Influential 1990s office scheme to be replaced by housing under plans filed last month by local developer
Bennetts Associates’ influential PowerGen building in Coventry could be demolished and replaced by housing under plans submitted last month by a local developer.
Completed in 1995, the five-storey office block was built as the headquarters of energy firm PowerGen and later served as a regional office following the firm’s acquisition by E.ON.
It earned industry-wide recognition as an early adopter of energy efficient design principles including solar control and passive ventilation, winning a string of accolades including a RIBA National Award and a British Council of Offices Award.
It was also a landmark project for Bennetts, which was founded in 1987, and led to a sequence of similar low-carbon commercial projects for the practice including the BT headquarters in Edinburgh and the Wessex Water Operations Centre in Bath.
EO.N has moved to new premises in the city centre and the unlisted building, located in an office park on the outskirts of Coventry, is now facing the wrecking ball with West Midlands housebuilder Redford Developments proposing to replace the site with up to 100 homes.
A planning application submitted to Coventry council in May describes the existing site as a “visually poor and underutilised commercial plot” which provides “considerable scope for redevelopment to significantly improve the character of the site”.
But Bennetts co-founder Rab Bennetts said the loss of the building, which would be the first project by the practice to be demolished if Redford’s application is approved, would be “such a waste”.
“We revisited the building not long ago and it was looking good and still functioning exactly as originally intended,” Bennetts said, adding: “It seems such a waste of a building that was designed for the long term and the prospect of a housing development in a well-established business park seems an odd way forward.”
A masterplan included in the application shows the office building and its associated car park transformed into a neighbourhood of mostly semi-detached homes up to three storeys in height with a large park on the northern corner of the site.
The project team for the housing development includes environmental consultant Stantec and planning consultant Marrons.
Redford Developments has been contacted for comment.
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