Hull ‘Living With Water’ RIBA competition

The practice recently entered a RIBA design ideas competition, something which we haven’t done for a while, but we relished the opportunity it brought – testing our ideas, skills and professional expertise.

The competition ‘Living With Water’ was held on behalf of Hull City Council, with the brief to create a unique and distinctive urban neighbourhood balancing public space whilst achieving the development potential of a site that is at risk of flooding. Hull is built around water and the risk of flooding is high on the agenda particularly since the recent decades devastating floods, with considerable investment being made into understanding the risks and providing the right infrastructure, meaning any new development within the area requires careful thought alongside inspired design.

Our design was landscape led with areas designed to flood using SUDS system including swales, to store and stem water and featured an elevated pedestrian route through the site along with an enhanced biodiversity strategy to include water plants, supporting native and migrating wildlife.

The proposed development incorporates a mix of houses and apartments with an iconic, flagship high-rise waterfront apartment building, to define the site and utilises below plinth level parking.

Find out more about the competition here