Tiverton, Devon: "We can deliver an economically viable scheme that will unlock this undeveloped parcel of land, encouraging a mixed community within predominantly pedestrianised lanes that lead to a riverside garden.”

Here's an inspiring housing project from Tiverton, Devon:

Mikhail Riches wins planning for council-backed Devon housing scheme | News | Architects Journal

It has won prizes:
Mikhail Riches wins contest for Tiverton town centre council housing | News | Architects Journal

And it's very much the old with the new:


Mikhail Riches wins planning for council-backed Devon housing scheme

11 JANUARY, 2018 BY RICHARD WAITE

Mikhail Riches has been given the go-ahead for its competition-winning proposals for 39 new homes at Tiverton in Devon

The town-centre scheme will be delivered by 3 Rivers Development, a new Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by Mid Devon District Council, which ran a national design competition for the project last year (see AJ 07.04.17).

Mikhail Riches was selected ahead of Stride Treglown, Oxford Architects, Studio 54 and ESHA Architects to land the job, the London-based practice receiving 65.3 of the 70 percentage points available for its competition submission and interview.

According to the firm, its winning design was ’inspired by the historic pattern of development in Tiverton, and the steep topography of the site, which rises 8m from the level of the River Exe’.

Built around three new cobbled lanes on a long-empty town-centre plot overlooking the River Exe, the proposed buildings will step up from two storeys at the riverbank to four storeys in the blocks nearest the Grade II-listed town hall in St Andrew Street at the top of the site.

The development features 16 one-bedroom flats and 12 two-bedroom flats, a pair of four-storey apartment buildings on the plot’s eastern edge, and nine two-bedroom houses and two three-bedroom terraced houses on the western side.

The homes, which will be clad in a mix of brick, lime render, stone and slate, will all be for private sale.

Practice director David Mikhail said: ‘This is an extraordinary site that presents an opportunity to complete an important piece of Tiverton’s historic town centre right on the banks of the River Exe.

’We’ve worked to ensure that we can deliver an economically viable scheme that will unlock this undeveloped parcel of land, encouraging a mixed community within predominantly pedestrianised lanes that lead to a riverside garden.”

Mid Devon District Council opted to develop the project itself through its own SPV following 30 years of stalled attempts at development from private sector parties.

Mikhail Riches wins planning for council-backed Devon housing scheme | News | Architects Journal
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