The Duchy of Cornwall’s Kew An Lergh development in Nansledan has scooped a prestigious national award having been praised by the judges as a “small project with a big social impact”.
Kew An Lergh (the former field name meaning “Way Close” in Cornish), is a striking cluster of three Arts and Crafts-style buildings and marks the Duchy’s first directly delivered commercial development in Nansledan.
The Duchy played the pivotal construction management role in delivering the project through the COVID-19 pandemic, assembling a high quality team from the skilled local workforce, to protect jobs and complete the project on time and budget, and to the Duchy’s exacting standards, despite all the challenges of the pandemic.
Kew An Lergh was designed by Nansledan’s masterplanning architects ADAM Architecture who put the project forward for the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) UK Awards earlier this year. In July it was shortlisted among 13 entries nationwide vying to win the fiercely contested Commercial Development category.
At a glittering awards ceremony in London last week (4th October), judges pronounced Kew An Lergh the category winner, praising it as a “small project with a big social impact”. They cited both its sustainability credentials and its role as an exemplary community-led project that had created jobs and opportunities for local suppliers and contractors, while attracting a diverse range of local businesses.
The judges said: “Whilst a relatively small-scale development, the impact this scheme has had on its locality, commercial environment and community cannot be overstated. Attracting creative and traditional commercial uses together with the much-needed provision of a nursery the scheme brings vitality to this part of the UK. The design enhances the local area and is becoming a focal point for the community while embracing sustainable principles including the enhancement of biodiversity in the development.”
Ben Murphy, Estate Director for the Duchy of Cornwall, said: “We are thrilled that Kew An Lergh has triumphed in such a competitive field. The judges’ recognition of the social value that community-led regeneration can bring is especially rewarding. This project has been a true collaboration, involving our construction team, local suppliers, architects, planners, and tenants, all working together to achieve the best possible outcome.
“Kew An Lergh has quickly become a vibrant home to an exciting and eclectic mix of businesses, as well as a real community hub.”
Kew An Lergh features a nursery school and two neighbouring buildings of two and three storeys, housing shops and offices around a landscaped central square. The buildings incorporate local Cornish granite and renewable energy via a ground source heat pump. Other distinctive features include clay tiles made by the nursery children to decorate the exterior, a Duchy of Cornwall crest crafted from lead adorning one of the dormers, and a historic bell made in Bodmin nearly 400 years ago, now installed in the nursery’s bell tower.
The development is home to a diverse range of businesses including Naturally Learning nursery, vintage clothing store Love of Lemons, café and deli Sabzi, The Loft yoga studio, Linggard and Thomas Accountants, Solve Web Media, television production company Beagle Media, and Jackson’s wine bar. The remaining unit is soon to be transformed into a community hub by the Nansledan Community Association, to be hired out by a diverse range of creative groups and clubs running social activities and support programmes.
This is not the first RICS recognition for Nansledan. In 2020, the community’s primary school, Skol Nansledan, which opened in 2019, was awarded the prestigious RICS Social Impact Award.
