How We Built Britain

What are your thoughts on the redevelopments around Ipswich Waterfront?

jacquesgirl97
having been living on griffin wharf for nearly a year id like to know whats going on regarding finishing it off, building work has stopped and no sign of anything getting finished??? wot happened to the riverside apartments, shops and hotel?? recession or not plans had been made which attracted us to living there but tho the area is lovely it was set to be fab when finished so when will building work commence again??

Nathan
I beleieve the council has made the right choice in trying to build a better Ipswich.We have been left behind for years in terms of development and these projects will have a massive impact on the town as a whole.Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk after all and needs to constantly evolve and improve to keep pace with competitors.I do agree some of the buildings are a little conservative but i love the ucs building and cant wait for the mill to be finished.Lets be brave and build even higher.Developments like this can really help put us on the map and i for one am excited about the future.When the uni is up and running we'll have a huge influx of students bringing more life to the town.I do feel that the dock area and town centre need to be linked with easier access for pedestrians.Go Ipswich-next stop city status.

John
I think that the redevelopment of the waterfront was a significant opportunity and anyone involved in developments development of this nature, that clear redundant industrial areas and brings them back into use should be congratulated. However you only have to drive through Ipswich to consider that there will be no social cohesion and that the overall result is a collection of disparate speculative ventures designed to deliver maximum profit as opposed to a lasting legacy for residents of Ipswich and the region. It is difficult to understand where the market for the number and size of these properties exists. Developments of this scale should be subjected to a far more rigourous process of evalauation and analysis.

jacquesgirl97
i think the redevelopment at griffin wharf is fantastic, making a disused area into a nicer place for people to use onces its finished, providing jobs for people, and affordable housing for those that need it, its certainly made the idea of living in ipswich much more appealing to us as a family, and can only push other house prices up and adding to the economy of ipswich even more,it seems more of a up n coming place to choose to live.

Eddie the spark
I popped my head into the new Morgans bar on regatta quay.It isnt open till august and i think they will call the bar the waterfront.But it looks fantastic so dont be to negative...Pizza express and pitcher and Piano in September.It cant be that bad guys.....

Stuart
Never mind the flats, have you seen the new university building on the waterfront? i'd take blocks of flats anyday!

judith
The flats actually on the waterfront are modern, imaginative and most have style. The flats built beyond that mostly look "cheap and nasty"

Greg
Where ibc could make a name for themselves is to build a footbridge from the stoke side to Regatta quay.There could be carparks over at Stoke which would help with the traffic on the oneway system.An oppertunity to do somthing special possibly a smaller version of the bridge between St Pauls and the new modern tate.As for some of the other negative comments I totally disagree.Embrace the changes and stop being cynical or stop being typical Ipswich.

Dan
I am a first time buyer livin happily in the waterfront development, traffic isnt a problem cause im going in wen everyones trying to get out. Ips is a dream drive compared to colchester. The development has its pros and cons, I do think bycycle parking should be included for every new flat. Which it is not

Tommo
The flats in Whersted Road look as if they have had aluminium cans stuck on them. If these are architect designed then, we need to start asking what training our architect get, if they come up with such eyesores.

john james
The ugliest building in Ipswich must be the appalling EADT offices-they should be demolished and replaced with something more tasteful and fitting to that area ( which adjoins the docks redevelopment).

Alan D
I see the planners dilemma social housing block can cause ghettos in later life but to go for higher priced market (second homes or wealth commuters) is also wrong in the next few years the government is asking us to house migrants at the rate suggested 40% of all new homes built should be for migrants that’s a major increase in our already stretched house building program. The waterfront development does nothing to address this problem although if the keep building these not so elegant blocks may be these will help in the future as they degrade to house this influx

Peter Turtill
I am very concerned now about the development around the port. We have seen the Northern Rock situation and several big banks have massive write downs. What happens if a bank or/and an insurance company funding these developments goes bust halfway through the development?

Val, Stowupland
I think its a ghetto in the making, it will be interesting to see what it looks like in 2028!

