Developer Crest Nicholson is now on site at Merchant Quay and the unsuccessful 1980s building at Gloucester Docks is finally coming down. With the site cleared, Crest Nicholson will build a contemporary warehouse-style building of 48 apartments over 4 floors above 5,500 square feet of leisure/retail.
Behind the scenes of this 3-year project to achieve a building worthy of Gloucester Docks’ architectural heritage has been intensive discussions between Crest Nicholson and the City Council Planning Team, with Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company (GHURC)’s Design Review Panel at the centre.
Original designs put forward by Crest Nicholson in 2007 were considered inappropriate for this sensitive site and to ensure the success of this Docks’ regeneration the GHURC’s Design Review Panel, set up by Chris Oldeshaw, stepped up to develop a more collaborative approach.
The Panel blends the best local expertise with specialist advisers from South West Design Panel, providing additional resource for the city. It consists of representatives from the GHURC Board, Gloucester City Council, English Heritage, The Civic Trust and architecture professionals, acting as an impartial adviser on regeneration projects within the City.
Crest Nicholson began working closely with the Design Review panel and appointed architects Stride Treglown Tektus to take the project forward. They have finally produced, in GHURC’s view: ‘a contemporary building which sits comfortably within the unique setting of Gloucester Docks.’
Professor Richard Silverman, one of the Design Review Panel’s experts who was involved with the successful Cardiff Bay development, said: “Collaboration with Stride Treglown Tektus has produced a final design which respects the particular qualities of The Docks environment whilst not slavishly trying to copy what is already there. It is traditional in design and modern in its detailing, respecting the classic view of the Docks that includes the Cathedral tower.”
Andrew Cox at Crest Nicholson (South West) commented: “The strong working relationship our architects developed with the GHURC’s Design Review Panel produced designs which do justice to the sensitivities of the site and we are enormously proud of them.”
Antonia Shield, GHURC Board Member and Chair of its Design Review Panel added: “Thanks to the commitment of Crest Nicholson, the new building will have grown from the seed of an idea germinated within the existing architecture of the Docks rather than a design which did not bear any relationship to the rare character of the impressive warehouse buildings around it.”
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