Architects Derby Archives - Page 7 of 7

Planning & Design announce new Directors

29th November 202223rd June 2021 by Gary Stringer

Planning & Design Practice Ltd are excited to announce two new additions to its Board of Directors.

With effect from July 1, 2021, Specialist Conservation Architect Lindsay Cruddas and Chartered Town Planner Michael Bamford join Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Chartered Town Planners Richard Pigott, and Jon Millhouse as Directors of the Derby based team of town planning consultants, architects, and heritage specialists. This diversification of the board represents both our increasing architectural ambition and the continuing growth of our Sheffield office.

Lindsay said: “After leading the Architectural Team for over 6 years I’m delighted to be appointed as a Director. The change in the company reinforces our practice core values that Planning and Architecture go hand in hand to make spaces better for the people who live in and use them. We are all excited to assist our clients in developing new and exciting projects.”

Michael added “I am excited to be a part of the next chapter in the future of Planning & Design. We have seen considerable growth over the past 2 years within the Yorkshire region as well as across the country and I look forward to working with the team to continue to deliver projects we are proud of.”

The news coincides with the announcement that Planning & Design’s Founder Jonathan Jenkin is stepping down as Managing Director to work part time in a consultancy role.

Jonathan said: “In order to strike a better work/life balance I am stepping back to work part time. The new Directors are talented and ambitious, they will bring fresh drive and capability to the company and this change represents an important milestone. I wish the new board every success and as they represent all aspects of the company’s business, I am confident that the company has a bright future as leaders in architecture and town planning. This is certainly not a goodbye from me, and I look forward to my new role as Chairman of the Board, and the opportunities it presents to strengthen relationships with our key clients as well as develop new ones.”

A chartered town planning consultant and building designer, Jonathan has developed the company, established its core values and delivered many hundreds of projects since the company was founded in 2002.

As Managing Director of Planning & Design, Jonathan has been responsible for the company’s overall operation on a day-to-day basis, working together with existing Directors Richard Pigott and Jon Millhouse on developing, implementing, and informing the strategic vision for the business.

Since being founded in 2002 Planning & Design Practice Ltd has generated over £200m of uplift in land values for clients through its consents and proposals and has an excellent reputation for winning approvals and for creating attractive and viable proposals. The architectural side of the business boasts an approachable and experienced team comprising architects, architectural assistants, designers, and technicians. Our architects have true international expertise having worked on large scale projects in Russia, Germany, Spain and the United States as well as across the UK. The company is able to design award winning proposals for a wide range of clients across the country.

The company also has a heritage team who can advise on listed buildings and developments in sensitive locations whilst maintaining a strong planning consultancy team. In 2019 our heritage work was recognised and awarded the Highly Commended Certificate for Excellence in Planning for Heritage & Culture at the recent RTPI East Midlands Awards for Planning Excellence 2019. The Highly Commended Certificate was for our work on the redevelopment of the ‘East Site’ at John Smedley Mills, Lea Bridge.

Planning & Design Practice has a close connection with Sheffield, having long maintained an office in the city and with numerous clients and projects in the region. In 2019 the company made a significant investment in their presence in Sheffield with a move to new premises at The Workstation, the city’s leading business centre for creative talent and innovation in the heart of its thriving Cultural Industries Quarter.

Speaking on behalf of the current Directors, Richard Pigott said:

“We are delighted to welcome Michael and Lindsay as Directors, having worked with them both for a number of years. They will bring fresh energy and different perspectives to the company as we strive to achieve our strategic objectives. After 10 years of working with and learning from Jonathan we are also delighted he will remain an integral part of the business as his vast experience and contacts will continue to be important for the business.”

Planning permission for Brookside Farm

29th November 202219th May 2021 by Gary Stringer

Planning & Design Practice are delighted to have received planning permission for the redevelopment of Brookside Farm, Breadsall.

Working alongside our client, renowned local house builder Chevin Homes, the development comprises a mix of just five exclusive barn conversions, new build homes and restoration of the original farmhouse. Chevin Homes is a Derby-based firm of housebuilders, established in 2002, creating quality new homes throughout Derbyshire and East Midlands.

