An outline planning application for a six-building development on Bayside Road expanding from One Bayside to Ocean Spa Plaza has been filed with Town Planning.
The development, known as Bayside Central, will have approximately 275 homes across its six shaped buildings all of which surround a piazza.
Each building is different with regards to the geometry, volume, and the height, but all have similar façade treatments and architectural features.
The site currently comprises of both Bishop Fitzgerald and Governor’s Meadow Schools, previously Bayside Comprehensive School and St. Anne’s School.
The applicant, TNG Realty (Bayside), is currently constructing a new Bishop Fitzgerald School and Governor’s Meadow School on Queensway, as part of the consideration for the purchase of the Bayside site. The agent is Stephen Orciel from ANS Project Management Limited.
The proposed redevelopment of the site aims for a complete regeneration of the area creating a mixed-use development. Which will consist of offices, retail spaces, a public square and residential units with a series of common amenity spaces such as a gym, spa, and lounge areas.
“The new urban layout will be critical in achieving the developers’ aim of creating a popular urban destination by arranging its different functions according to their different needs in terms of distribution, views, sun orientation and needs of privacy or relation with the public,” said a planning statement submitted with the application.
The statement prepared by CZA_Cino Zucchi Architetti adds that the massing, “has two other responsibilities: one in relationship with the wider landscape and the other relating to the formation of new collective spaces for the city.”
“The attention to these two features will give its design an added value and a deeper integration with the surroundings, making the new Bayside Central a prime location for living, working, shopping and dining and thereby becoming a new hub in Gibraltar, contributing to Gibraltar’s fast evolution as prima destination,” it added.
In designing Bayside Central the distance between Archbishop Amigo House and the new buildings had been increased by 4m when compared to the minimum distance required by the local regulation. This the developer said was done to further mitigate the impact of the new buildings towards the existing ones.
In addition, a 10m setback from Ocean Spa Plaza building has been considered in order determine a proper distance between the existing and new buildings.
A 5m set back from the plot boundary towards Bayside Road is included in the plans which aims among other things to facilitate the street crossing for the upcoming dedicated bike lanes.
The planning statement also adds: “a series of ‘cuts’ in the block perimeter respond to multiple tasks: they support a proper ventilation within the development and cross-ventilation within the building when possible. Generate multiple pedestrian connections in every direction, avoid to completely block the views from Archbishop Amigo House, while establishing wide pedestrian passages linking the existing building to the new urban scheme.”
On the greenery of the development the planning statement noted that the piazza will have a planted areas with trees and greenery. Wide continuous slightly rounded balconies are intended to house continuous planters on all the sides of the buildings. With the aim of generating layers of greenery that will embrace this new “biophilic piazza”.
“The distinctive green layers articulating the facades, will act as a statement with regards to environmental issues, determining the character of the development both from inside and outside,” said the statement.
On the piazza and public space these will be on street level and not on a raised podium, an element that featured highly in the thought process behind the design.
“A new concave and elongated piazza, with an East West orientation, will be a central point between the access to Gibraltar, the new Stadium, the World Trade Center building, Marina Bay, Ocean Village and the historical city centre,” said the planning statement.
Double sided lobby entrances for the residential blocks will allow homeowners access their apartment from the street side and the piazza side.
There will be two levels of car parking spaces under the development, accessible by a two-way ramp on St. Annes Road, which will make the street level piazza possible. There will be 463 car parking spaces, 297 motorbike spaces and 504 bicycle spaces.
Two bike parking areas have been located at the street level one towards the WTC building and a sheltered one towards Archbishop Amigo House.
A dedicated elevator/freight lift will allow bikers access to the first basement level where additional private bike parking spaces and end-of-trip facilities such as changing rooms, showers and lockers will be created.
Building A and C will be 11 floors above ground, building D will be 13 floors, building E 12 floors, both building B and F will be nine floors.
Four of these floors will connect buildings D to E and E to F. These three buildings will have the office spaces and common amenities, as well as retail and residential units. Building D will also have a spa.
Buildings A,B and C will have retail space as ground level and residential above.
There will be a mixture of sizes in accommodation of the approximate 275 apartments from studios to four bedroomed across these buildings, with various layouts on the floors.
The application has yet to be discussed by the Development and Planning Commission and is open for public consultation until Thursday, April 20.
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