I tried to estimate the obstacle clearance of BA038's flight path by comparing the FDR trace and Google Earth. It appears to have crossed A30 about 5 sec before touchdown at about 100 ft height. At that point there is a low (15-20 ft?) building 50 metres from the runway centerline as well as streetlight poles.
The next significant obstacle is a group of houses 700 metres from the touchdown point, where the plane was 14 sec from touchdown at 230 ft, nose high just before the stick shaker activated.
With full respect for the crew's action in a situation they had obviously never been trained for:
The hypothetical question is, would a slightly lower faster approach, reducing the margin to the houses, have left the plane with enough additional energy to flare over the road and (presumably) come down softer than the actual 1400 fpm vertical speed?
A second question. What if the airplane would have "sounded the alarm" at the earliest possible time, which according to the trace was about 54 sec before touchdown for the right engine and 45 sec for the left, as the EEC entered "Control Loop 17"? An immediate flap retraction to 20 degrees at that early point in time might actually have given some real benefit of reduced drag, even considering the ~10 sec retraction time. But how much?