BLUE SQUARE MARCH 2015 ISSUE TWELVE
BUTTERFLY The 11 acre piece of land at Glasshoughton has been purchased by Really Useful Products Ltd from Hull based Wykeland Group to enable expansion of the business. The proposed new manufacturing facility will be four times bigger than the company’s current site giving an indication of their ambitions for growth and the scope that the site provides to support this.
The scheme includes for a flagship HQ building to sit alongside the manufacturing facility. Mike Pickles, Founder and CEO of Really Useful Products says: We have received funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund along with additional finance from HSBC. We will undertake the development of the site in conjunction with the Wykeland Group of Hull and have appointed The Harris Partnership of Wakefield as Architect for the Butterfly shaped Office element of the scheme. Lambert Smith Hampton’s Manchester office is appointed as our advisor and project manager. www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk
PAUL MITCHELL CHAIRMAN
www.harrispartnership.com www.harrispm.com www.vectordc.com
Wing Shortlisted for RIBA Yorkshire
Building of the Year Award
Whilst the last issue of Blue Square looked back to celebrate our 30 years in business and highlight some of the schemes we progressed to site over 2014, this issue is very much about our future and pipeline projects which invariably concerns planning.
Obviously some projects remain information sensitive for the time being, but there are many we have achieved planning for and are now being considered and developed for a start on site during 2015. Further down the line, we currently have 72 schemes nationwide in planning or pending submission.
Understanding and managing complex planning processes through to consent is a key aspect of our total client project management capability and this issue looks at some of the exciting commissions we are now working on. We also take the opportunity to profile the excellent work undertaken by Vector, our in-house 3D, graphics, interiors and landscape design division, and the fundamental role their services play supporting planning applications, public consultation, site promotion and tenant recruitment.
Finally, the reason for our delay in publishing this edition of Blue Square can at last be revealed now the embargo on announcing that the Blackburn Wing has been short listed for the RIBA Awards 2015 has elapsed. Suffice to say we are absolutely delighted and eagerly await learning whether the Wing wins through to the national award finals later in year. Meanwhile our congratulations go to Oliver Clark and Darren Till for their excellent work on this extraordinary building.
CGI by Vector DC.
CONSULTATIONS AND MARKETING
Whether tenant totems, wayfinding, feature walls, developer sign boards and hoarding designs, quality signage is key to successfully communicating the vision and ‘feel’ of a development. Consequently this has become a key service for our clients and we are increasingly busy creating signage concepts and designs in a wide variety of formats and for many different projects.
01924 332056 hello@vectordc.com www.vectordc.com
Effective, evidenced consultation is now a major requirement of the planning process and Vector has successfully helped to promote numerous schemes through to consent and beyond. We have produced public consultation support material for a wide variety of clients such as Aldi, Barrett Homes and Haribo, and in a wide range of formats including brochures and leaflets, and pop up display systems incorporating site plans, elevations and CGI’s.
Beyond planning, Vector’s designers specialise in creating compelling company and site branding, marketing and investment brochures/plans and design and access statements.
REJUVENATING FOSSE PARK LEICESTER
The Harris Partnership have been appointed by The Crown Estate to look at a full refurbishment of Fosse Park in Leicester. The park has recently been purchased by Wexford Retail LP a joint venture between TCE and a Chinese investor.
The first phase of development has planning consent to redevelop the BHS unit for a new signature Primark store being their first on an out of town retail park including 78,000 sq.ft over two floors. The works also include refurbishing the former JJB into two smaller units.
Phase 2 is currently under design with a planning application envisaged to be lodged in the next month which will include refurbishing the full Fosse North terrace, including bringing new retailers to the park. Works also include new landscape, improved pedestrian footways and car park.
Vector Design Concepts is a dedicated division of The Harris Partnership specialising in:
3d Visualisation Graphic Design Landscape Architecture Interior Design Property Marketing Concept Modelling Branding Signage Design
Vector’s creative design expertise underpins the entire project management process; from the very earliest pre-planning and consultation phase, through consent to communicating project vision and impact and winning favourable market response through arresting images and models, and compelling presentation and marketing collateral.
The CGI’s reproduced in this edition of Blue Square are just a small selection of the many hundreds that Vector produces for external client commissions as well as client projects managed by The Harris Partnership.
Vector’s expanding interior design team is also profiled through second phase work at Meadowhall, with several other projects at the design concept stage, whilst our Landscape architects also have high profile projects progressing on site, including the town centre schemes in Sutton, South Shields, Stafford and Beverley.
If you would like to chat to us about what we do, we’d love to hear from you:
FOCUS ON
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
The Vector landscape team are currently developing the detail design of the public realm on the £45M Old Gas Works development in the London Borough of Sutton for LXB Properties.
This mixed use scheme incorporates a new public square defined by two main water features; a central fountain display and reflective pool, and a water wall which will introduce a dynamic animation to this space at the heart of the development. The wider Sutton High Street streetscape will also be significantly enhanced with new active frontages and hard and soft landscape elements creating a high quality public realm for all users both day and night. Works are due to begin on site in the 3rd Quarter of 2015.
Through schemes like Sutton, the team demonstrates that landscape design and planting schemes for urban public realm as well as commercial and retail spaces really can be designed with a deft, light touch and varied palette rather than the “block planting” mentality that seems to dominate. It’s not all about ‘pretty flowers’ either; landscape architecture plays a major role in planning consents by providing solutions to environmental concerns. Sustainability has also become a key issue in landscape design in recent years with effective drainage design to reduce flood risk particularly prominent in many of the design plans we now develop.
