Old Magistrates Court - Quora Developments Flat Roof Box Design
We understand that the SDNPA will meet on the 12th December 2013 to decide on future of this site.
It may still be possible to submit your comments in these closing stages. Have a go! For the sake of our town!
See below for recommended wording of objection letter
The historic town of Lewes deserves better than this!
The SDNPA are scheduled to meet on the 14th November to decide on this application to (a) demolish the existing building & (b) erect a new building in its place. Please would you let the SDNPA know of your objections? We all hope that the authority will reject this inappropriate flat roof design right in middle of the conservation area in the heart of historic Lewes.
To comment go to:
http://planningpublicaccess.southdowns.gov.uk/online-applications/ Enter the application number (SDNP/13/02497/FUL) and click the ‘comments’ tab. You will then be able to send your comments on line. You can also object to the application to demolish the courthouse by entering that application number: SDNP/13/02499/CON.
If built this building were constructed it be bang next door to the Grade II Listed Fitzroy Memorial Library. In fact the architects carefully avoided any including of nearby building as you can see from the design sketch above!
About the architects & the developer:
As indicated by their web site Juice architects are used to designing
buildings more suitable for an out-of-town shopping centre or a new town. There
is no indication that they have any skill in designing buildings suitable for
an historic town. see their website: http://www.juicearchitects.com/4A_01_Sustainability.htm
And Premier Inn (part of Whitbread plc) who are due to run the
hotel aren’t much better:
Here is an example of Premier Inn and the county council riding
roughshod over the local opinion despite the submission of a 12,000 signature
petition: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-22871341. Premier Inn doesn’t
have a good track record in terms of architecture or enhancing the character,
fabric and community in towns and cities.
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The existing building
Ariel View
Lewes Town
Recommended wording of objection e-mail:
I strongly object to this
development and request Refusal of this application because of the scale and
design of development and its lack of respect for the traditional materials,
scale and appearance of the historic core of Lewes, which will cause harm to
the traditional appearance of the national park in this location.
The traditional character of
Lewes is set out in the conservation area appraisal (published in 2007 by the
LDC & revised by the SDNPA in July 2012, draft) for this historic core of
the town where is says that ‘fundamental principles’ must be adhered to for
example it says “Any intervention should echo and reinforce
those characteristics of the buildings, townscape and public realm of Lewes
which make a positive contribution to the town and its local distinctiveness”.
Traditional materials are durable
- local brick and tiles or traditional stucco. Roofs are traditionally pitched
and tiled, or in Victorian times slate was used. The bulk of older buildings
along the High Street were tiled with pitched roofs of red clay tiles or later,
with slate roofs, with a return to tiles during the Edwardian period. The
existing courthouse building used good quality traditional materials, although
from a rather somber pallet. It has a complex tiled, pitched roof which
reflects its context. The walls and façade are necessarily rather forbidding
partly because the site was walled for security. The buildings did not cover
the whole of the site.
This proposal would involve the
demolition of the courthouse and its replacement by a flat roofed structure. The
new building would have a curved, grey glazed tile elevation which includes
shops on the ground floor. with a hotel above, facing towards the public car
park regarded as being at the rear of the courthouse. The materials used are
not commonly found in the conservation area, nor – by and large - are flat
roofs. The main hotel elevation facing the car park is formed of large boxy
unit
Regardless of its durability, the
design is out of scale with the smaller units found in Lewes and will not
conserve, let alone enhance, the appearance of the conservation area.
The building proposed echoes much
of the architecture of the 60s & early 70s which are in many towns &
cities in the UK and are seen as eyesores now.
We, who will have to put up with
this structure long after the current developers have disposed of it will not
want to be reminded of such architectural failures.
Historically and currently
residents, tourists & visitors are drawn to Lewes from a wide area because
of the flint castle, flint and brick walled twittens, and the small scale,
pretty streets of warm colours and quaint shops. A test for any new building in
the historic core should be whether it will carry on the tradition and in turn
become part of the attraction of this historic market town, rather than merely
exploiting it.
This development is bland and
large in scale. It might be acceptable in a new town context or on the fringe
of an industrial area but is out of scale with the historic core of Lewes and
will neither conserve nor enhance the South Downs National Park.
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