30th October 2026.
Planning permission granted for Westwick Row
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Planning permission has been granted for Westwick Row, TOWN and The Crown Estate’s new 75-home neighbourhood in Leverstock Green, Hemel Hempstead.
Designed as a mixed community of cohousing and rental homes, Westwick Row will bring together 31 intergenerational cohousing homes and 44 homes for rent, alongside a Community Hub, shared gardens, play spaces and new public routes through the site.
Homes at Westwick Row are arranged around gardens and a new Central Square, with front doors, paths and communal spaces positioned to create opportunities for neighbours to meet as part of everyday life.
The cohousing homes will sit alongside 44 high-quality rental homes, creating a mixed-tenure neighbourhood of around 185 people. These homes are being designed to offer greater security and stability for renters, with low-energy design intended to reduce household running costs.
Designed with the people who will use it
“I’m very pleased that planning permission has been granted for Westwick Row. Being part of shaping a community from the very beginning has been an exciting experience for me and I’m looking forward to moving in and getting to know my future neighbours better.”
Ros Purcell, future Westwick Row cohousing resident.
The planning application follows an extensive programme of engagement and codesign, involving existing neighbours, local organisations, renters and people interested in joining the cohousing community.
More than 3,500 local households were invited to take part in the process, with public exhibitions, webinars and meetings held alongside dedicated codesign programmes.
An Ideas Exchange brought together a group of local people, selected to represent a cross-section of the surrounding area, for nine sessions exploring how the new neighbourhood should work. A Renters’ Panel focused specifically on the experience and priorities of people living in rented homes, and prospective cohousing residents worked together through a series of workshops to develop their future community.
Together, participants contributed more than 35 hours of codesign, influencing the homes, landscape, play spaces, shared facilities and the way people will move through the site.
Around the buildings, Westwick Row will create a generous network of gardens and green spaces.
More than 125 new trees will be planted, existing hedgerows retained and strengthened and new areas created for food growing. Around 600 sq m of inclusive play space will be integrated into the landscape. New walking and cycling routes will also connect through the site towards Leverstock Green and the surrounding area, making Westwick Row more permeable than the land is today.
Homes designed for the long term
Westwick Row is also intended to reduce the environmental impact and day-to-day cost of living in a new home.
The homes will use highly insulated timber-frame construction and low-carbon technologies to reduce energy demand and household bills. The approach extends beyond operational energy to consider the embodied carbon of the buildings and the long-term adaptability of the neighbourhood.
“By working with TOWN and future residents from the outset, we have been able to build innovative thinking into the development from the start. With planning now secured, our focus is on creating a thriving, sustainable neighbourhood for the future, and looking at how these models can be applied at a larger scale across the country.”
Rob Chesworth, Head of Strategic Land at The Crown Estate.
Construction is expected to begin later this year, with the first residents expected to move into Westwick Row in 2028.
TOWN is continuing to build the group of people who will form Westwick Row’s cohousing community, with regular events and opportunities to meet other prospective residents and help shape how the community will work.
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