The redevelopment of East Walk and Southernhay in central Basildon. Basildon is one of eight ‘New Towns’ that were developed in the southeast of England after the Second World War.

Working with a developer client, Dominic McKenzie Architects have created proposals for 60 new homes on the site.

Existing

The existing buildings, the ‘site’ for the proposals, date from the early 1960s, part of the original Basildon New Town development. East Walk is a Modernist shopping arcade, two storey high and just over 100m long. It contains a variety of shops and restaurants at ground floor, with associated storage/ kitchens etc. at first floor. The existing building turns south onto Southernhay to form an L shape in plan.  The Southernhay part is single storey and just over 40m long containing a parade of 5 retail units.

East Walk

East Walk part is proposed to be retained, with a further two storeys of maisonettes constructed above it.

The proposed new portion has been carefully designed to be sympathetic to the existing East Walk building and to have an architectural coherence with it. The two additional storeys would use brown brick matching the existing building.

The new two storey additions are articulated in groups of three maisonettes, to break down the overall run of the 100+ metres in length. The groups of three are visually collected through the use of a stepping parapet detail that encloses each maisonette’s upper roof terrace, effectively creating a shared ‘crown’ or ‘hat’. A further vertical brick reveal between the groups of three reinforces this architectural grouping.

To the rear, access to the individual maisonettes would be via a shared communal walkway at second floor level. The second floor walkway itself would be accessed via the lifts from the main entrance lobby at the corner of the tower.

Southernhay – Tower

The eight storey part of the proposal would be constructed in the lighter white/grey brick and rotated 45 degrees in plan from the other parts creating a distinct corner tower.

The ground floor level would be divided into three parts with commercial / retail space either side of the central lobby which would provide access to all the flats and maisonettes within the building. This ground floor division into three parts would be architecturally identified through the white pre-cast concrete canopy, the arched shape and material of which makes reference to the original East Walk building opposite.

The tower’s upper part is divided into flats of varying sizes, with two flats facing towards the front on each floor. Thin brick piers rise up the façade accentuating the verticality of the tower. French doors with external Juliet balustrades matching those proposed for East Walk are used on most of the tower. The balconies are proposed to be set on cast stone spandrel panels made from reconstituted limestone.

Southernhay – Five Storey block

The articulation of the façade continues onto the five storey block from the tower part. The glazing to this façade would entirely comprise of French doors with external Juliet balconies, framed by slim brick piers rising vertically up the building. At fifth floor level the parapet conceals the communal roof terrace which would be open to all residents.

Greening from the planting on the communal roof terrace would add to the already mature existing trees in the square below.