrated community. Spaces are designed to support social interaction as well as moments of quiet reflection, with therapeutic and sensory gardens playing a key role in supporting health and wellbeing.
Ultimately, the project demonstrates how a landscape led approach can move beyond aesthetics, shaping how a place works, how it feels, and how people live within it. At RNIB Redhill, the landscape becomes a tool for orientation, inclusion and connection, creating an environment that is both functional and deeply human.
For more information, please check out this post on #LinkedIn
