The future of New Street

Plans have been brought forward to redevelop a portion of New Street into 15 shared ownership homes.

The proposed development will provide fifteen affordable shared-ownership homes consisting of 5 one-bed and 10 two-bed apartments. Each of the one-bed apartments will be located on the ground floor and will have access to their own private terrace. The two-bed apartments will occupy the upper floors. Three of the top floor apartments will have balconies looking over New Street and there will also be a 7 space allocated car parking garage and secure cycle storage for all apartments.

Layout

The proposal will replace the current collection of dilapidated and mismatched structures with a contemporary building respecting the immediate surroundings and enhancing the character of the area.

The design of the new building has evolved through reviewing the immediate context and urban grain. Several design challenges have influenced the proposed layout, such as:

• response to the Conservation Area

• providing a positive contribution to the streetscape

• contributing positively to the existing urban grain

• response to the scale and massing of the proposed neighbouring buildings

All of the apartments are dual aspect with the living spaces of the ground floor having direct access to the terraces at the rear of the building. On the first and second floors, the bedroom areas are positioned to rear of the plot, allowing the living spaces to front New Street, providing an active street frontage.

Scale and Massing

The scale and massing of the proposal aims to deliver a building that is more fitting in terms of response to the surrounding environment than the existing structure.

The proposal is positioned to continue the grain of New Street and respect existing site lines. This position aims to provide a visual continuity along New Street. The footprint of the building will create a buffer zone to the existing boundary which provides usable amenity space to the ground floor apartments.

The overall mass of the scheme has been broken down to deliver more residential size elements instead of a large residential block, which is alien to the grain of Altrincham. These subtractions from the block define the communal entrances and circulation zones. The relationship of solid (accommodation) to void (circulation) form a rhythm to the New Street elevation and will provide a contemporary response which enhances the local character.

In order to better integrate the proposal into its surroundings, careful consideration has been given to the design of the rear elevations. Here, the building steps back on each floor to ensure that impact to the existing residential buildings on Normans Place is minimal.

Appearance

The main material used is a light red brick (Northern Buff) which is widely used in the surrounding area. The proposed material for the communal/circulation areas is white precast concrete framing combined with a propriety green wall system to allow climbing plants to add an additional visual layer to the elevations. This greenery interspersed on the proposed New Street façade will make the building a visually interesting landmark whilst softening the mass of the proposal and providing much needed greenery to New Street.

The building has large windows to New Street allowing the living spaces to benefit from natural daylight. The windows in the rear elevation are positioned to address overlooking issues whilst also maximising the use of natural light.

The proposal aims to enhance the local area by providing an active residential street frontage close to Altrincham Town Centre.This will replace the existing frontage which has a negative impact to the Conservation Area with uncontrolled parking and unsympathetic materials.

The proposal will provide a building facing on to New Street that consists of a variety of complementary elements which aim to provide visual stimulus and interest. This will include elements such as entrance doors, windows, garages, planting, staircase activity and balconies. The garage doors will be high quality slatted timber and will become an integral architectural feature that will enhance the façade and street front. The roof of the building will have integrated solar panels to provide energy for the electric car charging points allocated to each car parking space.