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Holyer Purchase Design
Developer
J P Homes
Contractor
J P Construction
Planning Authority
Tewkesbury Borough Council
Reeves Bailey Architects
Developer
Bryant Homes
Taywood Homes
Contractor
Bryant Homes
Taywood Homes
Planning Authority
Chelmsford Borough Council
Project Award 2000
Walter Menteth
Developer
Ujima Housing Limited
Contractor
Benson Ltd
Planning Authority
London Borough of Greenwich
Feilden Clegg Bradley
Developer
Crosby Homes Ltd
Contractor
Skanska Construction Group Ltd
Planning Authority
Cheltenham Borough Council
Shed KM
Developer
Urban Splash
Contractor
Toty Construction Group
Planning Authority
Liverpool City Council
Nicholas Ray Associates
Developer
King's College Cambridge Developments Ltd
Contractor
R G Carter Cambridge Ltd
Planning Authority
Cambridge City Council
Back Of Avon
Tawkesbury
Bishops Mead
Chelmsford
Bloomfield Court
London SE18
Century Court
Cheltenham
Collegiate Regeneration
Liverpool
Project Award 1999
Garden Hostel
Cambridge
Eight town houses on a sensitive riverside site demonstrate that a historic context need not require a historicist approach. Fully glazed bays exploit the views from living spaces on the ground and first floors, giving the elevations a strong and attractive rhythm.
A development which provides a first rate model for other house-builders, and an excellent example of the benefits which a forward-looking planning policy can bring to the regeneration of our smaller provincial towns.
One of the first fruits of the new planning policies set out in Planning Policy Guidance 3, with a close-knit layout, a density of 33 dwellings per hectare, intelligent handling of car parking, and a very definite sense of place.
Equally, however, a demonstration that such characteristics are not by themselves enough, and that high quality detailing and handling of hard and soft landscaping are also vitally important in bringing schemes of this nature to successful fruition.
The third scheme by this architect (see Awards, 2000 and 2001) for people needing care in the community, featuring a highly sensitive use of the remnants of former industrial use to form a series of tranquil courts around six houses and a residential home.
Once again, ingenious use of everyday materials to achieve delightful spaces at minimal cost. But here the assessors felt that these passages of inventive design did not, for once, add up to more than the sum of the parts.
A bold, confident developmentof 96 flats, houses and maisonettes in the heart of a historic provincial town, and a textbook demonstrationof a contemporary high density scheme (96 dwellings per hectare) in total sympathy with its context.
The site layout and provision of private open space related to different times of day is exemplary. Only the very high standard of other entries this year, and some minor lapses, such as the treatment of the entrance halls,robbed this scheme of an Award.
Another very near miss. A highly polished restoration and conversionof the fire damaged shell of a grade II listed building, featuring double height flats with sleeping balconies, anda communal garden within the walls of a roofless auditorium to the rear.
The consistently high quality of fittings, materials and detailing is an object lesson to other developers. However,the assessors felt that architectural effect had often taken precedence over user needs in the internal planning.
The original King’s College Garden Hostel is a lumpen brick affair totally unworthy of its position next to the Fellows’ Garden. This new extension of 33 student rooms screens the earlier work, and provides a sensitive backdrop to an important landscape.
As at Clare Hall (see ‘Worth a detour’, 1998 and 2001), Nicholas Ray has demonstrated that Oxbridge affluence need not be used ostentatiously, if directed towards careful detailing and planning, and the use of high quality materials.