Rapier Street

Employers Agent: E.C Harris
Structural Engineer: MLM Structural Engineers
Energy Assessors: JSH Engineers

This project is an example of how a large, high profile housing scheme can affect the perception of a town. The former Ransomes Rapier heavy engineering works site south of the town centre of Ipswich had a history of producing heavy machinery dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century. The works were part of the town’s industrial heritage and when the site was summarily closed by Robert Maxwell in 1987 shock waves were felt throughout the working population not least because the loss of a major engineering works signalled a change in the local economy.

Ipswich had always prided itself on its manufacturing based economy and the closure of the Ransomes Rapier site recognised the migration of heavy industry to other towns and other countries. After the closure, the Ransomes Rapier site lay vacant into the 21st century and was a reminder to anyone who visited Ipswich that heavy industry in the town had been overtaken by the global economy.

In 2003 Barefoot & Gilles was appointed by a large regional firm of building contractors, R. G. Carter, to find a site for a new headquarters and a 3.5 acre site close to the town centre with good access to the A14 seemed to present very suitable opportunity. Carters soon recognised, however, that the site would be more suitable for residential use and, encouraged by Ipswich Borough Council and in partnership with Shaftesbury Housing Group, changed our brief to residential development.

We were tasked with creating a striking, high quality residential development which would signify the regeneration of the town. Ipswich is no longer a manufacturing town but is now a centre for 21st century business activity. The proximity of the site to the town centre, the railway station and the A14 means that the development provides a base for a new type of work force.

The Rapier Street development comprises 140 Flats and 40 houses with a range of tenures providing affordable rented, shared ownership and open market housing. The striking design of the frontage to the main access route into the town announces to visitors a new confidence in the town’s future.

The layout is based on Home Zone principles where vehicles and pedestrians share public open space and as one of the first of its kind in the country is featured as a Case Study in Institute of Highway Incorporated Engineers Homezones website as a Designated HomeZone.

Construction is of good quality and the project was runner up in the Ibstock Brick Awards 2006 – Best Private Housing Development.