Assemble completes a winter garden and public spaces at the heart of the community-led Granby Four Streets regeneration project in Liverpool

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Assemble

The completion of the Granby Winter Garden by architect Assemble and the Granby Four Streets Community Land Trust (CLT) is the latest milestone in a multifaceted project for a neglected Liverpool neighbourhood that combines physical repair of derelict buildings with the creation of new public amenities and enterprise opportunities.

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The houses in their existing condition

An indoor garden and community facilities occupy two former houses in the middle of a Victorian terrace on Cairns Street. Ten adjacent houses were renovated as affordable homes in the first phase of the project (2013-17), in which a key objective was to offer local training and employment and “nurture the resourcefulness and DIY spirit” that defines the area, says Assemble.

Pigmented encaustic tiles that line a rainwater pond in the rear yard are among several hand-made ceramic elements produced for the project by Granby Workshop

A range of bathroom tiles and door handles designed by Assemble for the houses became the first product line of Granby Workshop, an architectural ceramics company established to employ local people, whose growth received a boost when the practice won the 2015 Turner Prize for its work at Granby.

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Providing a meeting and events space and accommodation for artist residencies as well as the communal garden, the new facility is a shared space, freely accessible to local residents and the wider neighbourhood.

The floors of the two houses had collapsed, creating triple-height interiors and leaving raw brickwork exposed. Assemble worked with engineer Structure Workshop to preserve the fabric of the buildings as found. In the right-hand house, two blue steel ring beams – intended to recall Victorian palm houses – were inserted to brace the existing brick walls which now enclose the open volume of the winter garden, a triple-height room under a glazed pitched roof. It is filled with trees and seasonal planting planned in in collaboration with residents. The garden has particular symbolic significance as the community-led regeneration of the area began with street planting. A six-foot crystal chandelier that hangs from the highest point of the roof was created by the Winter Garden’s first artist-in-residence, Nina Edge.

The adjoining house accommodates a project space, common room and community kitchen on the ground floor, and a flat on the first floor which will host artist residencies and will also be available to rent, helping to cover running costs and to fund a programme of workshops, events and education.

The planting of the garden was done in collaboration with local residents, headed by community gardener Andrea Ku. Full-height trees have room to grow in the centre of the garden, and a potting and propagation space at the rear of the building serves both the garden and the wider neighbourhood.

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The new facility will be a “space from which the CLT can continue to nurture creative practice in the area, safeguarding the role of creative and collaborative community action”, says Assemble. This work includes rebuilding corner sites at the junction of Cairns and Granby Streets, adding new homes and bringing commercial life back to a high street blighted by heavy-handed top-down planning and policy decisions in the past.

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Credits

Architect
Assemble
Structural engineer
Structure Workshop
M&E consultant
Max Fordham

Horticultural consultants
Mima Taylor, Steven Perkins, Venus Nursery
Main contractor
Merco Developments