Architects slammed over 'ugly' Lozells terrace housing scheme
Dec 22 2009 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail
MODERN designs for a row of terraced houses, topped with a zinc-clad box, have been slammed as ugly, cheap and looking more like a factory than family homes, by city planners.
Architects behind the plans have been sent back to the drawing board to come up with something more in keeping with a traditional Victorian inner-city street.
A Birmingham City Council design team, working for regeneration organisation Urban Living, had come up with the three-storey ‘monstrosity’ to replace a derelict Waterloo pub and two homes in Wills Street, Lozells. Resident Mohammed Nazir, who lives opposite, said: “I am not opposed to building here but this is completely out of character.
“The houses in Wills Street are 130 years old. This will stick out like a sore thumb. There are no three storey buildings in the road. This does not have a pitched roof. It’s cheap and ugly looking.”
The terrace would be one six bedroom and two five bedroom homes which are topped with a third storey zinc-clad flat silver box, set back from the second storey roof.
Council architect Kevin Spink described it as a high quality contemporary building which would raise the bar in design. He said: “The existing buildings have been vacant and derelict for many years.”
But the council’s planning committee was almost unanimous in slating the scheme. Coun Mike Sharpe (Lab, Tyburn) said: “It’s absolutely awful. Whoever designed this should have gone to Specsavers. We are creating slums for the future if we allow this.”
Coun Narinder Kooner (Lab, Handsworth Wood) added: “It looks just like a factory unit.”
Her view was echoed by Coun Paula Smith (Lib Dem, Hall Green), who pointed out that the council’s own conservation advisory panel was appalled by the design. “It is not suitable in a Victorian conservation area,” she said.
Coun Ian Ward added: “I struggle to believe that anyone could suggest this is raising the bar with design. We are in danger of repeating the mistakes of the 1960s.”
Only Coun Bob Beauchamp (Cons, Erdington) liked the scheme. “The buildings are set back and the gardens are bigger.
“The pub and houses there now are in dreadful condition. There are many infill properties in the Lozells area like this,” he said.
The committee decided to defer a decision on the planning application and told Urban Living architects to come back with a new design.