Alan
Scott thinks a Northen Bypass would help alot, it may help Ipswich for a short while but it won't help the porr villages along and near the route.If we could get the HGV's off the roads and their loads back on the trains then that would help alot!

steve landt
How many of these flats are built for Ipswich folk, look to me as if it's just another yuppie overspill for London

Paul
The Ipswich waterfront development is welcome considering the mess that was there before. However I do agree that it would have been nice to see a more coordinated and imaginaative approach to the overall design.The biggest problem with building all these new "luxury" flats (why is every new build "luxury") is who is going to buy them? The flats on the waterfront are on sale for considerable amounts of money - more than many people living in Ipswich can possibly afford. This means they will be solf to second home owners - possible for weekend use. making the over benefit to the local economy considerably lower than was probably originally expected.

Gilly
I think Ipswich has missed a golden opportunity to do something really imaginative and innovative with the Docks area. Unfortunately I am concerned about how these buildings will weather and I do agree with other contributors that there is a distinct lack of imagination in the designs. So I agree with both Callen and Will - it is the way forward but it is too bland!

CALLEN [The Voice]
Its not often you get a large central prime area for redevelopment and its a great opportunity to showcase your town/community. Its important to plan carfully and construct buildings of character that not only reflect our heritage/area but ones we can all be proud of. Sadly I think the opportunities been wasted and we are seeing bland square tall accommodation blocks that can be found in any industrial city up north and that will look scruffy in a few years time. Maybe its financial reasons dictating design? its a pity our local planning dept havent thought more about character and environment! CALLEN [The Voice]

Will
I feel this is a new way forward for Ipswich by improving the derelict waterfront and providing more homes for people. The idea of developing the riverside is a great idea in my point of view!

Peter Turtill
I can see tears here. Folks are being sold property without being informed.The dock has twin lane road running along it and sooner or later that has to be restored. I have read through the Ipswich Dock Acts from 1837 to date and I am satisfied there is a 30 foot wide road all around the dock and a 40 foot wide road each side of the New Cut. These roads were in use before the developers moved in and I expect they will be brought back into use as soon as they have sold up and left.

Scott
John Fish - why so cynical?... How do you know they've got it wrong?... Only time will tell (and don't start quoting greyfrairs and the like, because every town has one and every town has learned from that! - hence the phrase 'mixed-development' to make sure it has every chance of appealing to a wide variety of people and suceeding). Nobody says its going to be easy or a quick fix... there will be things that work and don't work, but so far, so good actually! AS for the gridlocks, well, the council are working on changing people's mindsets to get them out of their cars. The waterfront is near to the station and town, which helps and what's more will have loads of shops and services of its own. There were gridlocks long before the new developments arrived, usually down to some crash or other... Ips council has fought to get new roads, particularly the Northern Bypass, which would help a lot, but Suffolk County (who dealt with roads) never took it forward... Now the Council has Unitary status, this is the sort of thing they will be able to fight for... Again, as I said in my comment below, lets see what happens and stop being so negative about everything... What would you have preferred a load of derelict, crumbling buildings that act as a magnate for crime and anti-social behaviour and become a blight on the town? - thought not! The redevlopment is a great thing and something everybody should get behind and above all enjoy! its not being done to annoy you.. its being done to improve the place you live!

John Fish
I feel that Ipswich will yet regret the number of apartments being built. No new infrastructure is being added to the town and we are already being treated to grid locks. Within a few years there will be a multitude of ill maintained blocks of flats surounded by an untidy mess. Sorry Ipswich this one you have got wrong!

Scott
I think the whole thing is brilliant! Ok so one or two of the buildings are dull or uninspiring and a couple are ugly, but in the context of the finished waterfront, when most of the development is completed they will take on a different dynamic and wont 'stick out' as much. Neptune Marina and Orwell Quay are great, but their prominence at the moment is based on the fact there are no other buildings around them to give them context.The best is still to come with Regatta quay, Cranfields,St Peter's Port, the BOCM site and several more large developments which look great. I live in London and there's some dog-awful developments here too! The Triangle East and West Buildings next the the Emirates Stadium are a disgrace, cheap and nasty and surrounded by a batch of 'box' flats not dismilar to those in Ips. My point being, there is a tendency to feel like its 'only ipswich' or 'ipswich has to make do' but even in London developers build insipid designs. It comes with trying to squeeze every bit of profit of a project... And you can't blame Ipswich fro suffering the dame fate... Look for example at the old GM building, or the Burtons factory - these are stand-outs so far and I'm sure there'll be plenty more.Like the curve on the uni building, worried the cladding could look a bit dated tho, but we'll see.Remember, its only about 20% complete at the moment, which is a bit like watching 20 random mins from a film, with no sound and no continuty. I think the Waterfront is going to be an ace place to live and visit and study. It will be something to be proud of, it's just going to take a couple more years for it to feel a little more 'complete'.

