Urban Regeneration - Revitalising Victoria Road

S T U D I O R E P O R T URBAN REGENERATION

THE

BUILDING

The project features a proposal for a new mixeduse development on Victoria Road, Aberdeen.

C O N T E N T S INTRODUCTION

07

THE BRIEF

31

THE SITE

37

THE USER

47

DESIGN + CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

51

DESIGN PROPOSAL

75

ESTIMATION OF COSTS

93

CONCLUSION

101

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

103

INTRODUCTION TH E H I STO RY O F A B ERD EEN + TO RRY TH E D EC LI N E O F TH E D I STRI C T U R B A N R E G E N E R AT I O N

T H E H I S T O R Y O F ABERDEEN + TORRY

TORRY has been incorporated into Aberdeen City since 1891; however its location, topography and social

mix

continue to define it as a distinct area.

With its coastal location at the mouth of the River Dee, Torry shared a similar fate as other North Sea seaports: rapid growth linked to the rise of the fishing industry followed by a rapid decline with its demise. This change of economic fortune combined with the related changes made to the Aberdeen harbour basin had a devestating effect on its citizens and their once proud , close-knit, working class ethos.

While some of this spirit is still thriving in the remaining older generation, other parts of the population experience high levels of social neglect with a colleration of unemployment and social deprevation.

With the rise of social problems , the reputation of the area suffered resulting in lower property values and neglected environments. This however has made the

area

attractive

to

newcomers,

over the last 15 years Torry has seen a great influx of immigrants. As a result the social mix of Torry today is more vibrant and complex than ever before.

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TORRY takes its name from the Gaelic Torr - meaning ‘rounded hill’ - refurreing to Tullos Hill as seen in the maps. The earliest known development in the area dates back to the 12th Century when St. Fitticks Church was built near Nigg Bay. By 1495 Torry was awarded the status of ‘Burgh of Barony’ and in 1891 the construction of Victoria Bridge allowed it to become a part of Aberdeen City.

For over 50 years the soul access to Torry from Aberdeen was via Wellington Suspension Bridge, built in 1831, Captain Samuel Brown and architect John Smith designed the bridge to replace Craiglug Ferry Crossing, which provided access to the New Parish Church. The bridge was vital to the community as well as used by pedestrians and vehicles for over 150 years; the now Category A Listed Building can only be used by pedestrians.

Torry has bee renowned for being a small fishing village much like Footdee, or more locally known as Fittie; however until 1869 it is apparent that Torryalso had a vast agricultural community. Many of the first roads in the area lead or connected to the large farms and the Torry Brick Works, originally part of the Torry Farmhouse Estate. South of Tullos Hill a small track lead from Wellington Road and linked Braehead and Little Tullos with Balnagask House; this infrastructure has been expanded upon and still remains today.

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T H E T H E

D E C L I N E O F D I S T R I C T

IN 1883 the housing estate, otherwise known as the ‘garden suburb’ was developed in Torry to relieve overcrowding in the city centre of Aberdeen. It can be seen from the study of historical maps that the development of ‘New Toryy’ was mainly situated on the Torry Farmhouse Estate and eventually spread over Torry Hill in the 1970s.

This development of Torry meant that the infrastructure of the area expanded rapidly. The construction of Victoria Road was completed a few years prior to Victoria Bridge: this street sweeps past the Old Torry Farm and resides at the foot of the drive, leading to Balnagask House (now Balnagask Golf Course). Paths such as Menzies Road and Walker Road were pushed through Torry Farm at this time to meet Victoria Road. During the 1890s small connection roads roads were built across the farmhouse estate; the driveway of Balnagask.

The road layout expansion began simultaneously with the influx of the fishing community. Victoria Road was immediately recognised as the finest street of the area.

Most of the houses on this road were not originally given numbers, however recieved lavish names such as ‘Portfolia House’ and ‘La Plata’ which remain today.

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URBANISATION of Torry during this time meant that Torry Farmhouse no longer had a place and as a concequence was demolished around the 1890s. The Farmhouse was replaced with a grocery store on the junction between Menzies Road, Sinclair Road and Victoria Road. Victoria Road was very much a street of small businesses and institutions such as banks, the fire station, police station, post office and library.

This can still be said for today, although throughout the years as the fishing declined, so did Torry and many of the small businesses struggled to stay open.

In 1970 what remained of ‘Old Torry’ after the River Dee channelling was also demolished due to the influx of the oil industry; the major impact was when Shell built their Torry terminal along the quay.

