The New Wolsey 2 Participation building has received a Royal Institute of British Architects East award and Client of the Year awards. This is a signal honour from one of the major civic organisations.

Link for full information.

 

Land between Unity Street and Tye Road, off Duke Street. Erection of a six storey, 174-bed student hall. A previous application (for apartments) was refused and they now address the issue by a redesign and alternative use. They contend that there is support from the University and that other planning matters will be dealt with.

 

St Michaels Church, Upper Orwell Street.  Designed by E.F. Bisshopp, listed grade II. This Victorian church was burnt out in 2010 when it was owned by a Muslim community. They had plans for rebuilding and conversion to a community hub which came to nothing. It has recently been purchased for £175,000 by The Ark of the Lord Church. They need a further £1,200,000 to complete the project.

 

3-5 Silent Street. This Tudor building, once Claude Cox’s bookshop is adjacent to 45-47 St Nicholas Street, they were built in the late 15th century as an inn. Listed at Grade II*, it has many outstanding features and is of national importance. (Pevsner describes it as uncommonly fine’).  

The current owner, a Society member, now wishes to make alterations, mostly to the interior to improve access and to facilitate functions for up to 35 people. These include a small glazed link extension to the rear, providing an interior route to the WC; the removal of a late 19th century screen in the front room; a small room will have a new kitchen; replacing a pair of casement windows in the rear elevation with modern glazed Crittall doors – this will allow light into the rear and improve access to the garden. The Silent Street elevation will remain untouched. These sensible improvements will be carried out to the highest standards and will have respect for the building which Heritage Assessor, Leigh Alston, considers should be Grade I. There is an architect’s model on display in the building’s window.

 

114 Fore Hamlet. Handford Homes for IBC propose to demolish the Orwell (Hope) Church and replace it with two blocks consisting of thirty apartments containing 10 one-bed and 20 two-bed

apartments. The building will be constructed of brick, rusticated on the ground floor. Some apartments will have Juliet balconies. Being so close to bus routes and the town centre, only eleven car parking spaces have been planned, all with EV charging points. The height will descend from six to four storeys’ to fit in with adjacent buildings.  Two multi-stemmed Plane trees at the South East corner of the site are protected by a Tree Preservation Order and will be retained. This appears to be a satisfactorily designed scheme and will provide much needed affordable housing.

 

37 Berners Street. This proposal is to convert a Grade II listed three storey mid Victorian gault brick, now painted house, into apartments. There is a large rear extension so 3 one-bed and 3 two-bed flats, together with some communal space, can be fitted in. Three parking spaces will be provided to the rear and three to the front of the building. The exterior of the building will not be altered. They comply, just, and if approved will provide six more apartments near the town centre.

 

Ipswich Garden Suburb. Crest Nicolson’s application for the appearance and design of the Visitors Centre and associated works for the Country Park. The design of the centre is modern and exciting but half the necessary size for future uses. Otherwise this application is reasonable. Granted permission subject to many conditions which will be overseen by Officers.

 

Two Bridges: A Vehicle Bridge and a Foot/Cycle bridge across the railway, Ipswich Garden Suburb (Crest Nicolson). These are two important pieces of infrastructure which will enable communication and help the development become a real community.

The vehicle bridge has been designed by a firm of bridge designers from Shropshire. It conforms to Network Rail’s demanding criteria regarding clearances, safety for rail workers, safety of users and prevention of track access by the general public. Unfortunately, it is an entirely utilitarian prefabricated structure of metal and concrete with no aesthetic value whatsoever.

The foot/cycle bridge, closer to Westerfield station and providing access to the Country Park, is designed with zigzag steel ramps on either side of the railway with flights of stairs for those on foot.  Planned at 3.5m wide where the national standard is 4m. This will be an expensive structure to build, difficult for cyclists to use and awkward for mobility scooters and pushchairs, potentially an eyesore within a rural setting (see a similar footbridge at Trimley). It would have been more sustainable to build straight ramps of sufficient width out of spoil material. The Committee granted permission with one against and two abstentions.

[See also the article about Ipswich Garden Suburb on page 22.]

 

Grafton Way.  Galliard Homes proposed development has previously been approved. This application concerns amendments to ensure all rooms conform to National Standards, garage configuration, bin storage arrangements, omission of metal cladding, and the rationalisation of roof forms.  The landscape design has been set out to provide green corridors from Grafton Way to enable a view of the River Gipping, landscaped frontage to Grafton Way and new public space on the corner of Grafton Way and Bridge Street.  A hundred trees will be planted.

Unfortunately, conditions 18 and 19, which refer to the provision of foot/cycle paths along the river from Stoke Bridge to Princes Street Bridge parallel with Grafton Way, are not mentioned.  This is potentially the most worrying aspect of this application, an omission which we will point out to the Officers and to the developers.  Otherwise this seems to be a satisfactory application.

 

Westerfield Care Village.  Final designs for this new concept of care for the elderly were granted permission. 147 apartments and two staff houses complete with treatment rooms, lounges, saunas, café, and a cinema room. The architecture, by Bryan Whybrow of KLH, is fine and a welcome addition to sheltered accommodation in Ipswich

 

Former Defiance public house, Stoke Street. There have been many applications to convert this old pub into dwellings.  This application for Mac Khan by KLH, proposes a four bed HMO, together with 1 two-bed apartment, and 1 one-bed apartment. There are great concerns about daylight reaching some of the living areas. The Committee deferred a decision in order to make a site visit.

 

St Stephens Church.  This building has been unused since the closure of the Tourist Information Centre in 2020. The owners, IBC, have instructed Nicolas Jacob Architects to update the small 14th century parish church to a fit-for-purpose, 225 capacity modern music performance venue and a new daytime culture-led café and co-working spaces to support creators and artists for ‘Sounds Unlimited’. The church will become a venue, capable of hosting a variety of live music performances and programmes of events; the creation of a new daytime café and co-working space will enable use by artists, performers, creatives and entrepreneurs. The changes include installation of four modern toilets in the south aisle, insertion of a new external door in the north- east aisle and secondary acoustic glazing.  Some of the valuable heritage artefacts will be moved (within the church) or encased to enable the new use.

 

24 Park Road.  The agreed glass extension on the south elevation, overlooking Christchurch Park, proved technically impossible to build. A new design by KLH will overcome problems of glare and solar gain and accede to new building regulations – and it will look better from the park. We still think it's a shame they wish to remove the elegant wooden trellis on the Park Road elevation.

 

Padel Courts, Ipswich Sports Club, Tuddenham Road. Permission has been granted for six Padel courts, a sort of small-scale tennis, the fastest growing sport in the UK. There were many objectors on the grounds that the entrance was unsafe. However SCC Highways did not object and there have been no reported problems for many years.

 

Town Hall. It has been agreed that the Pickwick Room and its annex should be refurbished and become licensed for Civil Marriage solemnization.

 

Anglia Parkway South. The CarPhone Warehouse Shed will become a Taco Bell outlet, making this the fourth fast-food outlet at the entrance to the retail park. Is this the unhealthiest spot in Ipswich?  Simply drive in to consume excessive amounts of processed fast-food.

Mike Cook

Next article