What’s working - mixed use

Axiom at Feltham town centre

west London

Project

Barratt Homes is the housebuilder partner developing 807 apartments above and around Feltham’s shopping centre, in a scheme designed by Stanford Eatwell & Associates and Reid Architecture, with Cameron Taylor as structural engineer. The regeneration of Feltham town centre encompasses more than 1 million ft² of development, with 245,000ft² of retail and restaurant use, a hotel, library, health centre and nursery (pictured above). The project combines refurbishment of existing stores, development of new ones with amenities/ homes above, and the building of new apartment blocks, a hotel and an 80,000ft² Asda store with apartments above.

Barratt has worked with developer Thornfield Properties and the London borough of Hounslow. Thornfield has forward sold its interest in the project to Morley Fund Management. Axiom is the residential heart of Feltham’s redevelopment (shown below). The 807 homes include 264 apartments for social housing provider A2 Housing Group. Construction began three years ago and completion is due at the end of 2008.

The brief

Although it is within easy distance of west London economic powerhouse, Heathrow airport, suburban Feltham, and notably its 1960s shopping precinct, needed regeneration to increase economic activity and lift an area associated with neglect.

Feedback

Barratt’s biggest challenges on the project came from getting the pieces in place to carry through the regeneration of this large-scale site. Andrew Storey, managing director with the housebuilder’s west London division, says: “There’s almost been more effort in design than there is in building it. For example, we worked hard to make the apartments over the Asda store not feel like a block of flats over a supermarket.” Storey cites an internal street within the apartment block was a key design element in establishing that difference.

Uses are layered horizontally, and commercial and residential are very tightly knit. Unusually, the two have been constructed separately with, for example, Barratt constructing the 42 apartments above the Asda store. Storey admits that was problematic: “It brings challenges if you have one contractor accepting a building from another. Ideally, we would have done the whole building.” Generally, however, working independently alongside Thornfield was positive, he says: “They let us get on with the residential, and we let them get on with the commercial.”

With a busy road running through the site, shops remaining in operation, no storage space for materials and some 400 Barratt site workers present, the housebuilder has had to learn a lot about logistics. Storey says: “We’ve sharpened our tools. The trades have to be more prompt. If people don’t do things right, it causes problems.”

The buildings have Wienerberger Terca brickwork elevations with render and Western Red Cedar detailing. Storey says there has been little scope for innovation, because of the cost pressures of building such a large scheme in a low-value area with grant-free affordable housing. He adds: “These projects are costly in terms of cashflow. You have to build a lot before people move in.” The solution lies in keeping in mind the project as a whole, so that, for example, private housing is delivered to pay for affordable.

Apartment sales are healthy and one-bedroom ones that started selling a year ago at £140,000 are now priced at around £180,000. Barratt sees first-time buyers as a potential market and has applied to take part in the English Partnerships-led First Time Buyers Initiative. It is running a competition, in partnership with centre retailers, for which a potential first-time buyer judged ‘deserving’ by readers of a local newspaper will live in a Barratt apartment rent-free for a year, receive clothing, food and other items from the centre’s stores, and be encouraged to save during the year for their first home.

The project’s most visible indications of success are in its mainly occupied shop units, including fashion retailer Next. Storey says:

“We perhaps hadn’t imagined that this could change Feltham quite as much as it has.”

What is worth repeating

Barratt is feeding the experience from Axiom into London projects in the pipeline, notably West Hendon – which is double the size of Axiom – and Great Western Quarter in Brentford. The company is now spending more time on planning, organisation, logistics and sequencing.

Barratt has, however, proactively forged links with the surrounding community. It has gone beyond the demands of the Section 106 agreement, working with a local arts group to host a competition for schools to provide site hoarding images and art works for the communal areas. It built a garden for a local school and sponsored the town’s Christmas lights.

One point worth making

"This requires discipline, because you are working together in tight confines. The co-ordination of trades is under a microscope." - Andrew Storey

Harbourside

Bristol

Project Crest Nicholson is developing 650 homes, plus a range of amenities on a 16.5-acre former industrial area of the harbourside known as Canon’s Marsh. Alongside @Bristol and the Lloyds TSB headquarters, Crest has developed the first phase, comprising a new headquarters for HBOS, a block of 104 apartments with ground floor shop units, and a mixed commercial complex of casino, health club, shops, restaurants and an Ibis hotel (shown above). A 268-unit apartment block and a block of 68 affordable apartments for Sovereign HA and Jephson Housing Group are under construction. More offices, private and affordable housing will follow, until all 15 buildings planned are complete. Construction started just over three years ago and completion is due in 2011.

Crest Nicholson is working with: Edward Cullinan Architects, Taylor Woodrow, Kier Build, Kier Western and Churngold Remediation.

The brief

The site was derelict for 15 years and had become a target for joyriding. Its development was delayed by a number of issues, notably opposition to the developer’s initial proposals on the grounds of design and inadequate local consultation. The final scheme has taken on board the criticisms, notably preserving key sight lines through the scheme to Bristol Cathedral and to Brunel’s SS Great Britain. Crest is using the site as an exemplar project on sustainability and is aiming to build all homes to EcoHomes “very good” rating.

Feedback

With a waterfront location in a vibrant city, the Canon’s Marsh site could be perceived as an easy regeneration win but, partly as a result of the initial opposition, Crest Nicholson is aiming to make the scheme work harder. Crest major projects executive Robert Knight says: “We recognise that we’ll be here for a long time. A driver for us has been to create a community with good quality buildings, let to the right people, and good management.”

Its architecture is matched by a public realm of broad promenades, and an art strategy has been devised to guide the inclusion of artworks. Tenants moving into the commercial units are decidedly upmarket, including such names as a Marks & Spencer and bar chain Prohibition. Investors bought many of the apartments initially released for sale, and selling prices for one-bed units now start at around £220,000.

