SCHEME INFORMATION

The Sail Project

Name of Project & Site address:

South Parade

West Kirby

Wirral

Project Team:

(Please highlight those who will be attending as part of the presenting team at the Design Review and provide names)

Client / Developer

Howard Mortimer

Alan Beer

Land Ownership

Wirral Council

Architect

Antonio Garcia Architecture

Local Authority

Mike Callon

Landscape Architect

N/A

Planning consultants

N/A

Other consultants

N/A

Planning Information:

Type of application

Pre-planning

Statutory constraints

Foreshore SSSI

English Heritage

N/A

Public consultation process

A public consultation exercise was undertaken by the developer in June 2008. The results of this exercise have been used to inform the design process.

Status of scheme

The scheme is in the public domain.

Project Data:

Use

Hotel and Leisure

Dwellings per hectare

N/A

% affordable housing

N/A

Project budget

£7.5m

Expected timescale for project completion

Planning application submitted May 2009 - expected project completion autumn 2011.

Funding Bodies (in order our panel can declare interests)

N/A

The Sail is a project developed from the strategic context of the Hoylake and West Kirby Regeneration Master Plan (2004). The project involves the creation of a high quality sailing school and integrated hotel and leisure development at the head of the Marine Lake in West Kirby. The existing sailing school building which is no longer fit for purpose will be demolished and replaced with a state of the art replacement facility. Adjacent to the sailing school, a new boutique hotel and spa will be developed on the site of a Council owned car park. The scheme seeks to re-provide parking provision through the creation of a sub-basement car park. The scheme will improve links between West Kirby town centre and the water front as well as enhancing West Kirby as a high quality visitor destination with a mixed leisure offer.

Site Constraints

Proposals for both the hotel and sailing club have been partially dictated by site specific constraints.

Hotel Site (1.16 acres)

Bounded by Dee Lane and South Promenade, both are primary pedestrian routes with vehicles being secondary. Dee Lane is a very important link to the promenade, an arterial route connecting the town centre to the promenade. South Promenade offers stunning vistas towards the River Dee and Hilbre Island.

The Hotel site has a number of constraints to consider:

Sailing Club Site (1.48 acres)

The sailing club site is bounded by South Promenade and extends to the pier edge overlooking the River Dee. A jetty to the South and beach to the North characterize what is a very important site.

The Sailing Club site has a number of constraints to consider:

The Brief

Carpenter investments alongside Wirral Borough Council have provided an in depth brief for both the Hotel and Sailing Club sites.

The Hotel

Mr Dave Brewitt of Carpenter Investments created the successful Hope Street Hotel, a boutique hotel within the Georgian quarter of Liverpool. His experience in the hotel industry has been invaluable in generating a specific brief that meets a variety of uses within the building, including restaurant, bar, spa, conferencing and retail uses.

The Sailing Club

Mr Alan Beer of Carpenter Investments is a resident of West Kirby and again has provided an invaluable insight into the area. Mr Beer's local knowledge and also that of the Architect, Antonio Garcia (a resident of Parkgate, Wirral) has assisted greatly in understanding the area and its needs. To generate a technically specific brief for the sailing club, meetings with the existing club managers have been held and from that a concise brief has been generated.

Both the hotel and sailing club sites benefit from previous public consultation and from this the briefs have evolved to fully take into account any concerns or suggestions the local residents have had.

Site Context

The sites are typically characterized by the beautiful topography of West Kirby and its relationship to the River Dee. South Promenade is typically fronted with residential semi detached houses of varying style. White render, red brick and red sandstone highlight the existing built forms.

West Kirby and its neighbours, Thurstaston and Heswall are all partially characterized by red sandstone, a beautiful material that enhances the area.

To the East of the hotel site along Dee Lane lies a car park serving Morrison's superstore. The architectural language of the supermarket is not in keeping with the immediate and is purely functional. Dee lane links the town centre with the promenade and is the main arterial route to the Promenade.

Built Form

Built form has always been a key consideration throughout the design process. To create a certain harmony with its context both the hotel and sailing club have been subject to thorough scale and massing studies.

The Hotel

To create stunning views for the majority of bedrooms, the hotel forms a horizontal mass that stretches across the South promenade. A large gap has purposely been maintained at the corner of South Promenade and Salisbury Avenue, thus allowing vistas through from Dee Lane towards the Waterfront.

The mass begins to fragment and reduce across the Dee Lane elevation, providing a sense of scale in keeping with its context.

The hotel reaches a maximum of 3 storeys (ground plus 3), the third floor is set back considerably and is positioned away from both Dee Lane and Salisbury Avenue towards the centre of the site.

The Sailing Club

The proposed sailing club will be housed on ground and first floor only. A dynamic architectural expression linking the public realm is proposed with its orientation maximizing stunning waterfront views. The built form will be subservient to new waterfront views created from the corner of Dee Lane and the Promenade.

Access

The design rationale has integrated access points at important nodes that activate the street scenes.

The Hotel

At each corner of the building at both Dee Lane and South Promenade, access points for different uses are proposed, a spa and retail entrance to Dee Lane, the hotel entrance to the corner of Dee Lane and South Promenade and a cinema club/bar at the South Promenade Southern corner. Each of theses important nodes will activate the building and street scene. Disabled access is proposed at the Dee Lane edge, fully integrated into the overall building design.

The Sailing Club

The primary entrance to the sailing club is proposed at the junction of Dee Lane and South Promenade. To create a connection between the hotel and sailing club it is proposed to create an architectural device that links the two different languages, this will be created in the form of an abstract sandstone entrance wall that also provides a degree of celebration and hierarchy.

The sailing club design will fully integrate the public realm by offering a climax to the pedestrian experience via a sweeping ramp (ambulant disabled accessible) that culminates at a viewing terrace with vistas across to Hilbre Island. Access to a first floor café will be created from the viewing deck.

Public Realm

The creation of high quality public realm has been a key issue throughout the design process.

The Hotel

To enable sufficient car parking provision, it is proposed that the hotel ground floor will be raised 1.5m. Through raising the building footprint it allows for substantial terraced zones along the Dee Lane and South Promenade edges. The terrace to Dee Lane offers a degree of buffering to the residential properties that run parallel. The terrace will be enhanced through integration of landscaping and planting zones.

The raised terrace to South Promenade offers a degree of privacy to the hotel restaurant and an activated continuation of the pedestrian experience.

It is proposed to utilize natural red sandstone at the interface between the terraces and pavement, again reflecting the areas most contextual natural material.

The Sailing Club

The proposals offer new framed views to the waterfront, to strengthen public realm it is proposed to link Dee Lane to the waterfront via hard landscaping that directs pedestrians through the sailing club. The boardwalk viewing ramp will continue the landscaping to first floor level, creating a seamless transition from ground to first floor.

Sustainability.

The proposals will embody a number of sustainable elements:

Please attach a proposed site plan