Thinking Buildings were appointed by an established local family business to help them redevelop their office site. Their aim was to make more efficient use of their existing commercial site, re-planning and organising the layout to provide a replacement office building along with a residential use to help finance the new office building.
Through a initial design concept exploration, the resulting design divides the site in two with a residential block of apartments to the south and a new office building to the north. Massing of the new buildings responds to the sensitivities of the suburban context, so that the proposals do not overshadow or overlook the neighbouring houses, and the landscaping seeks to soften and integrate the design into the wider context. The scheme is finely balanced to meet the various planning requirements for amenity, parking, trees, ecology and Bio-diversity Net Gain, and a clear overall masterplan was developed in order to maximise the site’s development potential
The two buildings are designed as a complimentary pair whilst having individual design cues to reflect their differing use, to give coherence to the scheme. The architecture is intended to be simple, yet elegant, using soft tonal brickwork and detailing, with the upper floors stepped back and clad in zinc. The interplay of the forms of the building, the sizes of windows and the relationship to the landscaping is where the residential and office elements are differentiated.
This scheme is currently in planning determination, and we hope to be able to report a successful permission shortly.
