The Bournemouth Development Company is a partnership between BCP Council (formerly Bournemouth Borough Council) and Morgan Sindall Investments, to deliver regeneration across Bournemouth town centre through developing underused council-owned surface car parks. Terence O’Rourke has supported numerous award winning projects including the Citrus residential development, Madeira Road Arts University student accommodation and public car park, and Berry Court Private Rented Sector development and public car park.
Terence O’Rourke acted as architect and town planning consultant for the St Stephen’s Road car park project. The site was allocated for residential / employment use, subject to respecting the adjacent Grade I listed St Stephen’s Church and conservation areas, as well as retaining important boundary vegetation, including numerous TPOs and a veteran tree.
The practice led a sensitive multi-disciplinary design response, involving detailed site assessments and testing development scenarios to assess impacts. The process included detailed discussions with Historic England, the council’s conservation and tree officers and the Rector of St Stephen’s Church. Public exhibition material and visualisations were prepared to illustrate a sensitive and high quality ‘background’ residential development concept.
The outcome was the creation of a high quality development comprising two residential flat blocks providing 46 PRS apartments that will attract young people into the town. The development fully respects its sensitive setting, retains the majority of trees and provides landscape enhancement.
