Kennet Centre building details to make it ‘more Newbury’

More details are emerging about the proposed redevelopment of the Kennet Centre in Newbury.

Historic England is still battling developers Lochailort with the look and feel of the multi-storey, 427 home plans.

Lochailort has published its response to “causing significant harm” to the look of Newbury’s historic town centre.

Historic England are concerned that the proposed redevelopment would be out of scale with the historic town centre and adversely affect two views of the Clock Tower and The Wharf.

However, developers say it is made clear in the letter that this “harm could be meaningfully reduced by relatively minor improvements to the facades of the elements of the scheme which interface most closely with the historic townscape.”

“We are submitting, alongside this letter, amended plans that incorporate the agreed revisions to the elevations that front onto Market Place and Bartholomew Street, specifically in response to Historic England’s comments,” said Sarah Ballantyne-Way, Lochailort’s planning director.

Sections have been prepared showing typical window reveals for the brick and rendered buildings. The reveals are deeper and will add more depth and interest to the elevations.

On block C, the balconies to the central windows on the second and third floors have been removed and the archway has been lowered on the left hand building.

The widths of the pillars at the base have also been widened to provide a sturdier base.

In respect of the right hand building, it was agreed that the windows set above the projecting string course, rather than a soldier course, helps to add visual interest to the building by breaking up the brickwork and helping to define levels.

On block F the central hipped roof building now comprises the same brick rather than a different brick on the second floor. The recessed canted porch with offset door has been removed and replaced with a central doorway and sidelights that are both set back slightly from the front elevation producing a more balanced elevation.

Brick corbeled eaves has been introduced to accentuate the eaves and add interest to the elevation.

On Block H the balconies have been removed and the second floor windows have been reduced in size so that they better reflect the traditional hierarchy of the openings in the town centre.

A larger eagle sculpture is proposed.

The area’s existing parking provision also gets a revamp.

The developer already owns the multi-storey carpark, and intends to rejig the access with the existing service ramp access on Market Street being removed and replaced with two more access routes to Cheap Street and Bartholomew Street.

The Bartholomew Street access would link to the new 83 undercroft parking spaces for residents of the build.

The 382 parking spaces in the multi-storey would be available to all.