St Vincent Works at Silverthorne Lane is part of a major urban regeneration project in the heart of Bristol’s former industrial centre near Temple Meads railway station. Sitting within a wider masterplan that reinvents a prominent canal facing site, the scheme will introduce 360 new residential apartments together with cafes and bars, workspace and generous landscaped areas that reintroduce planting and greening to this brownfield site. Located in the Silverthorne Lane conservation area, the scheme respects and reinforces the original urban grain of the warehouses that make up the site, without compromising the orientation of the new residential blocks, which maximise daylight and views to the Feeder Canal. Full width balconies on the south facades capitalise on the dramatic views of the canal and beyond while also providing solar shading to the accommodation. Complex flood risk issues are addressed in the landscape ensuring that a dry foot level is achieved across all residential elements. A raised public plinth provides access and views to the canal and ties into the retaining wall of the former warehouses. In addition to the new build residential elements, two Grade II listed former ‘erecting sheds’ are being reinstated and refurbished into new flexible workspace. Badly fire damaged in 2005, these sheds have been left unprotected from weathering for almost 20 years and require significant renovation works. The proposal will make full use of the generous internal volumes and work with existing openings to bring natural light into the deep floor plan. A new pedestrian route between the two sheds helps improve overall site permeability and brings the site back into public use.
