Focus on streets

Gun Wharf is a great example of how to re-establish the primacy of the street in a development. Here we look at the design of Cornwall Street as an example of one of the streets and how the street network is working in practice.

Successful streets can work in small developments

Although the Gun Wharf development is quite compact at 99 units it has created a viable and real street network. Cornwall Street as the spine of this development has the feel of a real street. It is part of a network of other streets; it is fronted by houses along its length; it provides parking space; and it leads into and out of a communal open space. As a home zone, its surface materials and the twisting course of the roadway calm the traffic without excluding it.

Public space structures the development and encourages community life

The central space at Gun Wharf helps to structure the development and supports a range of uses. The space is in good view of and near to residents’ houses and gives them a range of places to socialise, play, sit and get around without requiring intrusive signage saying how you should or should not use specific areas.

A commendably accessible public realm

This design of this development predates the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the fact that the site is sloping poses a number of challenges for accessibility, but a positive approach to inclusive design has helped to mitigate some of them. There are no designated accessible parking bays on Cornwall Street, but opportunities to park on the roadside provide easy access to the dwellings. The design of the parking has helped to reduce the number of vehicles on pavements and walkways. The use of traditional granite setts, recycled from the former streets, was considered to be too uneven to be used as a surface finish to meet the needs of people using the area, so their use was restricted to bases for the parking spaces. Visual contrast has been provided between the setts and the adjacent walking are to assist blind and partially sighted people using the space.

Access from the sloping street to the houses has been helped by providing landings with steps at one end and gentle ramps at the other, providing level access. The paving and steps are well constructed, and hand rails have been provided at both the stepped and ramped access points. However, there is a lack of visual contrast between the steps, paving and hand rail. Also, the drainage gutter may present a hazard to people with visual impairments.

The public space on Cornwall Street is a good example of space designed for most people. It provides a level area in the centre of the sloping site. There is access by steps with handrails, and well-designed slopes lead to level spaces. Popular as a children’s play area, it is much more versatile than traditional grassed spaces. There is clear visual contrast between the white seating and the grass borders to assist blind and partially sighted people. Also there is plenty of space for seating, and wheelchairs and children’s buggies can be placed on the level areas at the perimeter of the seating.

Some other parts of Gun Wharf are less successful as inclusive design. In one case, for example some of the bollards are not easily distinguishable against the grey wall and similarly coloured handrails, and so present trip hazards. The handrails have little practical value as inclusive design, being too high to reach easily from a wheelchair.

Residents with disabilities were involved in the design of their own homes (situated at the top of Cornwall Street), so that they would meet their individual needs although it is not clear that residents with disabilities contributed to the design process of the wider streetscape.

Good design features were not delivered in practice

The overall development has been designed on what its architects describe as orthodox urban design principles: fronts of buildings face streets, while the backs are inaccessible. That is the theory. In execution it has turned out somewhat differently with a number of features that have increased its vulnerability from crime. Specifically a number of access routes have emerged to the rear of properties particularly in the design, implementation and management of the single parking court. The gate to the parking court is left permanently open, as its banging disturbed an adjoining resident; and an opening in the wall dividing the court from the street is large enough for an intruder to climb through. Also a long poorly protected back alley on the south side of the site has allowed rear access to back gardens.

The scheme was built under a design-and-build contract, meaning that the developer, rather than the original architects, did the detailed design themselves. A few of the details are disappointing. For example, the railings immediately in front of the houses (preventing passers-by coming too close) are unnecessarily obtrusive. But generally both the design and its execution are to a high standard.

See Sustainable Cities for more on improving street design and layout