Berwick Townspace Images, Northumberland County Council Building Design News, One North East Project Photo

Berwick Townspace Architecture

Creative Southeast Scotland Development design by Malcolm Fraser Architects

Building Info from Malcolm Fraser Architects:

Images © Keith Hunter, received 26 Nov 2008:

Berwick Townspace Building

a creative hive

The brief required a business establishment, whose creative bustle works well within the traditional grain of a Berwick close and courtyard pattern, in particular one that links out to surrounding streets, courts and buildings.

A development of two and three storeys follows a simple Z-shape, a tidied-up version of the original footprint. A new close linking the ‘Boarding School Yard’ out to Walkergate represents a major departure from the previous dead-end pattern, the Yard now becoming the heart of a busy network of routes – the traditional Berwick pattern renewed, made open and permeable.

Running four pitched roofs in parallel across the Z-plan produced a rational roofscape where the relaxed volumes, with their mix of eaves and gable, regained some of the qualities of the decent existing buildings proposed for demolition.

Reception, at one of the ‘knuckles’ of the Z-plan, has waiting, meeting and information areas, and is overlooked by the first floor informal meeting space. A small Conference Venue and Meeting Space spills out and animates the front courtyard elevation. Above the first and second floors are the main incubation and lettable offices with simple flexible rooms in a variety of sizes.

Berwick Town Workspace – Building Information:

Berwick Town Workspace, Berwick-upon-Tweed
Completion November 2007, £2.6m
Client – Northumberland County Council
Berwick Borough Council
One North East

Building images from Malcolm Fraser Architects 180506