Award winner for the best retirement development
Older regeneration
This is an inspirational development. Whitton’s Mill, an old animal feed mill on the banks of the River Trent, had been regarded as an eyesore for more than 65 years. Not when the Whitton family bought a small flour mill on the site in 1907, nor when the mill was first extended in 1903 and Bridge Road was widened, but from 1936 when a seven-storey steel-framed silo tower was added. This was made worse in 1973 when another extension of the same height was added – a windowless building clad in asbestos cement.
Finally, in 1995, the mill closed and soon became derelict, as did many neighbouring industrial properties, but it was the gaunt empty mill that was the blot on the landscape, discouraging any redevelopment in the area. Discussions in the late 1990s between the Gainsborough Development Trust and the East Midlands Development Agency as to how the riverside could be regenerated resulted in the Trust buying the mill to safeguard its future.
Anchor Trust was then invited to prepare proposals for converting the mill into retirement housing. The problem was how to fund this. Fortunately, the £4.5 million required was forthcoming by August 2001 from English Partnerships, the Single Regeneration Budget for Gainsborough Riverside, the East Midlands Development Agency’s Partnership Investment Programme, social housing grants from the Housing Corporation and West Lindsey District Council and of course money from Anchor Trust’s own funds.
Soon after building work started in February 2002, the mill suffered a serious fire that destroyed the whole of the top floor and gutted much of the rest of the building. Undismayed, Anchor Trust and its builders, Bramall Construction, pressed on and completed the work on time and the building was officially opened by the Earl of Wessex on 28 April 2004.
Few could have imagined that this ugly giant of a building could be transformed into such a delightful, lively and colourful building to provide 43 apartments for frail and elderly residents, together with three two-bedroom penthouse apartments on the top floor. Most sheltered housing is in bungalows, but not here. Strangers think it must be a hotel or a luxury apartment building The credit for this goes to West + Machell Architects of Leeds.
The missing top floor has been replaced with a lightweight construction set back to give a balcony along the river front and a terrace on the Bridge Road side. The building’s new butterfly roof maximises the daylight and gives a contemporary look to the building. The main entrance, residents’ dining room and lounge on the ground floor are spacious and inviting, as are the other communal and healthcare facilities, such as a multi-gym, hair salon and a media room with computers. This is regeneration for the older generation.
HomeBuilder: ANCHOR TRUST
Bridgford House, Pavilion Road, West Bridgford,
Nottingham NG2 5GJ
Tel 0115 982 0187 Fax 0115 982 4800
Website: www.anchor.org.uk
in partnership with
GAINSBOROUGH DEVELOPMENT TRUST
26 Spital Terrace, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire DN21 2HG
Email: enquiries@gainsboroughdevelopmenttrust.co.uk
Website: www.gainsboroughdevelopmenttrust.co.uk
Architects: WEST + MACHELL ARCHITECTS
1 Northwest Business Park, Servia Hill, Leeds LS6 2QH
Tel 0113 246 1746 Fax 0113 234 3290
Contact: Janet Keenan, Associate
Email: janet.keenan@westandmachell.co.uk
Website: www.westandmachell.co.uk