Pearce Street Housing Govan, Southwest Glasgow residential building development, Architect

Pearce Street Housing, Glasgow : Govan Building

Residential Building in Strathclyde, Scotland property design by Austin Smith Lord Architects

29 Oct 2010

Architects: Austin Smith Lord

Date built: 2010

Location: southwest of city centre

Govan Housing

Photos by Keith Hunter

Pearce Street Housing, Govan, Glasgow

Bield Housing Association (now Bield Housing & Care) specialises in providing homes for the elderly in Scotland. They had acquired a small tight site in the historic core of Govan, a site surrounded by A-listed buildings but adjacent to the site of now demolished former ship building yards. The height of the adjacent listed building limited development to seven storeys and required very compact economical planning to accommodate the brief for 27 flats with 69 bed spaces.

The apartments occupy a whole footprint of the site up to the ownership boundary. Consequently the North and West elevations which front the street are the only elevations where habitable rooms could be located. This is to their advantage however, as all rooms are afforded stunning views across the Clyde.

The common areas, stairs, lifts and circulation spaces are on the South elevation where windows have been recessed back from the boundary to allow extensive sun penetration into small space sitting areas. Open space is provided in a south facing logia positioned over the central boiler plant.

Using a brick similar to the common brick of the back courts and Govan’s industrial heritage, the design expresses it’s structural grid. The plain cubic brick volume and geometric simplicity provides a subtle counterpoint to the eclectic mix of styles of the surrounding 19th century architecture.