Wilson Paul Award-Winning Chartered Architects In Dundee
Project / Redevelopment and adaptive re-use of former Reading Rooms (St Roques) with roof level extension.
Client / Private Developer
Description
The regeneration proposals for this building have been developed as part of a wider masterplan for the Blackscroft Area in order to act as an integrated, interlinked development creating a cohesive whole; a new cultural node to reinstate the edge condition of Blackscroft and generate a new active streetscape to Foundry Lane. In undertaking the above, a new, attractive and well-observed community route/linkage would be established between the central development areas and the Eden project. The moves suggested within the masterplan would also see the vicinity of St Roques (former reading rooms) returned to a destination area after years of neglect and dereliction, safeguarding the future of the building and reestablishing Blackscroft and Foundry Lane as an inhabited street, as was historically. The mixed-use element would allow the proposals to operate as a new city ‘micro unit’, as has been seen at a larger scale in the City Quay development.
The aim of these proposals is to reactivate the Blackscroft area, providing new affordable homes from existing decaying building stock and brownfield commercial yards. The jewel in the crown of the masterplan proposals is the regeneration of the asset that is St Roques, transformed with a new public use and thus a financially sustainable future to protect the physical fabric of the building in upcoming years, whilst acting as a fulcrum point around which a new community destination is created. Our aim is to work in collaboration with DCC Planning Department and HES to ensure a high-quality development is ensured, improving the derelict buildings and providing a betterment for the area and Dundee as a whole.
St Roques (former reading rooms)
A contemporary ‘restaurant with rooms’, staying true to the pre-existing hospitality function (allowing the reading of historical fabric to remain open to the public). The footprint and curtilage of St Roques remains unchanged, with a restoration of the existing fabric and contemporary yet sympathetic architectural intervention at roof level, designed to reflect the existing façade features and provide short term let accommodation for the commercial use below.
The design challenge presented by St Roques (also known as Reading Rooms) has been to generate proposals that seek to both consolidate the existing character and fabric of the building – preserving the key architectural features, whilst providing a balance of considered yet robust intervention works to appropriate with the nature and heritage of the site. St Roque’s is Category B Listed, being designed by Architect James Thompson. These proposals aim to provide an active asset for the City of Dundee, with an ongoing financially viable function(s) to assist in safeguarding the fabric of the building for the future. In essence, bringing St Roque’s into the 21st century with a sustainable future.
The design proposals have taken the form of a ‘light touch’ restoration and reinstatement to the existing listed facades, whilst the derelict existing roof makes way for a contemporary architectural intervention designed to be robust yet sympathetic to the character of the existing building. A new restaurant function (re-using the majority of the existing layout and recently fitted kitchen) continues the historic licensed usage and public element to the building. The new restaurant will retain the reading of the existing fabric for Dundee residents, the existing external terraced areas also remaining, helping to retain and encourage this active part of the streetscape.
The roof level intervention, taking the form of a single-storey architectural insertion, also plays a key role in ensuring the building’s financial viability for the future, whist providing a new active element to the existing streetscape. The upper level floors are defined by a minimal extension that draws detailing and fenestration references from the lower floors, matching the symmetry and window openings with high quality contemporary materials. The scale and massing of the proposals have been carefully considered relative to the pattern of development of the area and existing building stock, the upper floor levels tying in with the mill developments across the street.
