Bell Phillips Architects for Gloriana, Thurrock Council
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 12,480m²
Gloriana, the regeneration arm of Thurrock Council, has already received awards for its pioneering work in providing social housing. It has continued to identify underused council sites to introduce housing that mixes tenure types. Bell Phillips has been an integral partner in this, and the efforts of both on behalf of local people are impressive – all in one of the most depressed areas of the region.
Here, Bell Phillips has worked with reduced means – two types of brick, two or three storey houses – to create a strong piece of urban design framing long views of dock cranes and sheds to find a sense of place and attachment to the wider landscape. How the terraced and infill houses come together to offer ever changing experiences is evidence of a careful 3D design. These Thurrock housing schemes could show housebuilders a thing or two about placemaking, even in areas of low house values and little investment. These are houses that would be prized and pampered in more privileged parts of the UK.
See more winners in the RIBA Regional Awards – East