St Martin's
Review and redesign of a 55-unit Extra Care scheme on the boundary of Conservation Area within the rural Dorset town of Gillingham.
Magna Housing / Drew Smith
Concept Development, Detailed Planning Drawings
01 Background
KSA were appointed in mid-2019 to review and redesign this £12million scheme that had already been submitted for planning approval but had become encumbered due to a number of objections from Statutory Consultees.
Our first priority was to fully appraise the comments raised and to re-evaluate the site’s opportunities and constraints. In response to these, the practice conceived a new concept for the site which protected its key assets and views whilst adding build form to frame important views, defining the existing urban square.
02 The story
The site is on the border of the Gillingham Town Centre Conservation Area and partially within the floodplain of the River Shreen, as such these were key considerations which influenced our design approach. A simplified approach was taken to setting the ground floor level, removing the split-level concept promoted by the previous scheme which posed issues with access, construction and general usability.
Rather than utilising a linear built form as previously proposed, our approach followed an H-Plan to optimise views into and out of the site and offer greater visual articulation to the building facades.
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03 The outcome for St Martin's
The practice was able to produce a detailed planning package of information, complete with high end 3D graphics and video fly through, and substitute the original application within 12 weeks of our appointment, ensuring our client could meet the tight funding deadlines associated with the project. Thus demonstrating our ability to turn around large and complex schemes quickly, without compromising on quality.
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