The design of Cobham Bowers with Coffey Architects

Construction is well underway at our new community, Cobham Bowers to create a stunning later living collection of 53 spacious one, and two-bedroom apartments in Cobham.

We recently caught up with Lee Marsden from Coffey Architects to find out more about their role as part of this project and the design of the building and outside spaces to expect from these new homes.

Hi Lee, can you provide an overview of the design at Cobham Bowers?

Pegasus’ ethos with a strong emphasis on community and communal living is incorporated both inside and out. We worked with Pegasus on its Moor’s Nook community and have learnt a lot from this project to bring to Cobham. Cobham Bowers consists of two separate apartment buildings. At the centre of the site and between the two buildings communal pavilion and a walled shared garden.

The community has been designed as a largely inward looking scheme to create its own community away from the bustle of Cobham. Inspiration has been taken from Painshill Park and its walled gardens and beautifully landscaped spaces. It’s these walled gardens that inspired us to create the walled garden and communal pavilion space at Cobham Bowers.

The entrance is between two buildings and together they are home to the apartments, with access to the covered pavilion, communal lounge, and shared spaces with private walled gardens from each of the apartments. The apartments are split between the two buildings with eight apartments per floor, which are split into two groups of four apartments each around a shared lobby.  The idea behind this is create little communities within the wider scheme. The gallery space and communal areas have all been designed generously to set up small moments where people can socialise and enjoy the space as well as access the apartments. The covered pavilion and private walled gardens create a level of privacy from the road behind. All of this is designed to facilitate people forming connections and new friendships.

For the material we are using traditional brick and tile for the apartments and the walled garden is lined with flints. Flint and brick is quite prevalent in the area around Cobham, for example, Painshill Hill park uses flint walls and this provided inspiration for us when designing these spaces.

Were there any challenges with the design?

This is our second scheme for Pegasus, the first being Moor’s Nook in Woking. Many of the potential problems and issues were eliminated through lessons learnt from our first project. The roof for Cobham presented a particular challenge. While the roofscape looks simple to achieve this has required a lot of collaboration between the wider team to achieve a simple elegant set of details.

The top floor apartments have incredible double top roofs so this is a slight build challenge but the experienced construction team have it all in hand.

What considerations were made to complement the existing local architecture?

Really it’s the use of flint as a material in the walls as the strong local reference. We’ve incorporated it in a contemporary way

The communal pavilion roof extends the idea of a garden landscape so homeowners and tenants look down onto a beautiful wildflower display rather than a standard roof.

What does your role as Project Director entail?

Ultimately as the lead Architect we are responsible for the design and of the project from the beginning, right from the initial sketches through to the planning and technical details. We have a project architect who does the day to day site visits but ultimately the project director is responsible for the project team and to ensure we are providing the right information and on time. I liaise with the client Development Director, Chris Powell regularly and we meet on site to discuss issues and progress. We’re also responsible for integrating the work of the interior designers, Love Interiors, into the project.

What’s your favourite feature of the design?

I love the pavilion and also the pitched open roofs on the top floor apartments, you can enjoy spectacular views over Cobham, no doubt these homes will be snapped up quickly.

It’s been great to work with Pegasus, they understand the value of quality and it’s good to work with good clients who share the same ambition.

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To book your one-to-one appointment to find out more about the new homes available and to secure your independent and social lifestyle at Pegasus Cobham Bowers, call 01932 321042 or email [email protected]