North Gate

A new landmark gateway to the Gorbals

North gate is the latest in a series of Page\Park designed residential buildings within the Gorbals. The design transforms vacant brownfield land with a new city landmark and completes the Gorbals masterplan. It contains 31 units, comprising of 1 and 2 bed flats for 100% social rent. Designed to suit the needs of primarily older residents, the internal layouts are open plan and exceed the ‘Glasgow Standard’ of housing. Design features include large internal storage, wide corridors to assist movement for residents, step free access throughout and level access showers.

Conceived as a series of towers, the building splays out to maximise the potential compact site area. This ensures all flats are either duel or triple aspect, providing great natural light internally and considerable views across the city. To promote healthy independent living, the residents have access to a communal social facility via a living-well service. This allows tenants to remain socially interconnected. Spaces include a games room, communal kitchen, lounge area, landscaped garden area and patio.

The Crown Street Regeneration Project was set up in the early 1990s to regenerate a 40-acre site in the heart of Glasgow’s Gorbals area. The North Gate site was the final piece of the puzzle. Our brief for North Gate therefore invited the architect to create a gateway building and beacon to its surroundings, befitting its prominent location. This brief might be summarised as ‘set a crown on Crown Street’. The challenge was to achieve this while creating socially uplifting flats that become life-enhancing homes for our tenants and remaining in sight of the budgets imposed by the social housing grant funding regime.”

Simon Metcalfe
Development Officer, New Gorbals Housing Association

Materials

It was important to keep the material palette simple with clean restrained details. This allowed the sculptural shape to be the principal design characteristic, while remaining cost effective. The inverted roof structure is concealed with a continuous parapet wall. This hides services and maintains a clean edge profile against the skyline. The use of brick internally creates a robust facing to the common areas, protecting against any surface damage that could be done through general use.

Windows are aluminium-clad timber and with powder-coated Juliette balconies externally. The tall proportions maximise natural light and views. The largest windows are predominantly established on the North elevation to give the building a clear frontage as seen from the city centre. Full balconies are embedded into the front elevation to utilise the depth of the façade.

The construction consists of a primary steel frame structure, in- situ concrete floors, with masonry walls and powder-coated metalwork. We specified the brick for its tonal variation and soft edges, which evoke associations with blonde sandstone facades seen throughout Glasgow. Brick soffits and deep brick reveals are used to create a solid high-quality aesthetic.

Interiors

Our interior design ethos was to create a unified building aesthetic, with consistent materials used both inside and out. Brick walls within the common areas provide decent protection form damage, while the light colour tone reflects daylight inside. Timber window frames compliment the buff brick colour. Neutral grey tiles are used within the common areas for ease of cleaning. The hard surface provides longevity of use. Corridor widths are generous to accommodate two passing wheelchairs, while also allowing tenants to stop and chat without becoming an obstacle to those passing through.