Architect to design homes for council housing company Goram Homes
A team led by architect Groupwork has won the design competition to deliver new homes on the site of a Bristol car park, a stone’s throw from a grade I-listed church.
Groupwork’s proposals for Redcliffe Way in the city centre were created for council-owned housing company Goram Homes in conjunction with landscape architect McGregor Coxall and engineering design consultancy Hydrock.
The team was shortlisted for the project in May, alongside rivals Levitt Bernstein; FBM Architects and HTA Design.
The competition brief sought proposals for the Portwall Lane surface car park, near the gothic St Mary Redcliffe Church, to be redeveloped with a mixed-use, residential-led scheme that would “enhance and fit well with the long-term vision for the area”. It cited the nearby Wapping Wharf mixed use development, by Alec French Architects, as a guide for entrants.
Design teams were not told to deliver a specific quantum of housing, but Goram’s business plan identifies the 0.3ha site as suitable for 110 units.
Competition organisers Goram Homes, Bristol Housing Festival and Redcliffe Neighbourhood Forum said Groupwork’s winning design responded to the historical and cultural heritage of the site and had been unanimously backed by the judging panel for its innovative approach.
Goram Homes will now appoint the team to RIBA Stage 2 and prepare the pre-application process. They will also co-design a community engagement strategy with Redcliffe Neighbourhood Forum.
Tom Renhard, Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for housing delivery and homes, was a member of the judging panel. He said the competition had been a “fantastic example” of how developers could work hand-in-hand with the community to design new homes and spaces with local needs placed “front and centre”.
“I am excited to see how the development progresses,” he said.
Canon Dan Tyndall, vicar of St Mary Redcliffe and neighbourhood-forum member, said the winning design was “really distinctive” and created essential links in the area between north and south Redcliffe and from Temple Meads to Bristol’s South Bank.
“It relates well with the architecture of St Mary Redcliffe and furthers our community’s vision to see the regeneration of Redcliffe Way,” he said.
Earlier this year Groupwork and McGregor Coxall won another Goram Homes and Bristol Housing Federation competition – for a 190-home modular mixed-use development at Castle Park.
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