Masterplanning

Buildings that people like to look at and love to useButtress is one of the most diverse architectural practices in the AJ100, We’re a multi-faceted community

of specialists. Experts, not egos. Team players with all the skills you need, in house.

We’re thinkers as much as makers. Believe that architecture is as much about people as buildings, and

that buildings should be shaped by their surroundings, their role and the people who’ll use them.

Our work includes the public and private sectors, the urban and the rural, the residential and commercial,

the traditional and the contemporary, and we’re internationally renowned for our exceptional skills in

heritage and conservation, and in aquaria.

Our approach is about combining the practical and the beautiful, the real and the visionary, responding

to the brief and going beyond the brief, finding different angles and perspectives.

We enjoy the unusual, the complex and the challenging. We respect the individual and we work

collectively. Giving life to buildings and award-winning buildings to clients and the community.

Ours is a start to finish service, built around quality, creativity and fresh thinking, designed to give you

what you want, even if it’s not what you asked for or expected. Good to look at. Great to use.

contact: Gvin Sorby

gsorby@buttress.net

07931 377851

address: Buttress Architects

41 Bengal St, Manchester M4 6AF

t: +44 (0)161 236 3303

www.buttress.net

Buttress Architects were appointed masterplanners for an invited developer competition on a site owned by

British Waterways adjacent to Northwich town centre. Proposals saw the creation of a waterside destination for a

mixed scheme of retail and leisure with apartments and hotel linked to the narrow boat marina.

Northwich Marina

Part of Northwich Vision, the site, with a value of £35,000,000, is key to a wider regeneration proposal for the

county town, creating a major focus based around the leisure opportunity of the waterways and expanding the

residential town centre living offer.

Set within a flood zone and over old salt workings, the physical and technical constraints of the site required a

terraced solution to maintain a line of flood defenses carefully integrated into a marina side walk with higher

level public squares surrounded by small scale retail, with bars and restaurants and residential over providing a

traffic free walkable extension to the High Street.

Lower BroughtonAs one of a small number of Housing Market Renewal

Pathfinder projects nationwide, the 195 acre site in

Lower Broughton, Salford, represents a major part of the

emerging Salford vision.

We were masterplanners for the whole development working with

Countryside Properties and Salford City Council.

The site was redeveloped following slum clearance with low density

social housing which exhibits all the problems of social, economic and

environmental under investment.

The masterplan takes all the benefits of an established community

and creates a new edge of urban mixed development linked to the

rich existing natural landscape asset with 3 miles of river frontage.

SwarcliffeIn 2002, Buttress Architects were

commissioned as masterplanners at

bid stage for the PFI led regenera-

tion of the Swarcliffe housing estate

in Leeds. The brief called for new

housing to replace approximately

470 unpopular dwellings, together

with an improved vehicular and

pedestrian circulation network.

A new North South route through the estate

was proposed and became the primary

generator of the redevelopment strategy. It

was felt that this route should read clearly as a

confident piece of new infrastructure, distinct

from the existing roads in shape, materials and

street furniture. The use of a repetitive curved

geometry was chosen to provide distinct

character, thread the route sensitively around

and between existing buildings and to provide

inherent traffic calming.

Buttress Architects were commissioned by Crosby Homes to

prepare a masterplan for the Luneside East area of Lancaster.

The natural features of the site make the area one of the most

exceptional in Lancaster:

• Adjacency to 0.5km of river frontage.

• Access to open space, parks and landscape.

• Dramatic topography providing panoramic views across the

estuary.

• Within walking distance of city centre, employment

opportunities, retail and leisure facilities.

Luneside

The plan seeks to implement the concept of diversity, which will integrate the existing infrastructure, the River

Lune, the rich history and architectural heritage, and the latent ecological framework into a new and exciting

whole, generating identity and a real sense of place.

The Luneside East masterplan will provide 330 new homes of different kinds, sizes and tenure, along with

employment in office space, services, community facilities and open space needed to make it a truly sustainable

community.

The plan will establish four distinct neighbourhoods within one new community. This community will face the

challenge of combining the best features of both the city and the suburbs. A mix of housing types will support

our goal of creating a family-friendly community for both young and established families.

