Haverhill

Haverhill

This concept was a continuation of Haverhill’s town expansion originally started as part of the London overspill new town expansion in the 1950’s. The site is the Grade II listed Gurteen & Son’s Textile Factory in the centre of Haverhill. The concept of the project which sees the integration of a number of much needed services and facilities is a Beacon, to draw people to Haverhill. The major design initiative was integration and linear connectivity.

We created a major axis running diagonally across the site linking into the high street and the surrounding road matrix. This line of movement was made more prominent with a steel walkway rising from street level into the air connecting vertically as well as horizontally.

The master plan provides a new cinema, multimedia education centre, a youth centre, mixed housing and a series of artisan blocks. The entire site uses hydroponics to recycle it’s water and ground source heat pumps for heating. The artisan blocks are multi use structures being able to accommodate office, shop workshop or design studio spaces.