Knockroon

Knockroon is the development being constructed on the edge of the historic Dumfries House Estate in South-East Ayrshire.

When Dumfries House was rescued for the nation by a consortium of Charities led by the former Prince of Wales, the bid included enabling development in the form of an extension to the local town, Cumnock. The Prince wanted the new housing to be a demonstration of the best of his design and sustainability principles, and we were selected to design the first phase of Knockroon, which had been planned by The Prince’s Foundation.

The houses and apartments draw inspiration from the simple vernacular of local towns, which we studied extensively on a series of workshops with the Foundation.

The first phase of mixed-use development has now been completed to widespread local and national acclaim, and already the buildings are proving highly influential as a model for new developments to other landowners in Scotland. The restoration of Dumfries House and the estate is ongoing, and the flowering of this remarkable project within a deeply deprived community is a sign of great hope.

Coed Darcy

Coed Darcy is a major brownfield regeneration site in South Wales. Occupying the site of the former BP Llandarcy Oil Refinery, which was decommissioned in the 1990s, Coed Darcy will contain 4000 houses in a sustainable mixed-used community.

The project is being masterplanned by The Prince’s Foundation and Alan Baxter Associates.

A site was selected to build a small number of houses to demonstrate the quality that will be sought on the site as a whole. The buildings test a range of building materials, types and sustainable technologies before they are applied on a wider scale.

We were selected to design the buildings and have drawn our inspiration from the simple local vernacular. In a number of years, the site will be incorporated into the wider masterplan and the houses will be occupied.

Chelsea Barracks

The redevelopment of the Chelsea Barracks site is one of the most prominent projects in the capital in the last quarter century. Bringing back a dense, mixed-use, traditionally planned quarter to the heart of Chelsea, the site has been masterplanned by Squire & Partners and Dixon Jones.  In 2014 we were invited to join a limited competition to design a key landmark building at the centre of the site, immediately opposite the Garrison Chapel, now a listed building.

We developed a design for a simple, arcaded brick building which won the competition, and we worked through the slow and complex process of planning, meeting with local groups and neighbours, designing alongside the other architects in the Phase I collaboration, and then detailing the building for construction.  Built with load-bearing, traditionally detailed brickwork of significant complexity, the building has gone on to win an number of awards and has become a much-loved and commented building at the heart of the project.  The restaurant complex opens in 2023.

We worked alongside our good friend William Smalley who also designed the mews house next door.