The site is located in a beautiful secluded backwater position with outstanding views and picturesque countryside walks, whilst being only 5 minutes drive away from Derby.

The development is so popular that all plots were sold off plan within days of the initial press release. For more enquiries and further information, please visit chevinhomes.com

We work with developers of all sizes, from small companies working on one property at a time to large housebuilders and commercial organisations where multi-million pound schemes are the norm.

Since being founded in 2002, we have established a strong reputation for providing honest and sound commercial advice, skilled presentation, advocacy and negotiation.

Our core planning and architectural expertise is supported by specialists in Heritage and Urban Design. We always think innovatively, and a collaborative approach is at the heart of what we do.

For more information, or to discuss how we could help with a specific project or property please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Secretary of State to decide fate of Derby Assembly Rooms

29th November 202226th April 2021 by Gary Stringer

Councillors have backed controversial plans to demolish the 1970s Derby Assembly Rooms but have handed the final decision to the Secretary of State. Planning & Design Practice Ltd Managing Director Jonathan Jenkin writes about this latest development.

In a personal capacity I objected to the demolition of the Derby Assembly rooms because I felt that the building could be retained either as a venue or be available for re-purposing. I spoke at the meeting and I asked members consider using the building as part of the revival of the city centre rather than turning their backs on the building. The council has declared a climate emergency. Demolishing this building and building new will exacerbate climate change not reduce it and will see the waste of a building which could be re-purposed or continue to be used.

The reason the council want to demolish the building is that the proposed major refurbishment of the building has become too expensive. This refurbishment is not about re-opening the doors, it is to re-make the Assembly Rooms as a performance venue that is future proof rather than being willing to use what is there. The refurbishment would take at least a couple of years and the costs have ballooned because the works must last at least 15 years and that brings into question the original construction of the building.

It is complex situation but the council has not looked at repairing what is there and opening the doors. We need to revive the city centre now and the building can help and not hinder the revival as it will do if it is abandoned. In 2014 the building was operating and was safe. The ground floor of the building continued to be used until 2018 and parts of the building could be re-opened tomorrow and thus breathe new life into Market Square.

The council are committing to the proposed Becketwell venue on the edge of the city centre and there is no need for two city centre performance venues. This I believe has affected the decision making process and make the Assembly Rooms seem less important. It must be considered that the St James Securities venue may never be built and while waiting for the new venue the Assembly Rooms will deteriorate and the city centre will suffer.

The planning application has been called in by the Secretary of State. This provides a second opportunity to object to the proposed demolition. I call on all those who want to save the building to push for a further report on the building with the aim of re-opening the doors and in the meantime for the council to re-open those parts of the building including providing short term leases for the former restaurant and the tourist information centre so these and any other parts of the building can re-open this summer.

Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Robert Evans – Save the Assembly Rooms

29th November 202216th February 2021 by Gary Stringer

PDP_Rob Evans Save the Assembly Rooms, Derby Assembly Rooms

Writing for Planning & Design Practice Ltd, Architect Robert Evans from Evans Vettori outlines why he believes Derby’s iconic Assembly Rooms should be saved and repurposed as the heart of the city’s Market Square.

As a local architect, in practice in Derbyshire for over 25 years, I strongly object to the current proposal to demolish the Assembly Rooms. I have spent many happy evenings in the venue enjoying music, pantomime and beer festivals. This building is arguably the finest 20th century building in the City of Derby.

Whilst its so-called ‘70s Brutalist’ style is currently unfashionable, as time passes, it will inevitably be re-evaluated as has happened with other once controversial styles. There can be no doubt that Post-War architecture is increasingly appreciated by a wider public.

The Assembly Rooms is a carefully designed building in the centre of the city and is recognised as a historic asset that contributes to the appearance and character of the City Centre Conservation Area. The submitted documents that accompany the application for demolition state clearly that demolition will harm the Conservation Area and therefore the city centre. With nothing to replace this building, demolition will be an act of vandalism that will further damage Derby and its image across the country.

