St George’s Gardens

St George’s Gardens is part of a wider large scale DeTrafford Residential Manchester Gardens Masterplan Development. Comprising of two separate blocks, joined as one single building, with a total of 138 apartments over 10 floors, incorporating ground floor commercial space, car parking and communal residents’ roof top garden, overlooking Manchester City Centre. Original design Architect – OSA. CGIs by Vison One.

Date

2020

Client

DeTrafford Group

Value

£18m

As part of the commission, jmarchitects was appointed to undertake a full peer review of the original design, in preparation for delivery stage through to completion on site. Within this process we prepared a BIM model as part of working collaboratively in a BIM environment, which has been essential in ensuring full coordination with the design team aiding the construction process. St George’s Gardens emulates the style and elegance of the adjacent listed St George’s church with the external façade materials such as the Jura Limestone and brickwork deliberately chosen to complement the surrounding context. The brief was to ensure the building was sympathetic to the church, with the overall height standing no taller than the spire and the materials selected to inform the remaining phases of the DeTrafford scheme.

The design intent has paid homage to the church’s grandeur with the East facing facade reflecting the church in the chamfered glass frontage. As a result, the makeup of the building has followed suit, ensuring it is no less than this ideal. The interiors indulge mid-century decadence with accents of walnut in the apartment entrance doors, kitchen units and bathroom cabinetry. Smooth, classic herringbone flooring with a tonal blend, compliments the luxurious carpets in the bedrooms and stylish bathrooms.

Matt black sockets and ironmongery add a contemporary twist to the interiors alongside feature lighting and smart controlled heating to match today’s modern living requirements. Small elements of colour have been added to the sun-rooms and bedrooms to complement the overall contemporary feel of the apartments. Each apartment features its own private glazed sun-room and a communal roof garden, which embodies a core DeTrafford brand principle of providing innovative use of outdoor space within city centre living. Taking in the stunning views of the adjacent listed church, the ground floor commercial space will house an establishment that compliments the exceptional quality of the development.

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The Challenge

St George’s is the first building when approached from Manchester City Centre and is adjacent to a well-preserved Grade II listed Church. As such it forms the gateway to the new neighbourhood development. Due to its proximity to the church the scale and materiality had to be carefully considered. As it was originally designed as two buildings wrapped by a uniform envelope an additional challenge has been to address the one single mass as two different buildings with their respective requirements.

The Solution

Its prominent location invited an outward looking design and the building was consequently designed to maximise views over the adjacent Grade II listed church, from which its name is derived, with a mainly glass façade to its Eastern elevation and with all apartments benefitting from large windows taking advantage of the spectacular views. The building has been treated throughout as two independent blocks, joined by a unified façade, making it look like one single building.

The Outcome

The outcome is a striking design, which complements its sensitive surroundings and acts as a landmark gateway into the new neighbourhood masterplan. It provides outstanding communal facilities in a desirable location, with a high-end design and luxurious internal specification.