Until this point Torry Harbour had remained minor and was primarily used by small fishing vessels.

Unfortunately only one or two streets and a couple of houses from ‘Old Torry’ still exist and none date back further than the 19th Century. Torry Quay was rebuilt in 2012 with stronger concrete and better allignment to allow for oil and gas supply to be served.

Torry is a changing community, the once Doric fishing village has recently become home to a wide variety of different cultures and nationalities, predominantly Polish. This has caused divides in the community and competition for schools and jobs, leaving Torry with an unemployment rate almost double that of the rest of Aberdeen.

Today, Torry has very few fish processing plants, which in themselves are slowly failing. Once in abundance, they have been presceded by the oil industry. This is only one of the transformations over the last 50 years. Where once Torry was considered a separate community to Aberdeen it has slowly lost that identity going from close-knit to fragmented.

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U R B A N R E G E N E R A T I O N

C H A N G I N G

C I T I E S

CITIES are not and never have been static. They constantly change and evolve in order to adapt to a continuously evolving society and environment. This is not a new phenomona, however in recent times the change has been more rapid than ever with cities all over Europe experiencing many devestating concequences.

One of the main reasons for this development was the radical restructuring of the economic base of post-industrial cities. Manufacturing and production moved out of the city centres leaving them to become centres of services and consumption. The process of decentralisation following this development often resulted in large-scale abandonment and dereliction of land and buildings, degraded environments, social deprivation and high unemployment rates. Older areas dependent on traditional manufacturing were particularly affected, Torry being no exception.

U R B A N R E G E N E R AT I O N THE public policy response to tackling the growing urban deprivation and associated social issues is what is known as ‘Urban Regeneration’. By addressing all aspects of a fractured traditional community, the policies aim to restore economic activity, social function and inclusion whilst improving the environmental quality.

LO C A L I N I T I AT I V E S REGENERATION of urban areas does not happen over night, but is an ongoing process that takes time and active engagement for the local community and governing bodies. In Torry many initiatives have already been taken to improve the quality of life and environment, as it is currently designated as a priority regeneration neighbourhood of Aberdeen.

In 2006 the Torry Neighbourhood Action Plan was published, aimed to improve the quality of life of the residents and set to be realised during the period between 2006-2009. The local community was engaged in the process, pointing to specific issues to be addressed. These included the improvement of health services, provision of affordable housing, promotion of wider use of school and community facilities, support for local heritage and expansion of the Torry Neighbourhood Centre. In 2009 the progress of the initiative was assessed and a new plan was drafted. It was found that although some improvements had been made, fundamental issues of socio-economic inequalities still remained in the area.

Another initiative that the City Council is currently working on is aimed to transform the lives of the local residents through music. Working in partnership with Sistema Scotland, the plan is to establish a centre for musical education in the centre of Torry. The project called Big Noise Torry is set to begin this year and aims to foster confidence, pride and community cohesion.

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T H E

B R I E F

The majority of work for architects involves work to existing buildings, in established settings. In the first semester we therefore tackled the adaptive reuse of a building. This allowed us to develop a deeper understanding of cultural significance, landscape and social context in order to adopt the Gray’s Building for a new use. The demands of the project gave us opportunity to hone our analytical and presentational skills in order to convey architectural intention and character through crafted drawings, models and edited reports. The Design Studio and associated Building Technology of this semester allows us to build on our skills developed in first semester and apply them to a new built, multistory building on a brown field site.

While Aberdeen continues to have a strong economy (even though the recent drop of the price of oil is starting to be felt) there is little sign of successful urban renewal projects that combine architectural quality with socially driven development. The ambition therefore is that your building will make a major contribution to the traditional street pattern with carefully considered massing,

planning

and

contemporary

façade.

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PROJECT OCCUPATION BRIEF Your new building will abut the granite tenement at the South and stop at the church to the North, which gives it the opportunity to have openings on 3 of its 4 elevations.

The building will house 4 functions on different floors: Basement Ground Floor Upper Floors

FUNCTIONAL

BRIEF

Storage, Plant Room, Energy supply and metering room.

Local minor Police Station 2-3 Commercial Units Entry to the upper floors Sheltered Housing flats (1 and 2 bedroom) The building will be financed by public money and a housing association and therefore durability, long life and low running costs are integral to all design choices.

