It starts with a list of names

Before an architect draws a line, we sit with every household and write down what they need from a new home: a ground floor for a parent with a walker, a second bedroom for a teenager, a kitchen big enough to eat in.

That list becomes the brief. The floor plans that follow are measured against it, one family at a time.

Nobody leaves for good

Residents move to temporary homes nearby while we build, with the rent covered and a fixed return date. At Courtyard Commons, 64 of the 96 homes went back to the families who lived there before.