Coatbridge Main Street
Location: Coatbridge, Scotland
Type: Residential, Conservation
Stage: Planning
In April 2021, North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) appointed a Design Team to examine and determine the residential development potential of a vacant site and adjacent properties bounded by Academy Street, Main Street and Church Street in Coatbridge town centre.
The development site features a number of properties in varying condition and a large gap section precipitated by a fire in March 2017. Redevelopment is required to protect this key site - along one of Coatbridge’s main arterial routes - from further decline.
The aim is to ensure the new development builds on the existing strengths of the local area, enhances the built fabric and provides the opportunity to create a successful sense of place.
The aim is to ensure the new development builds on the existing strengths of the local area, enhances the built fabric and provides the opportunity to create a successful sense of place.
Prompted by the rebalancing of existing building typologies a new strategy to provide high quality, higher density town centre housing that meets the needs and aspirations of the local community has been implemented. It is intended that the dwellings outlined in this proposal will help revitalise the existing community by providing accommodation that is fit for purpose for modern living and of a type that is desirable and in demand by local people.
The proposal utilises local, vernacular forms and a palette of materials coherent with the surrounding housing stock. In addition, the development seeks to strengthen and renew the historic context of the town through the adaptive re- use of an historic property and the sensitive insertion of new constructions appropriately scaled to their Victorian neighbours. The proposed accommodation seeks to evolve the existing historic and contemporary context, by knitting it back to a whole once more.