Here Robert Knight explains Igloo’s approach to design for Somerleyton Road development

When we spoke to local residents and businesses about the redevelopment of Somerleyton Road some people were concerned that a ‘shiny new development’ would be built that would have no relationship with the surrounding area or the communities living there.

We need to make sure this doesn’t happen so we will approach the design of the new buildings in a different way.

We believe that the best places are made when you select the best architects for each building and public space. Therefore, we have drawn up a long list of architectural and landscape practices, including a number of local ones, who we believe have the qualities necessary to deliver the type of street that people want to see.

Igloo, on behalf of the partnership, will speak to this long list of practices. We’ll assess each one in terms of their quality of design, their capacity and proposed design team, as well as any specialisms they may have (such as theatre design and heritage).

We’ll then recommend four to five practices that we think are the best fit for Somerleyton Road and could work together to create buildings that will reflect the neighbourhood and local community.

To make sure the individual building do work together, lead architects Metropolitan Workshop will coordinate the work. This will include making sure landscaping and building services work across the whole development. Igloo will be speaking to the practices soon and the project steering group hopes to announce the final list of architects in August 2014.

In the meantime we’ll also be making sure we understand all the technical and engineering constraints of the site so we can brief the architects.