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BUILDING PROJECTS
THE FITZROY FALMOUTH, CORNWALL
Time for CLT by the sea
Perched on a scenic Cornish bay, a fully CLT-framed retirement living scheme promises a better quality of life to residents and a fast construction time. James Parker reports
egasusLife develops ‘retirement living’ schemes with a difference. The new specialist company has bought more than 30 sites where it aims to offer a distinctive, site-specific offering to occupants, and a more aspirational, attrac- tive and sociable alternative to traditional retirement homes.
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The Fitzroy will be a new stand-out example of the concept, sitting on the impressive bay-front site of the somewhat dilapidated and now-demolished Madeira Hotel in Falmouth, Cornwall. And the concept behind the 34-apartment scheme isn’t its only unique selling-point – it is claimed to be the only retirement scheme on this scale yet seen in the UK with a full CLT frame. One of the chief reasons behind the choice of the efficient single method of construction being the project’s very tight 12 month programme. The scheme which is due to start at the end of May, has been designed by the Bristol office of architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), working closely with structural engineer Symmetrys, both of whom have had a successful working relationship with PegasusLife on past and current projects. Cormac Farrelly, associate director at AHMM, said that the key design challenge was making the most of what was a compact site when it came to maximising space and views for the building’s occupants. He told ADF: “It’s an amazing site, only 30 metres from the beach in a quiet, elevated position. However, the challenge was that as it was small, the building would have to work hard, especially making the most of orientation.” He continues: “A key driver was that where possible, apartments should have a bedroom and a living room that faced the sea, and that the majority
should be dual aspect, which is really important for this typology.” As a result of this, the building form developed with apartments ranged along the south-facing front of the building, with a glazed ‘gallery’ along the rear providing circulation. Farrelly says this is no mere corridor, being wider than normal and being lined using “enhanced materials and lighting” avoiding any sense of it being ‘back of house.’
The widths provided in apartments are generous, compared to many residential care homes, with 4.5 metre wide living rooms and 3 metre wide bedrooms as a minimum, in addition space standards overall are far in excess of national standards. He says that in addition to providing more amenity internally, this helps make the most of the great sea views. However, with substantial glazing, there was a need to tackle shading while assuag- ing the tough local planning authority (the building sits in a conservation area next to a World Heritage Site). Says Farrelly: “We wanted a contemporary take on the Victorian hotels dotted along this seafront, and there were lots of conversations with planners.” Luckily the planners were of a similar outlook, wanting a “contemporary building which responded to the gable- fronted existing hotels.”
The front elevation achieves both shading and gables using large open balconies under them which are 12 m2
in total, so big that
AHMM term them “outdoor rooms.” With tall apertures in the walls that support the extruded gables they provide views sideways as well as out to sea, and extend the living rooms almost 3 metres. In addition to providing shading to the balcony below, they provided a “sense of enclosure,” in Farrelly’s words, as “it gets
PLAN
The building offers deep balconies to the south-facing front elevation and a wide gallery corridor to the north
ADF JUNE 2017
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