To fulfil the sustainability brief, the first block of 104 private apartments (shown below) was built without car parking, and residents instead will have access to a car club. Space is provided beneath the building for 120 bicycles. Other green measures in apartments include low-energy lightbulbs, water-saving low pressure taps and waste bins for recycling.

As the site is large in scale, it allows scope for construction innovation. Crest has established a partnership with its contractors, CITB Construction Skills and local employment agency On Site to channel top trade candidates from local colleges onto the site.

The site is a testing ground for an extranet, which all members of the team use to keep themselves abreast of the project. Use of the extranet extends down the supply chain so that, for example, a plumber looks up drawings and finds out its own start date on site, instead of waiting to be told. Knight says: “It creates a pull culture, rather than a push culture. It has cost and environmental benefits and has helped to integrate the team.”

Further innovations continue to emerge as the project progresses. Knight questioned the project team’s recommendation of costly anchor piles for the apartment block now under construction on environmental grounds, because the piles would have penetrated the capping layer sealing in contaminated soil. An alternative solution has now been devised: tying together the foundations under the building to create a form of raft. Knight puts the cost of the alternative solution at around £20,000 in extra concrete, against around £500,000 for anchor piling. He adds: “The driver was environmentalism, but it has a significant cost benefit. When sustainable thinking is in the mindset, it is a management tool.”

With the scheme now taking shape, what does the local community, which opposed it so vociferously, think of this new environment of promenades, trendy bars and modern architecture? Knight says: “There is a general acceptance that it has dramatically improved the area. We’ve not had negative feedback.” He says the company learned from the controversy surrounding its initial proposals.

What is worth repeating

Knight expects more of its sites to move towards a culture of pulling information, rather than one of pushing.

One point worth making

"The biggest lesson for us is to spend time consulting before you commit." - Robert Knight

Meridian South, Hither Green

south-east London

Project

Bellway Homes is developing 544 affordable, shared equity and private homes, plus live/work units alongside almost 9000ft2 of office, cafe and retail space on the 22-acre former Hither Green Hospital site. Some of the Victorian hospital’s existing buildings have been retained and refurbished for community use, as a crèche and a doctor’s surgery, under the Section 106 agreement. The hospital’s water tower is the centrepiece of the scheme in a newly created piazza, and serves as a management office. Construction started three years ago and is due to end next year.

Bellway is working with masterplanner PRP Architects, architects Amos Partnership and Burgess Mean, planning consultant Barton Willmore, and engineers Walker Associates and Waterman. The scheme includes 81 affordable and shared equity apartments and houses for Wandle Housing Association and Family Mosaic. Commercial space is predominantly beneath apartments located around the piazza (shown above).

The brief

The project has three goals: to attract more people to the area; introduce new uses to support surrounding shopping parades, and create a sustainable environment. Redevelopment here is part of broader regeneration in the borough. The scheme has been one of the first to benefit from the government’s relaxation of stamp duty on homes in deprived areas.

Feedback

With a large number of protected trees, half the site retained as public open space, and most car parking underground, the site is a tranquil leafy enclave in south London. But the environment could also be considered threatening. So although the site is open to all, Bellway has installed CCTV cameras to keep remote guard and has taken landscaping design advice from the local police, who use the CCTV to monitor the site and bordering streets.

The new buildings across the site have concrete frames, predominantly brick exteriors with timber, render and terracotta tile detailing, and both flat and pitched roofs. The eight apartment blocks around the site (shown below) allow the developer to test and fine tune its methods. Notably, it is trialling ways of designing and building the underground car parking to see which is the most efficient and cost effective.

The scheme’s innovations are small in scale, but make a difference for residents. With 60% of homes facing south, top-floor apartments are shielded from the sun by brises-soleil. Terracotta tiling and rainscreen cladding at the top of the buildings minimise maintenance, as do the galvanised balconies.

The big black metal planters in the landscaped grounds conceal integral irrigation systems. Bellway project director Mike Ellis explains: “We originally ordered a GRP planter. The planners didn’t like the planter, but it had an irrigation system in it that we thought was a good idea. So we went back to the manufacturer Amberol, and asked to buy just the irrigation system and put it into our planters.”

Many of the project’s challenges have arisen from working in the capital. The site is surrounded by streets of Victorian housing and one road flanking the site provides a link between the A2 and South Circular. Ellis says: “We’ve been strict with contractors and made sure they respect the community by keeping to permitted working hours.” The housebuilder opted to re-line a drain in Hither Green Lane, rather than replace it to minimise nuisance to residents and motorists. Materials deliveries are only allowed between 8am and 3pm, and are staggered in allotted time slots to avoid clusters of lorries arriving at the same time.

Homebuyers on the site are a mix of investors and owner occupiers, and the stamp duty relaxation has helped encourage first-time buyers, says Ellis. With the doctor’s surgery and crèche now open, activity through the site is growing: three live/work units on the site are already home to businesses.

However, the scheme’s success as a mixed community will also rely on finding tenants for the commercial space now being completed. Tesco is opening a store next August and its arrival will trigger more, says Ellis.

In the meantime, Ellis sees positive signs of regeneration in the smallest of occurrences. He points out that 100 visitors came to see the tower on Open House day, local opponents of the scheme now happily pass the time of day with him, and he notes with pride: “You don’t see much rubbish dropped around here.”

What is worth repeating

Bellway plans to use self-watering planters again, and its experience in designing and building car parks will feed through to future projects.

One point worth making

"By putting some TLC into the project – whether by installing water points across the site for the workers during summer or debating the lowest maintenance finishes for apartment blocks – the homes will be better." - Mike Ellis