Market Square is the very heart of the city. The building itself is very robustly built and is in good structural repair. The Structural condition report states that the building is suffering only minor structural defects. The application to demolish it seems timed to hastily bulldoze the building before its current Certificate of Immunity from Listing expires in May.

Derby desperately needs a large venue, befitting this important regional city. Assuming you had a budget of say £30m, and two options, which makes the most sense?

Option 1: At great cost, demolish a huge amount of reinforced concrete, creating vast quantities of landfill and releasing embodied CO2, then pay for a temporary tart-up of an empty city-centre site. Use whatever is left in the hope of starting from scratch on a site further away from the Cultural Quarter.

Option 2: Use all the available money to upgrade and refurbish the perfectly robust and useable venue that you already have.

It seems blindingly obvious to me that option 2 represents much better value for tax-payers money. Many people who care about Derby, both locally and nationally, feel the same way as I do. Below is a link to my petition, now exceeding 1,400 signatures, which will be delivered to Derby City Council before the planning meeting, scheduled for 8 April.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-assembly-rooms

Robert Evans, Founding Director, Evans Vettori

Becketwell first phase gets planning go-ahead

29th November 202219th January 2021 by Gary Stringer

Detailed planning permission has now been granted for the first phase of Derby’s £200 million Becketwell regeneration scheme and development work is expected to begin this spring. At a recent meeting of the Derby City Council planning committee, councillors voted unanimously in favour of developer St James Securities’ landmark scheme.

Phase one of the scheme includes the construction of 259 build-to-rent apartments on the site of the former Debenhams store on Victoria Street. A new public square, on the site of the former Central United Reformed Church, remains the centrepiece of the development and will also be delivered as part of the first phase.

Work is already underway to bring forward a second phase to comprise a new 3,500-capacity performance and conference venue on the site of Laurie House offices and the former Pink Coconut nightclub. Future planned phases of the scheme include a range of other complementary uses of the site, including up to 25,000 square metres of grade A offices and commercial space, a hotel and a multi-storey car park.

More than 2,000 jobs are expected to be created by the development, with completion expected at the start of 2023.

Councillor Matthew Holmes, deputy leader of Derby City Council, said: “A thriving city centre is vital for Derby’s future economic prosperity and this project will be transformational – allowing hundreds of people to live in high-quality homes in the heart of the city and breathing new life into an area which has been challenged for many years.”

Marketing Derby Managing director John Forkin said: “There is much talk about the need to repurpose city centres and by creating new quality homes for 500 people in the heart of Derby, St James Securities is doing exactly what is required.

“This is an important piece in a bigger jigsaw that will not only develop the Becketwell site but also act to build confidence for further investment in Derby.”

Commenting on the news, PDP Director Richard Pigott, said “repurposing city centres, especially in the wake of the pandemic, is crucial to their futures and in this respect Derby is no different. We are pleased to see that the council unanimously supported the proposal despite some local concerns about the scale of the development. This is a bold development which should act as a catalyst for further investment, ensuring that the transformation of the city centre goes from strength to strength”.

A porch too far?

29th November 202221st October 2020 by Gary Stringer

We recently secured a retrospective planning permission for a client who had started to build a porch structure around the front door of their Class Q barn conversion. The converted building was formerly a piggery before the landowner approached us to submit a successful Prior Notification Application under Permitted Development Rights legislation. During the design process, great care was taken to ensure the agricultural character of the building was preserved. This was achieved by utilising the existing openings on the structure for windows and doors, and we proposed the converted building be clad in timber to soften its appearance in the landscape.

Permission was duly granted and the works carried out within the 3 year timeframe required by the legislation. However an issue arose when a member of the Local Authority’s Enforcement Team became aware that the landowner had begun to erect a porch structure around the front entrance of the property. For many domestic properties similarly modest extensions would be permissible under the General Permitted Development (England) Order 2015. However, the problem in this particular situation was two-fold. Firstly, extensions to the primary elevation of a dwellinghouse are not permitted by virtue of Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A.1 (e). Secondly, the legislation is clear that any former agricultural building that is converted under the provision of Class Q does not benefit from Permitted Development Rights.

