UK’s Walsall Council has given planning permission to the GBP6.5 million ($10.7 million approx.) town center office for UK-based housing corporation Walsall Housing Group. The project design is by London-based architecture and design practice Bisset Adams. Interior design for the facility will also be taken up by Bisset Adams.
The proposed 1.5 acre site forms part of Walsall Gigaport, also called the new Walsall Office Corridor. The vision is to create a business and enterprise quarter within the corridor to support the regeneration of Walsall.
Bisset Adam has conceived the project with an intention to deliver visual impact and quality, with strong formal composition and a stylized tree-graphic of the south facade. The Z-shaped plan intentionally creates a sense of welcoming the outside into the public space, by incorporating a central reception. The ground floor will be accessible to the public, with the three floors above primarily for an open-plan office accommodation.
The WHG proposals include a new ‘light blade’ feature uplight recessed in the ground, which starts at the pedestrian approach to the site. This will slice through the building, drawing through to the newly landscaped area to the north where it arrives at a proposed Liquidambar tree. This tree is seasonal and its leaves will change color throughout the year.
Bisset Adams was appointed after a competitive tender process. The design seeks to reduce WHG’s carbon emissions and is aiming for a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating of ‘excellent’ for its sustainability. The plans include a sedum green roof, rainwater harvesting, photovoltaic and solar thermal renewable energy systems, and air-source heat pump technology for heating and cooling.
Iain Johnston from Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), director of architecture, and senior designer Paulo Ribeiro are leading the Bisset Adams team on the project. Iain Johnston says, The architectural design is in response to the site context and topography. It is also inspired by the client’s brief to create a place to celebrate clarity and communication. The ‘atrium slice’ at the heart of the space allows understanding and orientation and will be a forum to convey WHG’s community involvement and the environmental performance of the building.”
A review of the proposals by the regional architecture center, MADE’s West Midlands Regional Design Review Panel, declared the proposals an example for subsequent buildings in Walsall’s regeneration to aspire toward. The panel praised the logical arrangement of the building, the rational planning and the simple, bold treatment of the elevations.
Work is expected to start on site, on the corner of Littleton Street East and Hatherton Street, in early 2010, and be completed by mid 2011.