C O N S T R U C T I O N The building will be made of durable heavyweight construction utilising either a concrete or steel frame, with solid floors, a hung, pre-cast concrete faรงade and durable roof (slate, metal or single ply membrane). The building envelope will be fully insulated to a high standard.

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES: Heating and Hot water are centrally housed in the Basement and will be run of gas and solar panels. Provision will be made for vertical raisers of services; all shared services including hot and cold water will be metered.

Ventilation will be individual to each functional unit, All public functions will be served by full ventilation system with heat exchanger. You may deploy either the same or different strategy for the housing.

2 passenger lift will be serve the sheltered housing (at least one of which will be big enough to take a coffin/ furniture).

INDIVIDUAL REQUIREMENTS: POLICE STATION: Small police station to be of roughly the same size as existing, to include: Reception, staff room, staff WC, Small prison cell with WC, offices. There will be 2 dedicated parking spaces on the road in front of the station SHELTERED HOUSING FLATS: About 60% single person flats of approximately 40sqm and 40% 2 person flats with about 70sqm each, all flats to be fully accessible and wheelchair ready.

There will be provision for storage for each flat in the Basement. The entry at Ground Floor will be generous there will also be a wheelchair storage room with charging points for 8No wheelchairs accessed from the main entry lobby either on GF or the Basement.

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T H E

S I T E

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SITE PHOTOGRAPHS

K E V I N LY N C H S T U DY

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0-3 m/s 3-6 m/s 6-9 m/s 9-12 m/s 12-15 m/s

57° 45°

33°

22°

10°

SUN DIAGRAM

WIND-ROSE DIAGRAM

VEHICULAR + PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

B U S S E RV I C E S + C A R PA R K I N G

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LOCAL SERVICE DIAGRAM

CONTOURED SITE PLAN

BUILDING TYPOLOGIES

I N D U S T R I A L + R E TA I L

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T H E U S E R

INTERVIEW WITH THE L O C A L A U T H O R I T Y AT Robert Gordon University, we are lucky enough to have the head of Aberdeen Local Authority Housing - Jay, studying Master in Architecture with us. This gave us an invaluble insight into the background of the Local Authority .

The Local Authority is in place for those with the need for housing, currently they obtain ÂŁ65 million worth of housing stock in Aberdeen City and Shire alone. They house predominantly families, around 1800 - approximately 5000 people. As many people from the area know all to well, obtaining a residence in Aberdeen City and Shire is tricky so this has resulted in an immediate housing need.

Also catered for by the Local Authority are places that serve as sheltered housing. Sheltered housing is in place for those who are fine enough to stay out of hospital or nursing home care, but still need someone to be able to watch over them, a warden to make sure they are still alive each day but can still go about their normal lives.

The Local Authority said they always have an extensive waiting list, and dependant on circumstances those in the list can bid for properties rather than waiting in a queue that could last much longer. Often the Authority recieves over 1000 bids per flat, so demand is particularly high, especially when priced at a mid-market rent.

42% of Aberdeen City and Shire’s Local Authority tennants recieve housing support which is a vast percentage.

The rent is also considered affordable as the Authority calculate the percentage based on your salary and amount of disposable income. This results in the cheapest rent you can find in the city or shire. The house building for the Authority’s recieves a government grant for the housing they provide, a subsidy of approximately 3080% dependant on the area and scheme. However, the Government wants to sell much of the social housing as maintenance of the properties is their number one issue.

The aim is to provide high quality housing for the lowest price, as tennants are often poor and vulnerable, so the building needs to be sustainable and invest in good quality finishes in order to reduce maintenance. The buildings are always mixed-use now to avoid ‘ghetto’ status and to mix those who are vulnerable with the community that surrounds them so that they don’t become isolated.

Most clients for sheltered housing are often retired and over the age of 65, however, just because the modal type of client is the OAP, does not mean they do not house anyone else. The Local Authority houses people from every walk of life, sometimes even families in sheltered housing who need support with caring for a disabled family member, also those who have transferred from rehabilitation units. Those with learning disabilities often reside in sheltered housing too.

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D E S I G N + C O N C E P T D E V E L O P M E N T

AFTER undertaking an analysis of Torry as a part of a large collaborative group, I began by asking my own questions that hadn’t fully been answered yet. One in particular that bothered me was ‘How do I propose a building that does justice to its site?’. I began by developing my ideas predominantly through the use of massing models nd sketching. An important precedent to me was the immediate context and how my new addition to Victoria Road could fit on this establshed street. My first approach was sto completely fill the site, to understand the site’s maximum capacity on a horizontal planar.