Newbridge parkThe project was a collaborative partnership with Traynor O’Toole to produce a masterplan for a 270 hectare extension to

the town of Newbridge, Eire. The central focus of the project was the development of a new Gaelic Athletic Association

Stadium.

Construction of a new highway connecting the southern half of the town with the Little Connell inner relief road dictated the

format and nature of the masterplan. The new Stadium is the largest element of a central swathe of new buildings which also

contains a hotel, offices and school. North of the commercial buildings are residential developments which are a mixture of

low, middle and high value private rentals. The southern edge of this linear development is composed of a large water course

which separates the light industrial buildings from the commercial. The large body of water is a key element of the design

proposals and gives the overall scheme a dynamic yet tranquil central zone.

The pending eastern extension of Metrolink through

the Mumps area of Oldham was a significant potential

improvement in the infrastructure of the town. We were part

of the team commissioned to identify the potential effects of

this development on the eastern edge of the town centre and

create proposals that responded to these.

Our proposal creates a new extension to the town, from the

Parish Church to beyond the existing railway viaducts; and

was centered on a new green spine, whose southern and

northern edges were developed with a mix of residential,

commercial and leisure uses.

To the southern edge of the plan new light industry and

commercial buildings were developed in a linear manner

adjacent to the new Metrolink route through the town. The

proposals took great advantage of the topography of the

area to provide excellent orientation and vistas from all the

new developments either across the green spine or beyond

to the Pennines.

Oldham mumps

We were comissioned by David Wilson Homes to undertake a detailed study of

Tranmere town centre to help assess the existing housing types, infrastructure and

landscape.

From this study a strategy emerged which sought to link the area with our masterplan

proposals for Birkenhead to the north. The plan was for a revitalized docks area and

surrounding mixed use developments. A strong East West route was formed by new

development with a series of linear landscapes ad boulevards.

Tranmere; a new heart

Brunswick regenerationA significant area regeneration project to revitalise the

Brunswick area of central Manchester. As part of the

winning PFI consortium, our designs for the programme

of new build and refurbishment will provide over 500

new homes, and refurbish 653, as well as new community

facilities, an extra care unit and retail space.

Masterplanning of the estate has put people first bringing a new layer of

infrastructure to the heart of the community with open parkland and play

areas accessed by a new pedestrian friendly green boulevard through the

neighbourhood.

Hulme masterplan and regeneration We were masterplanners for the redevelopment of Hulme in Manchester, since seen as an

example of best practice and taken as precedent for many subsequent inner city regeneration

schemes.

1951High density terraced housing of poor quality but with strong community.

1991Slum clearance in the early 1970s makes way for the Hulme Crescents; 3,284 deck-access homes with capacity for over 13,000 people. The scheme gained notoriety as one of the worst public housing schemes in British history and was demolished 20 years later.

2000Our strategic masterplan sought to increase density once again in the area, reinforcing streetscapes and re-establishing neighbourhoods.

At the heart of the masterplanning strategy was an understanding of the underpinning scale and development of the

area which had been lost in the seventies. By reversing the trend and working to re-establish the neighbourhoods and

streestscapes. Our regeneration has enabled the community to both develop with new residents to the area and to

integrate new and existing harmoniously.

Within the regenerated area a number of developments were identified, with Hulme High Street central to the whole

and comprising 211 different apartments and townhouses. The design of each of the development plots contributed

to a contemporary appearance for this new sector of Hulme. Each of the buildings maintains its own distinctive

character through individual form thereby creating a strong identity and sense of place. Collective place-making is

the product of carefully considered responses to the qualities and juxtapositions of the individual sites , and how they

can contribute to a clearly recognisable neighbourhood.

This is the first phase of the Bowes Street masterplan commissioned

by Manchester City Council. The scheme saw the refurbishment

and internal remodelling of 141 existing terraced houses and the

provision of 10 new, 2 into 1 remodelled 3 and 4 bed family houses.

The second phase will entail the construction of new 3 and 4 bed

family houses all with front and rear gardens, off street car parking

and all provided to minimum Level 4 Code for Sustainable Homes.

A new public square will be provided as a focal point in the heart

of the neighbourhood. To the south of the site, new family housing

will also serve to upgrade the existing Bowes Street into an urban

boulevard to the south side of which phase 3 of the masterplan will

be developed at a later date.

Infusion; Bowes Street