A mixed-use residential scheme located at the heart of St Albans city centre

The Civic Centre Opportunities Site

Civic Centre Opportunities Site (CCOS) South is a mixed-use residential scheme delivered to support the regeneration of St Albans city centre. The project saw the demolition of existing buildings and the redevelopment of the site to provide 93 mix-tenure residential units (33 of which are affordable accommodation) comprising a mix of one- and two-bed apartments, along with office and retail space, landscaping, public realm, access and parking.

This is one of the most ambitious developments that the council has ever undertaken and it is very exciting that we are now moving on to the construction work.

Cllr Julian Daly

Portfolio holder for commercial and development

Our architectural and landscape design team was responsible for taking existing project designs which had previously gained planning consent and developing these to achieve St Albans Council's objectives for a high-quality scheme which reflected the local vernacular. In addition, we provided sustainability consultancy to support our client, contractor Morgan Sindall, in gathering and submitting the required evidence of project sustainability to St Albans Council.

We needed to redesign and enhance the internal layout and public realm of the existing approved scheme, along with redesigning the external building treatment, while respecting the form and massing, height restrictions and residential layout in line with the planning consent given to the existing designs.

Public realm created as part of the development needed to sensitively integrate the existing Quaker Memorial Ground located to the south of the site.

We worked within the envelope of the consented scheme as far as possible. Our proposals ensured the building footprint and its relationship to public realm remained largely unaltered in our proposals, as did the overall height of the development.

Our designs created a high-quality public realm, using materials reflecting the local vernacular of St Albans and our architectural designs for the new buildings. We selected a mixture of robust surface materials and attractive soft landscaping to create strong links between all elements of the development.

An attractive new promenade was created with islands of clear stemmed trees and swathes of planting, facilitating enhanced connectivity through the site and creating an inviting gateway and social hub for the site.

Wide ranging sustainable design features were incorporated into our proposals. These comprised: high performing building fabric, air source heat pumps, efficient lighting, green and brown roofs, green wall, and sustainable urban drainage to intercept and store rainwater attenuating flows and improve water quality.