Peninsula Barracks - TrustNews Summer 1996
It is most encouraging to see the rapid progress being made in the areas owned by Try Homes. On the St James Lane site, two blocks are complete with new owners moving in week by week, and with the further terraces forming two sides of the Beaumond coming along fast. On the Upper Parade-ground the upper floors of Long Block are being prepared for occupation this year.
On the Lower Barracks site behind Searles House and St Thomas Church, which is under different ownership, there are indications everywhere of a major internal clean-up, with water, power and sewer pipes going in. On the former Lower Parade Ground, now to be known as the Castle Green, there are signs of getting rid of the tarmac and preparing the land for landscaping. It would nice to see progress on the single storey block that makes up the third side of Beaumond, but may be we shall have to wait.
However, the Trust still has several concerns which it is monitoring closely, but at the same time confident that they will eventually be resolved.
The first worry is what has now come to be known as "The Black Tower Site", albeit that the archaeological work did not entirely confirm the position of the tower. This is the important site between the Romsey Road entrance and the Upper Parade-ground, bounded by Mons Block, the Jury Rooms, the Great Hall, Short Block and the Greenjacket Museum.
The site architect has fulfilled his brief by designing an ingeniously assembled building containing twenty 2- and 3-bedroomed flats together with parking for their cars, and room for their dustbins. However the density is such that several important views become obscured, such as the gable-end of the Great Hall and the view through from the entrance to the parade ground enhancing the importance of Short Block. The present brief diminishes the stature of the site.
We also know that the army is carrying out a feasibility study for including the site in a proposed museum complex. Sadly, the City Council has not really had the time to sit back and have a thorough assessment on what is required on this site, and what options are open. This area is the front entrance to Peninsula Barracks, arguably one of the most important developments taking place in the south of England at this time. We must not botch it!
The second worry concerns both some of the proposed materials and planting included in the landscape schemes that we have so far seen, and the draft landscape management plan which would seem not to be tight enough for the purpose for which it is intended. The maintenance of the public open space must be beyond reproach.
As always, we sincerely hope that any fears that we may have will not be realised, and that satisfactory solutions will be found. This whole development receives frequent mention in the national press - it must succeed.