Regulations had already began to dictate and literally cut into my building form

which began to

morph it into what it has become now. This has allowed for potential openings and the like, but this form alone was not answering my question.

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D E S I G N P R O P O S A L

MY final proposal follows over the next few pages as a conclusion to my design ideas, theories and development. I felt it was important that I conveyed the most significant moments in my building, these areas are crucial to get right as these spaces are intended to be most populous. My intention that I thought best portrayed these persepctives was through rendered sections,

but

predominantly

three-dimensional

visualisations with a photo-realistic quality. Having this quality from a human like perspective gives great context as to what it will feel like in my building, and how the light and materiality create a tranquil and serene atmosphere for both permenant residents and casual users to enjoy.

Here I will display all my complete material that I have produced for the portfolio review, with the adjustments made that were recommended at the final review. The changes I had to make were minimal but valid, and just make my design and planning work that bit more efficiently. I have enjoyed putting this presentation together as it feels complete and it addresses the questions and queries I asked at the beginning of the semester in a rational manner.

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SECTION A-A

SECTION B-B

SECTION C-C PA G E | 7 9

SECTION D-D

N O R T H E L E VAT I O N

W E S T E L E VAT I O N

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S O U T H E L E VAT I O N

EAST PERSPECTIVE PA G E | 8 3

WEST PERSPECTIVE

BACK LANE PERSPECTIVE

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U N D E R PA S S P E R S P E C T I V E

CLOTHES STORE PERSPECTIVE

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TEA HOUSE PERSPECTIVE

COMMUNAL ROOM PERSPECTIVE

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F L AT L I V I N G A R E A P E R S P E C T I V E

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E S T I M A T I O N O F C O S T S

COSTING for new build six storey sheltered housing with shops, restaurants or the like: This report has been prepared to help establish, review and manage a realistic project scope, budget and cost.

This report should be reviewed, revised and updated as the project progresses and prior to tendering and construction.

This is a measured approximate-quantities cost plan based on incomplete information and assumptions have been made - it has not been prepared on a simple pound-persquare-metre basis. The content and purpose of this cost plan should be treated accordingly and reviewed as the documents, program and design progress. Assumptions and recommendations should be carefully checked.

Sheltered housing with shops, restaurants or the like £/m2 study Type of work: New build Last updated: 16-May-2015 12:20 Description: Rate per m2 gross internal floor area for the building Cost including prelims.

At 2Q 2015 prices (based on a Tender Price Index of 262 and UK mean location (Location index 100).

Maximum age of results: 10 years (default) Sample: 16 Mean: 1,125 Standard deviation: 247

Min

Range

782

Deciles Quartiles Median

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Max 1,755

864

999

1,034

1,053

1,061

1,024

1,114

1,134

1,226

1,444

1,158 1,061

Based on the information provided, as well as making some assumptions, the estimated cost (excluding drafting fees and other client costs) of this project is likely to be £2,109,702.94 (£691.25/m2). However, with some reduced allowances for the Builder’s supervision, off-site costs & overheads, and the potential costs for escalation and contingencies, this may be reduced. Delays to the proposed program may lead to increases in cost.

These costs may be summarised as follows: Site preparation, demolition & repairs etc.

• Building works • External site works & services etc.

• Builders preliminaries, site costs, supervision & overheads • Escalation and Design & Contract Contingencies • Design Fees, Client Costs & Project Contingency • However, this may alter (up or down!) depending on design or scope changes and future decisions to be • made.

18-May-2015 22:29

© RICS 2015

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C O N C L U S I O N OVER this semester, work has been intense and productive, I believe I have produced a piece of cohesive design that has certainly given me the ability to showcase my strengths. Although I had some teething problems with planning towards the start, I have overcome these issues to produce a believable scheme. I have particularly enjoyed this semester even though it has been hectic at times, having the chance to understand the social values of architecture has certainly broadened my horizons and matured my approach to the profession, evolving to think outside the architectural box we sometimes find ourselves in.

Torry has a lot of opportunity but social stigma holds it back. Can architecture heal the wounds of I

this hope

once this

great has

society?

been

an

Question

mark.

invigarating

read,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS GROUP WORK STAGE 3 - SCOTT SUTHERLAND SCHOOL Introduction History of Torry Decline of the District Urban Regeneration The Brief The Site INTERVIEWS Jay - Local Authority - The User