Chris Drouin
The quality of build to parts of the Waterfront development apartment development is poor. The Council would like Ipswich people to visit this area in greater numbers but seeing tower block after tower block is hardly incentive is it?Just where are the public attractions, if any, going to be?

Terence H. Yates
If these are rubbish, and they are. You have not seen nothing yet. Those being built along Ranleagh Rd only need washing lines strung between them to resemble the the pre W.W.2 back to back housing

Roy
Ipswich flats are ugly and unimaginative; the local council seem bent on creating a commuter town for London whilst destroying the quaint character of our town. The dock area in particular epitomises the lack of foresight by creating an uninteresting high rent area.

Ken
It's good that Ipswich, like many other towns and cities across the uk, is seeing lots of development, however there is a distinct lack of social housing. Local people will also see themselves priced out of the market and I think that all these developments will turn into St Francis Court of old, where prices will plummet and become ghettos of the new millenium!

John Fish
In a very short while Ipswich will rue the day they have given the go-ahead for the huge number of flats being built. Is any improvement being made to the town's facilities, infrastructure and traffic flow? Definitely a case of watch this space, that is if it isn't already built on!

s byrne
Todays new homes - but if developers are not careful they could become tomorrows slums!

Jeremy
On the whole I don't have a problem with the style of the waterfront blocks, although most of those on the eastern side of the area (off Landseer Rd) are the most attractive. It all beats the architecture of most estates of houses. I feel that generally developers are very conservative, and we therefore have a country dominated by boring brick boxes. How about more variety of colour, shape materials and and textures?

robin stubbs
Cheap and nasty sums up the style of most of these places. Compare and contrast with the wonderful Willis building in the town centre, no contest!

Laurie
Overall,poorly designed and inappropriate for the location. Many, particularly the plastic faced blocks in Wherstead Road, will look very dowdy in a few years time.

Kevin Moran
All looks awful

Nigel Lillywhite
The problem with the buildings near Stoke Bridge is the awful eyesore of the fire wrecked building so prominent in front.

Nigel Lillywhite
The Rapier Street tower is an oddity, the other blocks look like industrial units with the grey clad access towers.

Ian Sherman
It looks yuk!!

k byrne
having lived in Croydon for several years I fell very at home with the architectural"style"

Beryl Nolan
One Suffolk looking picture out of 13 is not bad. The rest could be anywhere except in Suffolk. They are real eyesores.

Mark
I think the flats along the waterfront are very attractive. Elsewhere, however, they are appalling. The area along Wherstead Road in particular will be a lasting example of planning blight. The biggest problem, however, is the utter lack of planning for supporting infrastructure. The growth in apartments is essentially tightening the noose on roads that have already strangled the effective and essential movement of traffic. One thing I don't quite understand is why the local authorities hav enot considered upgrading and reopening the rail lines that run into the Waterfront area and adjacent to Cardinal Park. Local trains could then take people easily and safely into these development areas. As it is these developments are isolated by clogged roads. A wider issue is when did Ipswich BC consult the population of Ipswich before granting the development of so many apartments without any effective consideration of the impact on transportation?

Scott Ungless
The flats are moderately pleasing to the eye from a distance, but i live in one of them, and i can say that they are not bult to a satistfying standard. It makes me think that they might fall into disrepair very quickly. My boyfriend Theo feels the same.

Matthew
The architecture in the new Ipswich 'waterfront' is certainly interesting. Personally I am not a fan of the designs and wonder what they will look like in 10 - 15 years time when they are weathered. My impression is that they will look a little ropey. The predominantly grey colour isn't pleasing on the eye and I don't see them standing the test of time. Wherever there is a spare square inch in the town a development seems to be going up. As someone who is looking for their first house this in theory should be a good thing - however, I believe these developments should fit in with the surroundings and in my view some of the new properties look cheap and not terribly attractive.

Jack
Am more concerned about the DREADFUL UCS building to go on the Quayside !!