Five Architects and Master planners have been shortlisted by Be First in its competition to find a team to design the next phase development of the Weavers Quarter regeneration scheme and review the Masterplan for the later phases of development.
The five shortlisted companies are; PRP Architects, HTA Design consortia, Hawkins Brown Architects, Coffey Architects and White Arkitekter.
Jennie Coombs, Head of Affordable Housing at Be First, said: “We have been delighted by the response and the quality of the submission.
“It made the job of getting through the amount of entries to a few companies very hard but we are confident we have an excellent shortlist.”
Be First decided to review the next phase of the Weavers Quarter scheme, which has seen large swathes of the old Gascoigne East estate demolished and replaced by quality new flats and part of a new secondary school. Phase I is nearly completed and will eventually see over 420 new homes, retail outlets and the completion of Greatfields School. Over half of Phase 1 is already completed and first residents moved in to their new homes in the middle of March.
Jennie said: “The first phase has already been shortlisted for awards and the design and quality is excellent.
“But Be First is all about not resting on our laurels, we’re looking at how we can continually improve and entrench excellence.
“With this competition we’re trying to establish a template for future developments in the borough.
“We want to create a gold standard for high quality designed developments which can be built conventionally or off site, be truly affordable and attractive to look at.”
