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Dundee College build to rent plan goes before planners

November 7 2017

Dundee College build to rent plan goes before planners
Keppie and Whiteburn Projects have drawn up plans to convert the former Dundee College to form 111 rental flats and 24 serviced apartments together with a café, laundry, cinema, gym and co-working spaces.

Vox Dundee will retain and enhance the existing structure through the sensitive removal of elements which inhibit development in order to provide a sustainable future for the crumbling college building.

This will entail the conversion of both east and west wings for residential use conjoined by a podium amenity space, with all other ancillary structures such as a gym hall and kitchen demolished – save for the former assembly hall which will be retained to provide an entrance canopy and event space.

In a statement Keppie wrote: “This model supports Scottish Government’s active pursuit of a private rental sector that provides good quality homes with a high standard of management. The Vox model is fundamentally sustainable: in Britain we continue to swallow green belt and expand our suburbs, in search of bigger homes, bigger gardens and ‘idealised’ communities.

“Meanwhile many of our city centres have declined. It is not enough to tell people that city living is more sustainable. To encourage people to recolonise our urban centres we need to make our cities ‘liveable’. Vox provides a prototype for development that we believe could contribute to a sustainable future for our cities.”

Existing accommodation will be stripped back to the concrete frame which will then be overclad with a thermally efficient render skin punctuated by a mesh grid of window openings and mosaic tiles.
A brick skin will encircle the base of the development
A brick skin will encircle the base of the development
Exposed concrete finishes will give a sense of materiality to interior spaces
Exposed concrete finishes will give a sense of materiality to interior spaces

2 Comments

Neil
#1 Posted by Neil on 8 Nov 2017 at 10:34 AM
Bros before foes
Stylecouncil
#2 Posted by Stylecouncil on 10 Nov 2017 at 12:14 PM
Whiteburns concept and commitment to develop this should be applauded but the architectural execution (and over reliance on branding!) is very disappointing.
What the hell is happening with the over-clad elevational arrangement, is it an error with the views?...the subtly random pattern is nauseating and now looks like a bad PFI hospital.
It’s a pity that can't just work within and express the original frame. The window/ panel/ cladding look v. confusing and clumsy, especially when you can still see the building's original structural undercarriage at the lower levels. Surely, they should just over-clad the whole thing and be done with it, columns too?

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