Cecil

  • Location: Chester City Centre

  • Context: Urban

  • Nature: New-build apartments

  • Status: Planning Application Submitted.

We were employed by a private client to submit a planning application which sought to develop a derelict brownfield site in Chester city centre. The proposals comprise 6 no. apartments arranged over two storeys with basement parking.

The site has an irregular shape derived from the fact that it was a piece of land that was left over after the redevelopment of Chester in the 1960s. The site was formerly used as a workshop for light industry.

The site geometry has resulted in a trapezoidal building form, with a blank rear elevation addressing the existing terraced houses and a fully fenestrated façade facing the main road. The principal façade has a strong horizontal emphasis to lessen the apparent vertical height and respond to its urban context. The windows are detailed so they appear to have been ‘carved’ out of the solid brick mass of the upper block.

The principal façade features a complex regular rhythm of recessed windows and balconies with angled chamfered reveals. The geometry employed is a response to the trapezoidal site and adds visual interest and modelling to the façade. The fenestration pattern will result in a façade that is enlivened by a play of shadows as the sun angle changes throughout the day.

The end-gable of the terraced houses to the south of the site was a result of 1960s road development in Chester town centre. As such, this end-gable does not mark, acknowledge or celebrate what is a prominent corner in any way. The proposed building provides a contemporary statement at this corner and avoids any pastiche of the existing terraced typology.

Reforming the Block

The site was originally been used as a workshop or stables enclosed within an urban block. In the 1960s the redesign of Chester city centre disrupted the urban fabric and the original block was severed in two. The rear of the terraced houses to the east were exposed following the formation of a new street running north south to the west of the site. These rear facades where never meant to contribute to the townscape and are of a low architectural quality..

The proposed building will reform the urban block, screen the rear of the terraces and give a new façade to this block.

Interface Distances

The existing building has a two storey gable which is only 11m from the rear facade of the Cecil Street terrace. The proposed building is therefore an improvement on the existing condition in interface distance terms.

There are numerous examples within the immediate context of building relationships that do not comply with the aforementioned CWAC interface distances. For example, the facing terraces along Cecil Street have a interface distance of only 9 m between habitable rooms.

The east façade of the proposed building will be set out 14.5 m from the habitable rooms of the rear façade of the terraced houses along Cecil Street.