HD Awards, Surrey County hall
- Category: Awards
- Date Published: 12th April 2024
We’re thrilled to announce that Surrey County Hall, has been shortlisted for the Housing Design Awards. Every aspect of this scheme, designed and extensively consulted upon during the COVID pandemic, embodies our vision for modern, inclusive living. We are very proud to see this sensitive regeneration project being recognised for its ambition.
The reimagining, re-use and redevelopment of the redundant Grade II* listed Surrey County Hall, will provide a truly mixed-use development consisting of new flexible workspace, events space and high-quality homes, whilst enhancing the landscape and pedestrian permeability across the site. The scheme will provide 292 private and affordable homes, together with resident’s lounges and a café to be used by residents, workers and the community alike, integrating the new elements into the existing fabric of the site while preserving its character, creating a gateway development into the town centre.
The retention and restoration of over 80% of the existing listed buildings offers a unique opportunity for a highly sustainable, truly mixed-use town centre development providing approximately 50,000sqft of flexible SME workspace aimed at entrepreneurs and creative industries with capacity for almost 600 people. Located immediately adjacent to Kingston University, flexible co-working spaces will help to stimulate entrepreneurship in the town, allowing for the incubation and growth of new and existing businesses.
To complement the existing buildings, non-heritage assets will make way for new high-quality residential buildings whose design has been carefully considered to harmonise both with the listed buildings and also the neighbouring residential properties. The design of the new buildings strikes a balance between the civic architectural style of the Grade II* listed Surrey County Hall and the vernacular of the neighbouring residential streets. Two distinct typologies, with varying heights, roof types, materiality and window modulation, have been sensitively developed by the architectural team to enhance the setting of the listed building, harmonise with its neighbours, yet create distinct modern buildings that embrace the character of the place.
The landscape approach to the scheme addresses a number of important objectives; creating an enhanced setting for the Grade II* listed building, providing a wide range of new public and private amenity space, play space for younger members of the community, public routes through the site and increasing biodiversity through planting regimes and wildlife habitats. This approach will succeed in an 80% improvement in biodiversity and a GLA Urban Greening Factor of 0.65.
