8 WALK THROUGH

This section is intended to provide an in-depth overview of the neighbourhood from street-level, at key points inside and outside the site, giving an idea of the experience of living, working and visiting here. It explores the neighbourhood’s relationship with the Ouse, including the river walk that spans the length of the site, the raised Belvedere gardens and the buildings that line its banks. It considers the site’s neighbourhood centre, the Foundry Yards, built around two repurposed industrial structures; the transformed North Street; the central spine of the neighbourhood; the new Foundry Healthcare Practice and the humanisation of the Causeway edge.

8.1 WALK THROUGH THE PLAN

8.2 RIVER EDGE

The story of the riverfront

The river frontage will be the most public and visible part of the Phoenix project. It will form a new edge to the town of Lewes when viewed from the river and when seen obliquely crossing the causeway. It faces the South Downs and will be visible from a landscape of great importance and conservation value. Collectively the buildings have been conceived as a new river edge, a public face to the Phoenix that adds to the richness, variety and character of the town.

The street and river-facing elevations perform slightly different roles within a holistic whole. The street is necessarily more lively, informal and open. It is about the life of an urban place and the fact that the frontages are experienced up close and as part of a busy street life. The riverfront can be seen from afar. It forms a new edge to this part of Lewes with the oldest part of the town rising up from behind it. It has an obligation to the river frontage and the riverbank as a place for walking and enjoying the landscape. Crucially, too, it has to respond to the challenges of building next to water and the possibility of flooding. It also calls for a slightly different kind of architecture. Parts of Lewes’ river frontage are more industrial than the rest of the town. They have a larger scale and a more robust kind of architecture. The elevations of the buildings along the river reflect this, drawing on the commercial and industrial heritage of waterside buildings including Harvey’s Brewery.

For these reasons, the riverfront will have a slightly more coherent quality, it is conscious of the need to define this edge and to create an enjoyable and beautiful elevation. Individually the buildings demonstrate different approaches but collectively they form a coherent and enjoyable composition, much like the town of Lewes itself.

Willey’s Footbridge

Pells Footpath

Castle View

Malling Rec

Castle View

Views in & out

New river walk

Soft edges

River building frontages

Key existing buildings

Bridges

Strategic site

The Phoenix Causeway

Harvey’s Brewery

Cliffe Bridge

Wharf Buildings

8.2.1 Key moves

A new river walk and public space

The new riverfront path along the eastern edge of the site will give access to the full length of this bank for the first time:

The new river walk will extend the full length of the river edge, from the Causeway to Willey’s bridge at the north west edge of the site. This new route will allow for a future link under the Causeway bridge, back into the heart of Lewes.

This continuous route will form a new linear public space along the river’s edge, the Phoenix Waterfront.

The waterfront opens out at key moments to respond to different conditions at the river’s edge. Where the neighbourhood centre meets the river, the Foundry Yards are enclosed by the raised Belvedere, a generous public area that connects to the new Thomas Paine bridge and provides views in both directions to the castle and Brack Mount to the west and Malling Down to the east. Access to the river for small boats will also be provided, and a small boat store.

Views in, out & through the site

Informed by the iterative process of the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA), the height and massing of the blocks on the river edge have been informed by views in, out and through the site. The porosity of the river edge helps reduce the way the massing of the blocks is perceived. The existing Riverside Wharf buildings in Lewes town centre provide a good precedent for buildings incorporating flood defences and are similar in height, articulation and plot length.

Nature and Culture

Perhaps the most significant effect of the new neighbourhood will be the creation of new public spaces and homes in close proximity to the river. For the first time, many residents of Lewes will be able to enjoy public and domestic life in immediate conjunction with the Ouse; a flowing, tidal mass of water bringing a changing cast of sounds, smells, movement, activity and drama into the everyday.

8.2.2 Illustrative river elevation

Please note: This parcel has been designed in detail by Ash Sakula architects and accordingly the plots, facade and roofscape are fully articulated. This articulation has not yet been provided for the rest of the riverfont elevation which at this point is for illustrative purposes only. When detailed design is forthcoming on the other parcels here, the elevation will take on more intricate character.

