The woolmead farnham a new urban quarter for an old market town

THE WOOLMEAD, FARNHAM A NEW URBAN QUARTER FOR AN OLD MARKET TOWN

NORMAN CASTLE

PARK

THE WOOLMEAD CASTLE STREET

WAITROSE

THE BOROUGH

CONTENTS THE SITE HISTORY ANALYSIS CULTURE PRECEDENT & MATERIALITY CONCEPT: AN URBAN APPROACH PROPOSALS: PLANS, DETAILS & VISUALS

RIVER WEY

A31 BY-PASS

THE SITE The current configuration of the Woolmead is of mixed use; comprising ground and first floor retail facilities and upper floors designed largely as large open plan offices.

Four residential units are also provided at the eastern end of the site.

The existing Woolmead buildings have reached a stage where they no longer provide a viable prospect for businesses to use. All of the offices are now vacant and the current retail facilities are underutilised and all on short term tenancies to enable development.

Market testing has established that the site will remain underutilised, failing to meet the potential for a site so close to the centre of a popular, high end market town unless redeveloped.

Waverley Borough Council, in recognition of the need for change, have prepared a design brief to encourage redevelopment and outline minimum townscape expectations.

The site, at the edge of Farnham’s conservation area, requires sensitive and creative design to ensure success.

FARNHAM: A THRIVING MARKET TOWN

STEEPED IN HISTORY Farnham, an historic market town in West Surrey, is steeped in history dating back to the 5th Century with an 11th Century Norman Hill Top Castle and medieval street pattern. With this history, and several listed buildings, much of central Farnham is provided with additional protection by virtue of a conservation area.

The town centre, defined by Castle Street, The Borough and West Street, create a strong urban grain with clear, identifiable focus points.

This helps create a vibrant and popular town centre with small, high quality shops and buildings of a variety of scale and material.

In contrast the Woolmead site is coarse and lacks focus.

The buildings along East Street lack civic presence, do not integrate well with Farnham and are constructed with a limited palate of inappropriate materials.

LANDMARK BUILDINGS AND VIEWS

Farnham’s Historic Street Pattern and Distinctive Yards & Passages.

Arterial routes are clearly distinct from secluded yards and shopping areas.

WITH A STRONG RETAIL OFFER Extent of current high-street and future high-street retail offer.

The Woolmead development currently sits on the periphery of the existing high street.

The new development will help to extend the extent of primary high-street retail offering whilst supporting existing retail services.

AND A STRONG URBAN GRAIN Areas of Established Vegetation.

The existing high-street is an urban landscape relatively free of trees and vegetation.

Proposals include new trees, while roof gardens can assist in connecting established vegetation to the north and south and help biodiversity filtrate through the town and reconnect the wildlife reservoirs in the park and river by providing habitats for insects and other wildlife within the town.

Farnham has a long-standing association with the creative industries which is supported by the University of the Creative Arts, just five minutes walk from the town centre.

A TOWN OF CULTURE Farnham has a history of trading and markets which continues today in the award-winning monthly farmers market, weekly country markets and the Maltings monthly market of craft items and local homemade produce.

The high street also has a rich variety of independent retailers in addition to some popular highstreet brands.

Farnham’s craft heritage dates back to the time when the town exported white clay to the Romans.

Now, an inspiring hub of art galleries, craft festivals and cultural venues, Farnham is proud to be credited with the accolade of Craft Town England.

MATERIALITY / PTRECEDENTS

The proposals have been developed with sympathy to the prevailing materials and scale and have been designed to reflect the grain and architectural character of Farnham. This will enable the buildings to form a backdrop in support of the main heritage assets of Farnham.

Key buildings and focal points of the scheme will then be completed in a complementary palate both to break up the monotony of the site and provide interest to the key parts of the site.

t, arke od M le Fo W ho

WHERE MODERN MATERIALITY WORKS WITH OLD

d mon Rich

y

la au

ac

M al W ph

la

C k, am

Tachbrook Triangle, London SW1

Bear don

, Lon Lane

The Ice Plant, Manchester

SE1

REALM WITH RETAIL OFFER

BRIGHTWELLS RETAIL DEVELOPMENT

IC REINFORCE HIGH STREET & PUBL

CREATING AN URBAN PROPOSAL

The following key issues were established as design drivers at the outset of the design process:

ANCHOR STORE

Revitalise East Street: Provide a mix of shops including larger units to attract new retailers.

Town Centre Housing: Housing accessed from both East Street and Woolmead Road will ensure integration within Farnham bringing life onto the Woolmead Road Subway: It is proposed the route through the Woolmead, which is private land, is closed.

Service access: Retail units opening onto East street with service access generally off Woolmead Road at restricted hours.

Townscape: Respond to the scale and materials found within Farnham.

DEN

RET AIL

ESI

RR

OR

FLO

LOO

TF

FIR S

OU ND

GR

ED

AP

SC

ND

LA

U

CO

ET

RE

ST

ET

RE

ST

ST

EA

H

HIG

UN ITS

IN

MA

TA IL

RE

AD

ME

OL

WO RO AD

SE ME NT

BA

CE SS

AC

AT RIU M AT RIU

M

AT RIU M M AT RIU D

TY AR

AT R

IUM

UR

IAL ENT ESI D OR R FLO IRD TH

SEC

ON D

FLO

OR

AT R

IUM

RES

NT IA

L

IDE NT IAL

FLOOR

TOTAL AREA (m2)

GROUND

4,425

FIRST

3,150

SECOND

3,025

THIRD

2,000

BASEMENT

3,775

TARGET RESIDENTIAL AREAS & MIX OF UNITS UNIT TYPE

AREA (m2)

MIX (%)

1 BED FLAT

46

20

2 BED FLAT (SMALL)

62

20

2 BED FLAT (LARGE)

74

20

2 BED FLAT (+ STUDY)

83

20

3 BED FLAT

112

20

PROPOSED SCHEME TYPE OF UNIT

No.

RETAIL UNITS 7 1 BED FLATS

16

2 BED FLATS (SMALL)

35

2 BED FLATS (LARGE)

15

2 BED FLATS (+STUDY)

20

3 BED FLATS

10

WITH SPACE FOR MODERN LIVING

CREATES A NEW URBAN / RETAIL QUARTER

Our approach to the redevelopment of the Woolmead site lies in an understanding of the ‘genius loci‘ of Farnham and its relationship to the main retail areas identified within the conservation area; one where the public face is merely a backdrop to the activity of the street but utilises identifiable focus buildings to create a sense of place.

The proposal of retail at ground level with a courtyard based residential development over facing all public sides seems appropriate provided that light into both the apartments and courtyard is exploited and that the views of the courtyard are achieved.

The Streetscape of Farnham’s main retail streets, leading along the West street to the Borough and to East street, comprises a vital mix of architecture of a variety of scale : broad frontage three storey building with vertically orientated Georgian townhouse Architecture and unique ‘feature ‘buildings all using a variety of materials including Stucco, brick and timber trim.

THE ANCHOR STORE

WITH AN ACTIVE RETAIL OFFER

AND A STREET OF HIGH QUALITY HOMES

QUEEN CHARLOTTE STUDIO, 53 QUEEN CHARLOTTE STREET, BRISTOL BS1 4HQ. TEL: 0117 9299285 ALL VISUALS AND DESIGNS COPYRIGHT OF: