Royal Mint Gardens combines Farrells’ visionary architecture, meticulous coordination skills and innovative engineering, to create a vibrant mixed-use development built over and adjacent to a major railway infrastructure.
The 315,000 sq ft scheme provides 266 homes over two active railway lines. Positive rail engagement enabled the successful encapsulation of the live lines and the development of the site without any disruption to services. To protect critical transport infrastructure Farrells incorporated a cantilever into the design, reaching over the Network Rail viaducts and utilising the spaces within the existing railway viaducts.
Innovative solutions were sought for the facade of the development including a unitised rain screen and installing purge ventilation panels.
Farrells’ design has enabled this significantly underutilised brownfield site to blossom as a high-quality, sustainable residential development. By opening up and activating the existing railway arches, the creation of a new public plaza and the introduction of residential addresses along Royal Mint Street, Farrells’ design reunites and integrates communities severed by the railway.
Sustainability is incorporated throughout the design. The scheme hosts its own energy centre, harvests rainwater and provides high quality landscaping. This has been recognised by a level 4 Code for Sustainable Homes accreditation.
The Royal Mint Gardens development has demonstrated its versatility both through its intelligent design and also through its impact on the local area. The scheme has proved to be a catalyst of regeneration drawing further investment into the local area, with the arrival of the new Chinese Embassy proposed for the neighbouring site.
All the information about how to enter the 2020 WAN Awards is here.
We are very happy to offer support so please don’t hesitate to email Georgia, WAN Awards Event Coordinator with any questions at Georgia.Baily@haymarket.com.
Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding projects, take a look at the winners from last year here.