We are pleased to announce that we have won the RIBA competition for White Hart Street, Mansfield. Working with Mansfield District Council and our multi-disciplinary team; Camlins Landscape, Hydrock and Atol Blue we look forward to creating a vibrant, welcoming and green place to live and enjoy.
The White Hart Street site sits within the Bridge Street and Market Place conservation area and contains a listed building and non-designated heritage assets. It forms a key part of the Church Street Quarter in the emerging town centre masterplan. The £14-to-£19 million development will feature a mix of family housing and flats for elderly people, and is intended to unlock wider regeneration of the town.
Mansfield’s executive mayor Andy Abrahams said: ‘We think we have found in this winning scheme a design that will respect the area’s heritage and provide affordable, energy-efficient and future-proofed homes that are fit for the 21st century, and which people of all ages will feel proud to live in.’
The Design:
Linking into the existing urban context of Mansfield town centre, the proposal creates a sequence of squares and new yards that each have their own character and not only encourage an active community life and social interaction, but also provide much needed green spaces and a place for trees and productive landscapes.
Inspired by the history of the area, a new enclosed and well overlooked square - ‘The Croft’ - forms the focal point of the neighbourhood as a place where young and old residents and the wider community can meet and interact, and where local activities, performances and smaller gatherings can take place to complement those which take place in the market square.
Many of the architectural characteristics have been inspired by the traditional forms, materials and colours of the area and re-interpreted in an imaginative and contemporary way. The new neighbourhood aims to establish its own identity with a strong sense of place that is unique, yet unmistakably belonging in Mansfield.
Pollard Thomas Edwards senior adviser Teresa Borsuk acted as the RIBA’s architect adviser for the competition. She said: "‘The panel particularly enjoyed the careful crafting of the proposed masterplan with its interweaving and layering of the many references to the site’s former history."
