Hypostyle Architects Glasgow Edinburgh

Dovecot Drive

Located adjacent to the Airdrie-Drumgelloch rail line and utilising the steep fall of the site through a stepped-level plan, the development comprises of 6 No. amenity houses, one wheelchair house annexed to the main building, and a 20 apartment Frail & Elderly residential unit, with associated communal space and support facilities.

The Frail and Elderly unit is entered at first floor, with service spaces below sited along the retaining wall addressing the site fall.  This enables the support facilities to be largely tucked away, so the development retains a residential scale in keeping with its context.  The building then opens up with the fall of the site, creating two lower level courtyards around which the accommodation is focused, maximising light into each home around attractive shared garden spaces.

Outreach facilities are provided through a core of communal spaces, with a hairdresser facility, assisted bathrooms, hobbies room and larger than average dining and lounge facilities, designed to benefit the wider community.  The Frail and Elderly unit is highly serviced, in keeping with the needs of the end users, inclusive of sustainably considered under floor heating throughout.  Large amounts of high quality glazing maintain a feeling of airiness, and punctuate the primarily brick exterior.  The timber kit amenity cottages are similarly finished, complimenting the main building across a mono blocked courtyard and parking area.

The rail-side site presented a number of challenges in terms of access, slope, prior usage and sound attenuation, with a new facility for the local pigeon-flying club integrated within the brief.  Access has been carefully managed in relation to neighbouring properties, and landscaping designed to best shield the development from potential rail noise.

During construction, part of the development was successfully sold on to Bield Housing Association, with the additional requirements of this secondary ‘client’ addressed collaboratively by the design team and WoSHA, within the context of the tight budgetary constraints of the original project.  The result is the delivery of a well-tailored building that addresses both the challenges of the brief, and needs of the end users.

Procurement route:  PPC 2000 (ACA Project Partnering Contract)

Design team led by:  Hypostyle Architects

Structural Engineer:  Scott Bennett Associates

Quantity Surveyor:  Brown & Wallace

M&E Engineer:  Ken Boyle Design

(Contractor:  Crudens)

Client Contact: West of Scotland Housing Association

Project Value: £3.6 million

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