St Andrew’s Riverside

The long vacant site had proved difficult to develop, with previous proposals creating too much of a barrier to the river. The design responds to this while remaining sensitive to listed buildings in close proximity to the site, including the Grade I listed St George’s Church and Grade II listed Town Hall.

Built around three new cobbled lanes, the buildings step up from two storeys at the riverbank to four storeys in the blocks nearest the Town Hall. The new homes are created across a mixture of terraced housing and apartment buildings and are surrounded by improved public realm providing intimate routes and views through to the river’s edge.

The new structures are formed of traditional loadbearing masonry and clad in a mix of brick, render and slate, in keeping with the historic grain of the old town. The site drops from St Andrew Street to the western boundary, which required a series of enabling works and the construction of reinforced concrete retaining walls to access the site.

A comprehensive flood risk assessment and subsequent drainage strategy was undertaken by our team, mitigating the risks associated with the development’s waterside location. Protection provided by an existing flood wall is enhanced by an adjacent low-level landscaping area, which acts as a dry swale and stores the excess rainwater above ground until the river level reduces to below the outlet level again.

The final design repairs the historic urban grain and creates a missing piece of town.