Park Central Zone 1

Character

The design of the perimeter apartment blocks which face onto the main roads in Zone 1 is imposing, robust and hard-edged. These are in contrast to a more intimate and playful design within the mews and boulevard sections of the development, which are protected by the perimeter blocks.

With proximity to park space and what will eventually be a good mix of uses on the whole site, including offices and shops, Zone 1 will feel part of a busy new urban quarter rather than simply a housing development.

The building layout is planned to form distinctive streets, which make Zone 1 easy to navigate. The blocks are massed and at a high density, (155 dwellings per hectare) appropriate to the city centre location. The external and internal roads and parking courts are well overlooked by balconies from the apartment blocks and windows and terraces from the Boulevard and mews units. Combined with good lighting these areas feel safe to walk around.

The Zone 1 building plots and the later planned phases are designed to wrap around the linear form of the Park and to maximise views onto it.

Roads, parking and pedestrianisation

Parking is provided for 60% of the units in a combination of internal parking courts north of the Boulevard, lay-by parking along the Boulevard and smaller parking strips adjacent to units within the mews section. The mews houses also incorporate garages. So with the exception of the larger parking courtyard at the north of Zone 1, parking is fitted within the layout rather than dominating the street scene.

Traffic calming is designed into Zone 1 through a rapidly reducing scale of spaces as you progress into the site. This, combined with sharp turns in the streets of the mews sections and trees placed to reduce site lines, forces drivers to slow down. The variety of parking within the mews section will ensure that there will be a flow of residents within the open spaces, which should maintain a sense of security and community.

Park Central Zone 1 is permeable for the general public. Pedestrians can turn off Wheelys Lane onto The Boulevard, directly to the park, or veer off to walk through the mews to the south west corner of the site. All pedestrian routes are well overlooked. The architects made a point of designing active frontages and habitable rooms on the front ground floor of houses to encourage overlooking and increase security.

Design and construction

The design is unique to the scheme and has evolved from an assessment of the local context of built form. In particular, Birmingham’s urban red and blue brick terraces and warehouses inform the Wheelys Lane apartment blocks. These have a two storey red brick screen sitting in front of blue/grey steel and glass levels. Within the mews quirky colours and distinctive bay windows provide secure overlooking to the mews axis roads and add a sense of fun to the scheme.

The main public amenity is provided by the central park space which will be completely redesigned to include quality planting, a children’s play park, robust seating areas and public sculpture. A central zone within the park will eventually house shops and it is hoped a public performance space.

The steel framed structure of the apartment blocks means that internal walls are not load bearing and therefore the spaces can be changed over time. These blocks are also designed on a structural grid system with unit positioning, which allows buildings to adapt to market changes without changes to infrastructure. The framed structure also allows changes of use to units, particularly on the ground floors which could easily be converted into shops.

Environment and community

Park Central is located within easy walking distance of Birmingham city centre and close to shopping, bus and rail travel, so residents are not car dependent. The car parking is limited to 100% for houses and 60% for apartments.

The buildings in Zone 1 have achieved an Eco homes rating of 'very good'. All units have gas boilers with low nitrous oxides emissions. These boilers have carbon emissions roughly 2.5 times lower than heating schemes running on electricity. The units currently run off a communal district heating system, but were built so that they can be linked to an energy efficient central heating and power plant, which will be added to a later phase of the scheme. Insulation materials are CFC and HCFC free and will meet building regulations standards as a minimum. Drying space for laundry is provided in bathrooms to reduce the need for electricity hungry tumble drying. At least 75% of the timber for the scheme was specified from certified renewable forests.

There is a good range of tenure to Zone 1, with over 30% affordable housing, helping to create a good social mix within the scheme and community. The range of accommodation size is also extensive, from two bed apartments to four bed houses, which should attract a wide range of tenants at different stages of life. All houses and apartments have outside space in the form of gardens, raised terraces or balconies.