8.2.3 A walk along the river

Willey’s bridge

The river edge as viewed from Willey’s Bridge, a well used public route connecting two parts of Lewes. A new accessible riverside path invites the public to walk adjacent to these buildings and above the river bank. The edge of the site is marked by Bridge House, a taller building that draws inspiration from the arts & crafts movement with an expressed chimney, stepped terraced gardens and a flint plinth.

Malling Rec

Riverside courtyard homes viewed under the cover of trees at the edge of Malling Recreational Ground. The parcels are broken into a series of plots with distinct materialilty and character. Individually the buildings demonstrate different approaches and an arresting roofscape. Front gardens, balconies and terraces provide infrastructure for vertical greening of facades and roofs. Gaps in and between the blocks create views through the site and into verdant courtyard gardens.

A walk along the river

Thomas Paine Bridge

The height and massing of buildings is lower in the centre of the Phoenix to create an axial view of Lewes Castle from Malling Rec and the new Thomas Paine Bridge. In the foreground, the retained, low-slung structures of the Every Hall and Foundry Workshops house important community and employment uses and also serve to frame this view. The Belvedere – a generous riverside public space – provides a comfortable place to dwell, including public seating, garden, cafe and taproom. A gated opening allows the public to pass through the flood wall to the river.

Jenner’s Way

This southern tip of the river edge as viewed from the popular public footpath. The elevations of the proposed buildings along the river reflect the commercial and industrial heritage of historic waterside buildings. Strong gable forms present towards the site edges, a condition found throughout Lewes. The building forms are softened by an articulated roofline, generous gaps and openings. As well as river bank tree planting, a series of gardens, balconies and roof terraces encourage plants to grow up the building facades, creating a visibly green character. A new slipway allows small boats to launch into the Ouse from a new boat house on Phoenix Place.

8.2.4 Riparian moments

With these plans, many more residents of Lewes will be able to enjoy public and domestic life at close quarters to the river. A flowing, tidal mass of water brings a changing cast of sounds, smells, movement, activity and drama into the everyday.

8.2.5 Gardens, balconies & terraces

The connection with river and surrounding landscape will be enhanced by a variety of outdoor spaces in the dwellings. The river frontage is North East facing, meaning the access to direct sunlight is limited to the morning hours.

However, by stepping back facades vertically and horizontally, gardens can be located to provide more solar access and enhance key views out of the site. The buildings frontages will appear lively with residents inhabiting beautiful riverside gardens, balconies and rooftop terraces that will appear visibly green from afar.

8.2.6 Riverside courtyard housing

This rhythm of projecting elements refers to the warehouses and gantries of riverside architecture as well as offering an important sense of spatial articulation both externally and internally. The riverside boardwalk projects in front of the building line and is expressed in this part of the masterplan independent of the blocks behind. The enhanced riverbank forms its own datum and ecologically enhanced landscape below this.

GROUND FLOOR ACTIVATION

SHARED COURTYARD WITH RESIDENTIAL AMMENITY SPACE AND RAIN GARDENS

BREAK IN THE BLOCK FOR VIEWS IN, OUT & THROUGH

ARTICULATED PLOTS WITHIN THE BLOCK CHANGE IN MATERIAL, HEIGHT & STYLE

FLOOD WALL INTEGRATED INTO BUILDING STRUCTURE

WITNESS TREES

PERMANENT

8.3 NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE

The Phoenix neighbourhood centre is located at the strategic point where the principal streets and other key routes meet. A series of public spaces (Soap Yard, Phoenix Square, Foundry Yards, the Belvedere) are designed using urban design principles of human scale, enclosure and active ground floors which will present visual interest and help people feel comfortable and safe. They are also adapted to the mircoclimate. The river walk, the new bridge, the retention and reuse of key structures activate this central public square.

8.3.1 Industrial heritage

The proposed development retains 3 of the most significant surviving structures - the Foundry Workshops, Every Hall and the Soap factory - each containing sound structures, useful layouts and distinctive architectural character. The Foundry contains large gantry cranes once used to transport heavy ironwork whilst the Every Hall features a beautiful timber roof structure dating back to 1861. These two buildings have been assessed for heritage significance by Jessop Consultancy.

