consort road
consort road

"...its visual purity proved shocking, unexpected and genuinely thrilling. It looks amazing... how compassion and craft can combine to transform the mundane, make a place out of nothing, and bring light to the darkest environments..." Architects Journal editorial 'Great British Architecture - A Decade in Review' Dec, '09

This £7.8m development has a railway viaduct to the north, an 'A' road to the west & a tram depot proposed for the site opposite. 49 dwellings (all to Lifetime Homes standard) are provided along with retail units, on a 0.265 h. site at a density of 610 hrh. It has been composed from 3 distinct blocks modeled to the context. A six storey shared-ownership apartment building is joined - via a terrace of family houses - to a corner of rental flats. A street front has been created with widened pavements, tree planting & commercial activity.

A well insulated shell (U=0.15 & 0.09 W/m2K) with wide span R.C frame (giving high thermal mass) is combined with multi-storey winter-gardens. Large, elegant, & efficient dwellings have been constructed to allow for future flexibility, adaptation & change. The 39 winter-gardens offer energy benefits while protecting dwellings from the traffic noise & providing space to extend the dwelling area in the warmer months. Sheltering residents from noise off the railway viaduct & industries within the arches to the rear is a 5 storey cantilevering glazed screen this has glazing rhythms relating to circulation into the apartments & the movement of passing trains. The winter-gardens are arranged in a sequence of bays & buttresses giving a generous scale. Reflective black aggregate facings to low level precast wall panels sparkle by day & night.

This is a sustainable innovative design incorporating a gas powered CHP, PV arrays, MHR (mechanical heat recovery), Car Club, a landscaped roof, suds drainage & high thermal mass construction etc.

Selected Publications:- 'Key Urban Housing of the C20th’ Laurence King Publications Oct '08; 'Flexible Housing' Architectural Press July '07; 'Guide To Flexible Housing' The Housing Corp. & Sheffield Uni. Nov.; 2006 Architecture Today Feb. '08;

Selected Awards:- '09 Building for Life Silver Standard; '08 British Homes Award - Affordable Housing Development of the Year; '08 Hot dip Galvanising in Architecture Award; '05 Housing Design Award Citation for Excellence; Architektura & Biznes, Krakow 01 '08

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