A public consultation has been launched asking for views on a new gateway residential development planned for Wilford Road, within Nottingham City Centre ‘Southside’.
Jensco (Wilford Road) Limited, part of the Jensco Group, is proposing to build a development of purpose-built student accommodation on a cleared and underutilised site on the corner of Wilford Road and Traffic Street. The development of the site will further contribute towards the regeneration of the Southside, connecting the City Centre with the Meadows.
The development, designed by Nottingham based architects CPMG, would provide a mix of studio apartments and clustered bedrooms around a shared kitchen and lounge, for up to 356 students.
Designed as two blocks, both using brick palettes, the style is indicative of Nottingham’s industrial past, contributing towards reinstating Traffic Street’s historic frontage whilst providing a landmark to the Southside regeneration area.
Both Traffic Street and Wilford Road will benefit from attractive frontages and a vastly improved, upgraded public realm. A public arrival plaza will link to a community café, creating a vibrant and safe space, as well as connectivity between a central courtyard fronting Traffic Street.
The development will vary in height from six storeys up to twenty storeys. The elegant, taller elements will be set back from the Traffic Street and Wilford Road frontages, helping the buildings to blend with their surroundings.
Sustainability is at the core of the scheme, contributing towards Nottingham’s aspiration to become carbon neutral by 2028, through a careful choice of materials and the inclusion of modern highly sustainable features. The development is designed to enhance and support wildlife and ecology, helping to improve CO2 balance with the planting of wildlife-friendly native species and the re-introduction of nature to the built environment. This will include bird boxes, as well as planting beds for on-site food growing.
The location has a fascinating, varied history. It was once an area used for growing crocuses to harvest saffron, with which the developer hopes to re-establish this connection by planting a number of native crocus species.
The unattractive and overgrown brownfield site has remained vacant for over fourteen years. Several new developments along Traffic Street, including the soon to be completed Ten Traffic Street also by Jensco, are a sign of Nottingham’s growing pace of regeneration, providing jobs and high-quality student accommodation.
The ‘Southern Gateway’ is quickly becoming an established area within the City Centre that benefits from excellent transport links — with the train station, tram and City Link bus service all easily accessible on foot. Walking and cycle routes are also a key benefit.
Three Wilford Road is a stone’s throw from the newly proposed University of Nottingham Campus at Castle Meadow and will help to address the evidential need by Nottingham City Council to provide more high-quality student accommodation in the right locations, which in turn helps to redress the balance of houses in multiple occupation (HMO’s) being occupied by students.
Nigel Bobroff, Director at Jensco Group, commented:
“Jensco Group is passionate about creating great places to live in Nottingham
and has a strong track record for bringing forward attractive, sustainable
developments on strategic sites in the East Midlands, including our latest
development at Ten Traffic Street, to be completed during 2022.”
“Three Wilford Road will be a high-quality and sensitively designed, car-free, purpose-built student housing development in the heart of Nottingham Southside, with 24-hour a day on-site management, vastly improved public realm and fantastic transport links to both universities.”
“Nottingham is seeing continued growth at both universities and with 64,000 students, there remains about 30,000 students unable to access purpose-built accommodation, with close to 20,000 students living in houses that could provide homes for local families”.
“As with our Traffic Street development, Jensco will continue to work with local firms, the local supply chain and local labour to deliver the development, bringing significant economic benefits to Nottingham both during and after construction”.
The public consultation is online. More details of the scheme and images can be viewed at:
http://www.planningconsultationonline.co.uk/three-wilford-road