The Foundry is descibed as a locally significant building whilst the Every Hall is regionally significant, a ‘structure with good survival of historic fabric and importance at regional level’. Both buildings will be extensively refurbished to provide new uses whilst preserving the structure. Furthermore, the dissasembly of other ironworks buildings will provide architectural salvage which will be repurposed in buildings and public spaces around the Foundry Yards. The new buildings and landscaping of the Yards will draw from the character of the industrial heritage in form, materiality and ornament.

8.3.2 Foundry Yards

Families can sit outside the Every Hall cafe on benches, makers will inhabit the covered outdoor structure of the foundry, the events space to the south will host an exciting cultural programme, and the Belvedere will provide a beautiful garden from which to admire the view the river and surrounding landscape.

Landscape features and surface treatments within the square help sub-divide the open space into smaller zones. Research suggests that people prefer to inhabit smaller spaces where they have a sense of enclosure and feel like there is a defensible space.

A variety of materials, texture, greenery, objects and views provides a visual and sensory quality that makes this environment stimulating to dwell in or pass through. This is a friendly space for all types of people to socialise, play, eat, drink or just watch the world go by.

1 Paving

2 Witness tree

3 Defined spill-out zone

4 Temporary seating

5 Lighting posts

6 Continuous floor treatment in-outdoors

7 Edge planting to stair and arches

8 River-view benches

9 Flood gates to River Ouse

10 Integrated seating to the Belvedere stairs

8.3.3 Massing of buildings around Foundry Yards

Informed by the LVIA, a key driver of the massing and townscape of the centre is framing the view of Lewes castle and Brack Mount

Crossing the Thomas Paine bridge by foot or bicycle will become an enjoyable way to enter the heart of the Phoenix development from Malling and surrounding communities. Rising from the muddy banks of the Ouse, the Belvedere will create a special destination to enjoy the river. In the foreground, the memory of the pitched roofline of the ironworks remain, creating a lively interplay between former and present uses of the site.

The massing of the proposed buildings have been carefully lowered to create a framed view of the Lewes Castle and Brack Mount. This has been informed by verified LVIA view 85 and a new proposed view from the raised deck level of the Thomas Paine Bridge. By stepping the massing gently towards the castle, this helps to make more of a focal point by obstructing the wider field of view. This move helps form a townscape connection between the Phoenix and the medieval part of Lewes town.

Key

Lewes Castle

Stepped centre massing in response to the castle view

Inhabited roofscape

Retained buildings

Thomas Paine Bridge & the Belvedere

8.3.4 The Belvedere

The Belvedere is an elegant elevated public space –literally ‘fine view’ – with a garden as its centrepiece by the new bridge.

A cafe here will provide the only outdoor place in Lewes to get a drink and eat while looking out to the river. The Belvedere is part of the continuous river walk that runs from the Causeway to Pells bridge.

This generous riverside public space connects with a mezzanine floor extending into the refurbished structures of the Every Hall and Foundry Workshops.

The Belvedere is also connected to the new Thomas Paine bridge which improves the connection between the Phoenix, the Foundry Health Centre, employment opportunities and the facilities of the town centre with the residents of Malling and the increasing number of people living and working on the Retail Park.

8.3.5 Walk to the centre

Green Wall

This a view from the Phoenix Causeway towards the existing stone wall on Waterloo Place and the scheduled ancient monument known as the “Green Wall”. In the distance, there is a view of the Soap Factory and adjacent housing. A new garden set back from the carriageway invites people to gather in front of the Green Wall or alongside the new bike shop with doors opening on to the street. The adjacent cycle route brings cyclists down a gentle ramp to the east of the bike shop on to Phoenix Place.

Soap Passage

This view looks towards the Foundry Yards via a narrow route alongside the west facade of the refurbished Soap Factory. Generous new entrances puncture the Soap Factory elevation, creating a friendly and active threshold to the public realm. To the left, south facing residential entrances create visual interest on the corner of the buildings.

A walk to the centre

Soap Yard

In front of the Soap Factory lies Soap Yard, a well proportioned public square with active ground floors at its edges containing offices, a grocer, sports / play facility, and a hotel lobby and meeting spaces. The square is host to trees, play equipment and seating. The view reveals the Every Hall and the Belvedere in the distance, drawing you into the Foundry Yards. Apartment balconies are decorated with pot plants and seating, further animating facades overlooking the public realm.

