Rogers Stops Work On Woolston Riverside

Rogers Stops Work On Woolston Riverside

The much awaited key development lead by SEEDA in Southampton, Woolston Riverside, has been changed with previous architect, Richard Rogers, no longer involved in the project.

The plans have been changed substantially along with the change in team, there are still three residential towers featured but now the layout has been drastically changed so that the tallest one is located furthest inland. The orientation has also changed, in the first design they faced towards the south-west but now have been turned to face west to north and towards the centre of Southampton.

The height of the towers is being kept hush-hush by the architects despite them having exhibited a first look of their new proposals to the public, perhaps for reasons of P.R sensitivity although the massing model on display indicates something in the region of 20-25 floors tall.

Local NIMBYs tend to latch on to height above all else when trying to argue against a development hence the need for many developers to play down a high-rise aspect and try and sell a scheme on the basis of other things.

In this case plans now include a new public amenities such as a library, a hotel and a supermarket. The number of low-rise blocks have also been scaled down and some of them replaced with town-houses meaning less density but a friendlier, more intimate scale of housing.

Main architect, Richard Rogers, has been replaced by Patel, Taylor, Jestico & Whites with TS Design also helping out. The developers have awarded the development contract to Dean & Dyball and Crest Nicholson which means they are now optimistic of actually realising the project.

Woolston Riverside is no longer a pie in the sky development with slick, but ultimately unattainable ideas for Southampton by one of the world's most famous architects but something that can finally be built. This will still be some time away as a detailed design still has to be submitted to the planning department however before this can go ahead. A detailed application is expected to be filed in July 2007.

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