en.Wedoany.com Reported - The PowerGen building in Coventry, UK, may be demolished and the site redeveloped for residential use. The five-story office building, designed by Bennetts Associates and completed in 1995, originally served as the headquarters for energy company PowerGen before being acquired by its competitor E.ON and used as a regional office.
The building gained industry recognition for its early adoption of energy-efficient design principles, including solar control and passive ventilation. It received several accolades, including the RIBA National Award and the British Council of Offices Award. The project was also a milestone for Bennetts Associates, founded in 1987, leading to a series of similar low-carbon commercial projects, such as the BT headquarters in Edinburgh and the Wessex Water operations center in Bath.
E.ON has relocated to a new site in Coventry city center, and the unlisted building, located in a suburban office park, now faces demolition. Redford Developments, a residential developer in the West Midlands, has proposed replacing it with up to 100 homes. A planning application submitted to Coventry City Council last month describes the existing site as a "visually poor and underutilized commercial plot" that "offers considerable scope for redevelopment to significantly improve the character of the site."
Rab Bennetts, co-founder of Bennetts, said the loss of the building would be "very wasteful" if Redford's application is approved. It would be the first project by the firm to be demolished. "We revisited the building not long ago, and it looks great, still functioning as originally designed," Bennetts added. "It seems wasteful to demolish a building designed for long-term use, and the prospect of residential development within a mature business park seems like a strange way forward."
The master plan in the application shows the office building and its associated parking lot transformed into a community primarily of semi-detached homes, up to three stories high, with a large park at the northern corner of the site. The project team for the residential development includes environmental consultant Stantec and planning consultant Marrons. Redford Developments has been contacted for comment.
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