Ash Sakula - Tibbys Triangle

Ash Sakula

• 2011

A development of 34 new homes in the sea side town of Southwold in Suffolk.

Southwold’s local brewery, Adnams, moved their distribution depot from the centre of town to an out of town site, and therefore their 0.4 hectare warehouse site in Victoria Street became available for redevelopment. Ash Sakula were chosen as architects following an invited design competition. We looked very closely at this unspoilt seaside town, where there has been very little post-war development of any kind. Our aim has been to create a mix of public and private spaces and buildings that responds to the specific texture of Southwold, with its combination of narrow courtyards, wide views, private gardens, unexpected details and corners and interesting juxtapositions of large and small, old and new.

The front of the site immediately off the High Street will be occupied by an Adnams shop and  café around a new market square. Immediately behind this a new road runs through the site with, to either side, groupings of thirty four houses and flats, all different. Most are being built for sale, but ten are affordable homes, eight for rent and two for shared ownership, pepper-potted around the site. All these houses are two, two and a half or three storey, while in the centre of the site are two taller residential buildings containing six apartments and a small shop.

The houses on the west side of the new street are a cluster of village-like houses, with unexpected open spaces in between. Private gardens are provided alternating in front and at the back of the houses. Car parking is provided either on plot, in private garages or in shared, covered spaces.

 On the other side of the street, the houses form informal terraces, again with private gardens and a mix of on- and off-plot parking. Five 3-storey houses on the northern boundary form a terrace along Tibby’s Green. These  houses have south facing private gardens with car parking on plot.

The form and materials of the proposals have been carefully chosen to reflect the scale and quality of precursors in and around Southwold, while giving a fresh and contemporary edge to the scheme. A buff brick is used, and some facades are painted in white and other colours, including occasional use of the local maritime tradition of black tarred brickwork to walls facing the prevailing wind. Windows are bespoke timber. Roofs are pantiled, while flat roofs are sedum covered.

All houses are fitted with MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery) enabling low energy costs combined with high comfort conditions. All dwellings will meet or exceed building regulation and DDA requirements for accessibility. Refuse storage and recycling is proposed in shared collection points around the site.  All houses have provision for cycle storage, and there are plenty of public cycle hoops.

Landscaping is informal. In the new market square we are embedding into the road surface timbers recycled from the groynes dividing Southwold’s beaches. Much of the new landscape will be in the form of private gardens which have a strongly public role around the new sqaure, and within the housing areas. Southwold is characterised by small but generous front gardens spilling out into the public realm, with their owners taking great pride in their maintenance and presentation. The scheme builds on this tradition with prominent front gardens and low garden walls of flint or brick. Also typical of Southwold are the narrow pedestrian lanes and informal shared-surface roadways which we have used in the development.</p><p> </p><p> </p>