3 MAJOR SAINSBURY’S PROGRESS TO SITE THIS YEAR
Sainsbury’s is planning to create 450 jobs following planning consent secured by THP for its new 102,730sq ft flagship foodstore at the Abbey Retail Park in Barking, East London.
Comprising 60,000 sq.ft. sales area and 400 undercroft parking spaces, the superstore designed for client Land and Estates, is distinguished by a double height glazed entrance lobby incorporating vertical circulation with a large overhanging roof supported on a slender colonnade acts as a key design feature.
THP has also secured planning permission for a new 80,000sqft Sainsbury’s store in Kendal for client, Morbaine Ltd. The development will include the relocation of Kendal Rugby Club and creation of new facilities.
In a changing market for the large foodstore, THP have also secured consent for a 120,000sqft Sainsbury’s as part of a larger mixed use development in the London Borough of Sutton. Designed for LXB Properties, the scheme will also include over 170,000sqft of new residential accommodation.
INTERIOR OVERHAUL AT MEADOWHALL MALL Keen to build on the success of the Oasis food court refurbishment completed with The Harris Partnership in 2013, and which won a Gold Award for our efforts, British Land has extended the programme of improvement to the Meadowhall shopping centre.
The most recent phase concerned the refurbishment of the Park Lane Mall at the prime retail end of the centre. The malls have remained pretty well untouched since Meadowhall opened in 1990 and so were more than ready for a modernisation in which Park Lane will serve as the genesis for a wider centre refurbishment.
The dated classical references in Park Lane Mall were removed, the dowdy colours muted and a comprehensive overhaul of the lighting scheme was undertaken. Colour change lighting at high level and feature sculptures in the floor voids completed the transformation. The result is a crisp, clean, uncluttered mall that provides a complementary backdrop to tenant propositions, allowing retailer signage to stand out. Vector DC worked closely with The Harris Partnership to achieve the end result.
CGI by Vector DC.
PLEASE CONTACT US
HARRIS PROJECT MANAGEMENT www.harrispm.com Wakefield 01924 291 800 Sarah Charlesworth Reading 0118 9507 700 Steve Innes
Manchester 0161 2388 555 David Evans Milton Keynes 01908 211 577 Gary Humphreys, Stuart Fall Reading 0118 9507 700 Jon SpireS
VECTOR DESIGN CONCEPTS www.vectordc.com Vector 01924 332 056 Steve Banks (CGI’s), Adam Lingard (Graphics), Andrew Sinclair (Landscape)
Well, 19th March to be precise when our very own Chris Sheard and the THP band, Adam Lingard and Andy Moody perform a Buddy Holly medley in the Yorkshire property industry’s annual ‘Crypt Factor’ showcase competition at Elland Road. The event is set to raise £50,000 for local charities and the lads will be hoping to raise the roof with their rendition of ‘Rave On’ and ‘Johnny b goode’. Chris has excellent form here having played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz and starred as Buddy Holly in a ‘Magic of Musicals’ showcase last year (pictured above). Stiff competition from the likes of GVA, Bruntwood, Irwin Mitchell and Addleshaw Goddard aside, we look a ‘goode’ bet!
THAT’LL BE THE DAY
OUTLINE PLANNING FOR MAJOR DEARNE VALLEY SCHEME
SITTINGBOURNE
THP BUILDS ON YORK RETAIL SCENE
Working with clients, Cathedral Group and Quinn Estates, THP have submitted a planning application for a new retail and leisure redevelopment of Sittingbourne Town Centre.
The development, known as The Spirit Of Sittingbourne, will include 34,000sqft of retail accommodation, a new 8screen cinema, 30,000sqft of restaurants and a new 300 space multi storey car park.
Work is scheduled to start on a second retail park at Clifton Moor, York. The scheme for Orchard Street Developments extends to over 170,000 sq ft of branded retail provision with approximately 700 parking spaces. The scheme follows on from the successful completions of the adjacent retail park for British Land which includes DFS, Harveys and Jysk. The scheme is predominantly open A1 non-food retail and currently includes tenants Dunelm, Matalan, Barker & Stonehouse and Dreams.
THP are delighted to have received ‘Outline’ planning approval for Gateway 36, a speculative industrial development on the Dearne Valley Parkway, Barnsley, on behalf of Harworth Estates. This major development on a high profile site comprises of A3 & A4 leisure and B1 & B8 industrial uses and all to be constructed to meet BREEAM Very Good.
Plans for a mixed-use commercial scheme in the Stoneycroft area of Liverpool have been recommended for approval by Liverpool City Council.
The scheme on the two-acre site on Queens Drive includes for a 9,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer Simply Food store and 16,500 sq ft Aldi designed by THP’s Manchester office.
LIVERPOOL ALDI GETS GO AHEAD
BREAKING NEWS! BLACKBURN WING SELECTED FOR RIBA AWARDS We are delighted to learn this week that the Blackburn Wing has been short listed in the RIBA regional awards 2015 for buildings that have ‘made an exceptional contribution to the local environment’. The Harris Partnership won the commission for this extraordinary project in 2011 as part of a competition launched by client,
The Bayford Group, seeking building designs to celebrate the achievements of aviation pioneer, Robert Blackburn. Completed autumn 2014, the Wing now serves as centerpiece in the wider master planning and restoration scheme for the Bayford estate near Bramham in West Yorkshire.
RIBA judges are due to visit the airfoil inspired events centre built into the tree canopy on the estate in late March. The Blackburn Wing has also been nominated in the Tourism and Design and Innovation categories for RICS 2015 awards, whilst the Bowcliffe Estate has been nominated in the Regeneration category. The finalists for both awards programmes are due to be announced in May.
CGI by Sanders Shiers