17 - 07 - 2020
It has been a terrific week for BPTW – we are absolutely delighted that Rochester Riverside Phase 1B has been recognised with both the ‘Building for a Healthy Life Award’, and the ‘Winner of Winners’ at the 2020 Housing Design Awards.
Phase 1B highlights the first 131 homes completed for Countryside and The Hyde Group, as part of the major 1400 home regeneration, which will extend the city centre of Rochester across 7 phases when complete.
Intertwining homes and landscaping, a variety of bespoke building typologies draw inspiration from both the historic fabric of the city, and the dockyards of the wider Medway area, shaping a new vibrant neighbourhood with well-designed homes which were complemented by the judges.
The scheme is shaped by a generous network of distinct, public spaces, including landscaped public realm and more civic spaces, designed to improve physical and visual connections to the Medway, and in turn open up the riverfront for use and enjoyment by both residents and the wider community. To promote healthy, active living, a 2.5km riverside walk along the site’s edge is designed to weave through these landscaped pockets and celebrate the flourishing local ecology, allowing residents to make the most of site’s riverside location.
“We are so proud to have received both awards for Rochester Riverside Phase 1B. These awards illustrate and focus on the most pertinent and important aspects of housing design, so it’s absolutely brilliant for the scheme to receive the Building for a Healthy Life award, and ultimately to be crowned the Winner of Winners.
We would like to thank our clients Countryside and Hyde who have been behind the push to deliver design quality and real placemaking, as well as Medway Council and Homes England who have backed the scheme throughout. There has been an incredible amount of work undertaken on the project, which wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of the project team here at BPTW, alongside our planning consultants who have worked closely with Medway Council throughout. We look forward to building on this success with our ongoing work on future phases.”
– Chris Bath, Partner, BPTW
Amongst others, we’d like to give a special mention our collaborators including HTA who worked on the original masterplan, and design of one of the mixed-use buildings on the central square which was also highlighted positively. We’d also like to recognise landscape consultants LUC who we have worked with to ensure the landscaping and spaces between buildings promote healthy living and help to reconnect this historic town and its residents – both new and existing – to the beautiful Medway riverside.
You can now find out more about the scheme and listen to the comments from the residents and judges in this specially produced film of the scheme:
