Situated on Alfreton Road close to Nottingham city centre, the site falls within the Gamble St. Conservation Area.
The project is primarily a 790 bed PBSA development split across 3 blocks. Student accommdation is provided across a mix of cluster apartment and studio bedrooms. The scheme also takes advantage of site levels and landscaping to provide unique studios with front door access and a private terrace.
The lower floors are activated through student amenity spaces and a double height commercial unit.
To the south west of the site, separated by the existing Thackeray Street, the proposals include 19no. 3 storey 3 bedroom affordable houses, each with a private driveway and garden.
The site has a steep topography, with a fall of almost 9 metres from one side to the other. The proposals seek to use this natural fall to step the buildings from the high point on Alfreton Road, the site of the old Forest Mill offices, down to the more domestic scale on Denman Street East. This height variation from 4 to 9 storeys helps to stitch the proposals in to the local context.
The spaces between the buildings form a chain of high quality landscaped amenity spaces, linking the different entrances and providing external breakout spaces and a padel court.
The landscaping continues to provide activation to all street frontages through private terraces, front door bedrooms and landscaped courtyards.T he PBSA buildings utilise a brick slip cladding system to create deep red brick reveals and additional detailing to the entrances, with the same system utilised to form glazed tile feature panels.
The upper floors are set back and articulated from the red brick levels with standing seam aluminium rainscreen cladding, this system is also used to screen the rooftop air source heat pumps.
‘It’s been a pleasure as always working with Hodder and Partners on this one, who have been stunning throughout.’
Richard Goodwin
Construction Director, Olympian Homes