Application Submitted for Capital Interchange Way

Eye catching design would certainly act as landmark

View from the M4

An application has been submitted for Capital Interchange Way, a development that will include a new bus depot and up to 550 new homes.

The bus depot, at the ground level will provide for 55 bus standing spaces (for servicing) and 37 spaces for overnight parking. The depot will have 24 hour operations, although early morning and late evening will see the periods of peak activity.

An area of publicly accessible open space will be provided, located on the deck above the bus depot. This space is intended to be an area of relaxation for residents and workers, including a café pod and children’s play space.

The northern building will be the tallest at 20 storeys, and will include four storeys of commercial space at the lower levels. The central building and southern buildings will be 19 and 18 storeys respectively and will include solely residential dwellings with "townhouses" on the lower floors and single storey apartments above.

Internal atrium, northern building

Car parking will be provided in a lower ground basement level below the bus depot, with 247 spaces for residents, visitors and staff associated with the commercial uses and bus depot. There will also be 946 cycle parking spaces.

Private amenity space for residents will be provided on the rooftops of the three tall buildings. Further flexible office space will be provided within three commercial pod-like structures within the public open space along the southeastern edge of the Application Site.

Monitoring data from the vicinity of the site shows that annual NO2 objectives have been exceeded in recent years at roadside locations. However, results from the recent continuous monitoring within the site show that the annual NO2 objective is likely to be met at the locations representative of the closest proposed receptors to the M4 located at the northern face of the northern building.

Noise survey results from a measurement location near the elevated M4, show that typical maximum noise levels during the day and night may be up to 82 decibels (dB). Flats facing the M4 will not have external balconies but instead will have "flexible internal amenity space". Residents will have access to roof gardens on each building.

Wind tunnel testing has been undertaken to try to ensure the proposed development is suitable in terms of pedestrian safety and comfort. Two iterations of wind tunnel testing have been undertaken to feed into the design process, during which a series of wind mitigation measures have been developed which are inherent within the landscape design of the publically accessible open space. Following implementation of these measures, the proposed development, including the rooftop spaces, are deemed suitable for their intended uses both in terms of pedestrian comfort and safety.

There will be two LED advertising screens facing the M4. Both screens are 9.1m wide x 2.3m high.

The whole project would take about 3.5 years to construct with completion expected early 2021.

January 20, 2017