To remedy the situation, we produced a full planning application to gain retrospective permission for the extension. Our argument focused on how the porch was acceptable from a design perspective, in so far as it was subservient to the original dwelling in size and scale, and that the use of the same timber cladding would tie the porch in visual with the rest of the site. We also highlighted the functional need of the space. The landowner is still involved in the agriculture business and needed the porch as a “boot-room” space where they could easily get in and out of muddy boots and clothes. We successfully explained that the extension was compliant with the requirements of the Authority’s countryside and landscape protection policies. We also took the opportunity to apply for an extension to the dwellings domestic curtilage, which is also restricted under Class Q, which now means the landowner can enjoy the area of land which encompasses their building more freely than the legislation permits.

Sometimes people undertake building work or they use land in a different way without applying for planning permission when they should.

The planning system is complex and mistakes happen. We are always willing to provide help and advice, and are able to provide an initial consultation without charge. Please contact us if you have a project or property you would like to discuss.

New Dwelling Granted in Kirk Langley Conservation Area

12th December 202215th February 2019 by Gary Stringer

Planning & Design Practice have secured planning permission for the replacement of an existing barn with a new dwelling in the Kirk Langley conservation area.

Kirk Langley is a village a few miles northwest of Derby. Back in 2017 a scheme was approved to replace a steel framed barn with a high-quality, contemporary new dwelling on the exact same footprint. The client then sought to make some changes to the approved scheme, the most significant of which was the addition of a basement level to the building.

The impact of the development on heritage assets was a key consideration as the site is located in a conservation area and in close proximity to a listed building. The council agreed that the high quality design of the building meant that it would not materially harm the significance of these heritage assets.

We look forward to seeing the building take shape in due course.

If you want to know more about this project, please contact us and ask to speak to Tina Humphreys.

Permission secured for log cabin scheme near Matlock

12th December 20228th November 2018 by Gary Stringer

Planning & Design Practice have recently secured permission for a development of 5 log cabins on a site at Doehole, near Matlock, for use as holiday accommodation. The project represents a farm diversification scheme for our client, who also produced their own business plan in support of the application.

A substantial amount of preparatory work was involved in the preparation of the application itself, including a Landscape and Visual Appraisal, which assessed the potential impact of the development from viewpoints in the wider landscape, as well as traffic surveys to inform the safest point of access to the proposal site. Given that the site is an agricultural field, a tree report was required to establish which trees should be retained and to define root protection areas, as well as an ecological appraisal of the site to assess any potential impacts on biodiversity.

The scheme included a new entrance to the site from the highway, an access road, and parking spaces for each cabin. The site layout was carefully designed to fit around and between existing trees and hedges on the site, to make best use of the existing landscape screening that this provided.

The development was approved after lengthy negotiations with the planning officers at North East Derbyshire District Council – their planning policy states that new tourist accommodation comprising of static caravans (which the proposed log cabins technically are) will not normally be acceptable outside of the built framework of settlements. In order to make the scheme acceptable, additional detail had to be provided regarding the construction of the access road, and the positioning of the cabins had to be amended to make the layout more ‘informal’.

A Transport Statement also had to be submitted to provide more information to County Highways officers, to satisfy their concerns.

Additionally, a substantial amount of supplementary landscaping planting was proposed, along with a detailed schedule of tree types and sizes, plus a maintenance plan for the landscaping as it matures. This is to ensure that the planning policy requirements can be met, by not having an adverse impact upon – but being assimilated into – the surrounding landscape, and that the site is well screened and is of a sympathetic design and layout.

Planning & Design announce new Directors

Planning permission for Brookside Farm

Secretary of State to decide fate of Derby Assembly Rooms

Robert Evans – Save the Assembly Rooms

Becketwell first phase gets planning go-ahead

A porch too far?

New Dwelling Granted in Kirk Langley Conservation Area

Permission secured for log cabin scheme near Matlock

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