Foundry Yards

This view looks towards the flood wall and the underside of the Belvedere from the southern edge of the Foundry Yards. A flood gate provides a passage through to the River Ouse, allowing people to sit by the River. The third bay of the Foundry Workshop structure is exposed, creating a more generous public space and providing a canopy under which to sit. The Every Hall features a community canteen / co-working space and events space with double doors that allow for indoor / outdoor seating in good weather. The Square is orientated for a comfortable microclimate with good daylight levels and protection from the wind.

8.4 CAUSEWAY EDGE

The scheme will transform the Causeway into a pleasant public space for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Phoenix Causeway is a challenging obstacle to connectivity between Lewes town centre and the new plan. The Causeway is a noisy and intimidating space which is currently unpleasant for anyone other than a motorist. The level change and line of trees reinforce the division between parts of the town in this location. New connections are proposed along the causeway. The pedestrian and bike crossing of the causeway from the Foreshore Park is to be made safer and otherwise more pleasant to use. Three new ramped pedestrian and cycling routes provide accessible connections into the Phoenix and from the Phoenix to the town centre.

A bike shop Full Cycle, cycle route, Co-Mobility Hub and three bus stops will transform the

Causeway into an integrated mobility exchange. This will create an active frontage to the buildings with lively uses and the movement of people along and across it.

The Foreshore Park is a new landscaped linear park which runs in parallel with the road down to the river walk. This park will contain rain gardens, tree pits and facilities for people using bus services, to include a kiosk, seating and accessible WC.

8.4.1 Humanising the Causeway

8.4.2 Crossing the Causeway

Within the project ‘red line’, the proposal seeks to improve the pedestrian and cycling experience as much as possible. Signalised raised table crossings on the Causeway / Eastgate junction slow vehicles. The new cycle routes will provide an important new link between the town, the Phoenix and Malling.

Cycle Hub – shop, hire, parking and repair of bikes including cargo bikes

8.4.3 Foreshore park & apartments

The building’s long, slender plan means that the shared main entrance under the north gable of the building is visible at the end of Phoenix Place, drawing people towards it, and forming a destination where this new street meets the river. The colonnade framing this shared entrance also extends west along Phoenix Place, housing communal facilities, and forming a boundary and gateway to the building’s shared communal garden to the south.

Crossing the Causeway, a pedestrian, cyclist or car will encounter a softer edge, featuring a landscaped garden, kiosk and public art. New routes connect pedestrians down to the river, the Phoenix neighbourhood centre and potentially in future to Cliffe High Street. These routes will stitch existing parts of Lewes together.

The proposed residential building at Plot 10A has a long slender cranked plan, following the bend in the river. This allows all dwellings to be dual or triple aspect, and for each to have a river view. The individual dwelling layouts are yet to be designed in detail, but there is an emphasis on gardens and shared, communal spaces. A long, river-facing colonnade shelters ‘stoops’ outside the entrances to ground floor maisonettes, with ground floor gardens to the rear – and a communal garden beyond that. Upper floor apartments have shared communal access decks and river-facing garden terraces, whilst the top floor maisonettes enjoy roof gardens. A shared roof garden available to all residents occupies the centre of the top floor. The building designed illustratively by Sussex architect, Adam Richards, rises four storeys above the river edge, with fifth floor penthouses set back from the main façade. The massing of the building is designed to respond to the bend in the river and to break up its form into smaller-scaled elements: at the point at which it cranks it splits into two facades above a shared plinth. These two river-facing facades have recessed garden terraces for the upper floor flats, and are topped by four sculptural pavilions. These pavilions evoke chimneys and also the rooftop pavilions found on Elizabethan great houses, used for banqueting etc. At 10A they will contain a mixture of building services and dining areas for the top floor flats, helping to enclose their private terraces.

The top floor penthouses have shallow pitched roofs that result in picturesque, eye-catching gables at the south and north ends of the building. By stepping back from the river facades, these gable ends can be slender, with a vertical emphasis. They rise from colonnades at each end where the building’s internal vertical circulation meets the street.

