Commendation for Best Use of a Brownfield Site
GOLD STANDARD
Ingress Park is a major regeneration project on the South bank of the Thames at Greenhithe, two miles downstream from the Dartford River Crossing and close to the Bluewater shopping centre and the proposed Ebbsfleet International rail link. When Crest Nicholson bought this 72-acre (29-hectare) brownfield site in 1991, the Grade II listed Ingress Abbey was standing empty and derelict. So too were the unsightly factory buildings of Empire Paper Mills and the brutal 1970s concrete buildings of the Thames Nautical Training College, last used in 1989.
Where others could only see dereliction and awesome problems of decontamination and planning battles, Crest Nicholson saw the opportunity to create a new waterside community of 950 new homes, with schools, shops, offices, leisure facilities and a community centre. No one thought it would be easy, and there were planning problems, but eventually the right master planners and architects were appointed - Tibbalds Monro (a practice that then became TM2 and is now Gardner Stewart Architects) - and the long process of regeneration began.
Crest Nicholson invested £6 million in the restoration of Ingress Abbey, which was converted into modern offices and sold, but it remains the focal point of the estate. Decontamination work was lengthy and expensive, but eventually the new housing started to be built and everyone loved it. Over the past few years, Ingress Park has won countless awards, including several National HomeBuilder Design Awards, but its greatest accolade came last year when CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) gave Ingress Park one of its first Building for Life gold standard awards.
This thoughtfully designed and landscaped development has so many lessons for housebuilders and architects that it ought to be compulsory to be visited, or at least studied closely, which is the whole purpose of the Building for Life awards. Our commendation this year is only a prelude to what is likely to be an award when this mixed-use high-density development averaging 23.6 homes per acre (58.5 homes per hectare) is finished in 2006.
Homebuilder: CREST NICHOLSON (SOUTH EAST) LIMITED
Crest House, 30 High Street , Westerham, Kent TN16 1RG
Tel 01959 564282
Fax 01959 564177
Website: www.crestnicholson.com
Contact: Helen Devy, Sales & Marketing Director.
Email: hdevy@crestnicholson.com
Master Planners and Architects: GARDNER STEWART ARCHITECTS
Long Lane Studios, 142-152 Long Lane, London SE1 4BS
Tel 020 7407 8811
Fax 020 7407 8822
Website: www.gardnerstewartarchitects.com
Contact: George Gardner, Director.
Email: info@gardnerstewartarchitects.com
Landscape Architects: MURDOCH WICKHAM
South Ash Manor, South Ash Road, Ash, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 7EN
Tel 01474 871265
Fax 01474 873169
Website: www.murdochwickham.com
Contact: John Murdoch, Director.
Email: john.murdoch@murdochwickham.com