INDUSTRY UPDATES
NE W S I N BR I E F: STEPHEN GEORGE + PARTNERS’ NEW OFFICE SCHEME AT LEICESTER WATERSIDE Stephen George + Partners LLP (SGP) is looking forward to the start on site of the 1754m2 Grade A flexible office building, for energy and water supplier Yü Energy, as part of the Leicester Waterside regeneration project. It will be complete with ancillary facilities, car and cycle parking and onsite landscaping. Alongside Keepmoat’s housing scheme, the multi-million-pound, three-storey building for client Brackley Property Developments is an important element in the first phase of Leicester City Council’s ambitious Waterside regeneration. Says Michael Barker, Senior Partner at SGP: “Leicester City Council wanted a high-quality office building due to the prominence of the site, visible from the A50 and Sanvey Gate. The architectural language of the design took elements from the industrial heritage of the area to create an urban form that balances the townscape aspirations of the housing development with commercial constraints.”
TODD ARCHITECTS DESIGN SUBMITTED FOR PLANNING A design by TODD Architects for the £50m regeneration of Queen’s Parade, a 13-acre (5.26 hectares) waterfront site in Bangor, near Belfast, Northern Ireland, has been submitted for planning. The scheme will see Bangor’s Marine Gardens returned to its heyday of Victorian seaside elegance whilst creating a vibrant mixed-use development of residential, hotel, office, retail and cultural and recreation floorspace in the heart of the town centre. The Queen’s Parade project, led by Developer Bangor Marine, is being developed in conjunction with the Department for Communities and Ards and North Down Council.
FC&A – JULY – 2020
INDUSTRY UPDATES FC&A ROUNDS UP THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS AND UPDATES. Images: ©DMA
LHG (LONDON HOTEL GROUP) WINS PLANNING CONSENT TO EXPAND TOOTING HIGH STREET APARTHOTEL LHG (London Hotel Group) has won planning permission to expand its aparthotel scheme on Tooting High Street, bringing 373 high-quality guest rooms across six floors with basements to one of London’s ‘coolest neighbourhoods’, popular with both residents and tourists alike. LHG (LONDON HOTEL GROUP)
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esigned by hospitality design expert Dexter Moren Associates (DMA), the previously consented aparthotel scheme at 111-113 Tooting High Street will now include the adjacent site of the former Tooting Constitutional Club at 101A Tooting High Street. The scheme’s revision has seen the elevations redesigned to improve its relationship with the character of the immediate area, whilst the restaurant and bar section now creates an active frontage to the high street. New and improved club space will be provided, as well as access to outdoor amenities for the local community. Meher Nawab, CEO at LHG, said: “Tooting is a lively and growing area, voted into the top 10 ‘coolest’ neighbourhoods by Lonely Planet, and we are delighted to be playing an important role in the ongoing growth and popularity of the district. Our new aparthotel development will deliver high-quality facilities and amenity space that will benefit and support the development’s neighbours, residents and local groups, as well as meeting a currently unfulfilled need for hotel accommodation in and around the Tooting area.” 6
DMA’s design for the scheme creates a simple, high-quality building that uses a pared-back palette of materials, including red and grey brickwork, to respond to the character of the area. Floor-to-ceiling height has been adjusted to ensure the increase in scale is kept to a minimum, whilst the height of the buildings have been carefully considered and staggered from three storeys up to six to provide a transition from neighbouring three-storey properties along Woodbury Street. Lightwells will be used to allow natural light and ventilation to ground floor and basement guestrooms, with circadian lighting to simulate the day’s natural cycle. The provision of 547m 2 of new community space for D1 use across basement level will be accessible from Tooting High Street, as will 625m 2 public green with outdoor seating zones, raised planting and soft landscaped areas.