At the south end of the building the corresponding gable ‘speaks’ across the rooftops to the brewery, and acts as an ‘urban marker’ as the Causeway crosses the river into Lewes. It rises from an entrance colonnade that presides over a new public space at street level and frames a public stair down to the river’s edge. The new public space has the opportunity to mediate between a ‘civic’ condition (as a small ‘square’ facing towards the Causeway the town beyond) and ‘deep nature’ represented by the river and the river bank: order/urbanity and chaos/nature are given meaning in relation to one another through their vertical spatial relationship at this key moment of entry to the town.

The colonnade here extends towards the Co-Mobility Hub, framing the view down to 10A’s gardens below, and meeting a new kiosk building that frames the relationship between the bus pull-in space in front of the Co-Mobility Hub to the west and the more intimate new square overlooking the river to the east. The kiosk also acts as a low-key, human-scaled marker where the bridge meets the town. The intention is for this elegant, sculptural building with its roof gardens and terraces to speak of Human Nature’s values whilst being of Lewes as it marks a gateway both to the town and to the Phoenix.

8.4.4 Character references

8.5 NORTH STREET

The plan proposes to retain North Street but with modest re-alignment to the south and north ends. The street is being substantially enhanced with new surface treatments, tree planting, rain gardens and street furniture. The new Health Centre will serve all of Lewes and some of its District, provide important public services and act as something of an anchor in the plan.

North Street will provide appealing thoroughfares to the Pells, the river’s edge, and Foundry Yards. The threshold of the end of North Street to the Pells is framed elegantly with landscape and building treatments, making for a notable gateway from and into the neighbourhood.

8.5.1 Memory of North Street

Accordingly, these streets shape the framework – the armature - for the Phoenix. The intention is to modestly re-align North Street to create a gentle curve and to improve the efficiency of the blocks to the North. The fire station is retained, a familiar landmark for the people who work on the site today. At the end of North Street, the drama of the moving from town to countyside will be enhanced by the framing of the gap between Block 1A and 1D.

8.5.2 A walk to the centre

Springman Corner

This view is from the top of North Street looking down towards the neighbourhood centre, with the Springman site on the left. As part of the conservation area, the character of the housing draws inspiration from some of the high quality housing found within the conservation area. Phoenix Square is the focal point in the distance, sitting at the intersection between North Street, Spring Gardens and Phoenix Place.

Phoenix Square

A walk to the centre

North Street Nursery

Pells Edge

This is a view of the threshold to the Pells. The elevation of Parcel 1 runs along the edge of the site.

8.5.4 Foundry Health Centre

It is an obligation for the Phoenix to provide a new central facility for the Foundry healthcare practice. We also wanted to re-house the popular and successful North Street dental practice and provide an adjacent pharmacy for the convenience of patients. Accordingly, in consultation with the Foundry Practice, their specialist project manager and the CCG, a specification evolved and was agreed and parameters and outline designs have been set.

In the aftermath of Covid and consequent changes in the model and practice of the delivery of primary care services, the scale and nature of the building has evolved. The Health Centre needs to be readily accessible, as close as possible (given the constraints) to the rest of the town, accessible from the Co-Mobility Hub and bus stops and on a site that can be brought forward early in the development so as to speed up the delivery of the new services. Accordingly, it is to be situated on the car park between Brook Street and Spring Gardens 100 metres from the Co-Moblity and with drop-off facilities and parking for people with disabilities immediately adjacent to the building.

8.5.6 Pells edge dwellings

shared gardens.

Four blocks are situated to the west of North Street and run all the way to the Pells edge. The buildings are sensitive to the edge condition and do not have elevations built up against Pells Pool boundary to avoid overlooking.

The blocks are open sided, creating pleasant microclimates within the shared courtyards. The upper floors and terraces of the housing feature generous terraces with beautiful views back towards the town and the castle.

Mews streets run perpendicular to North Street to and terminate at the Pells boundary. The streets only have occasional traffic so are safe for children to play in. The massing of the Mews streets are smaller and narrower than North Street, creating intimate spaces encouraging ad-hoc inhabitation. Houses have small defensible threshold spaces that mediate between the shared spaces in the street and the courtyard.