Copper Building

A new residential apartment building set within the wider Lakeshore development.

Following on from the success of the first phase of the Lakeshore development, Ferguson Mann Architects commenced work on phase 2; ‘Copper Building’. Lying perpendicular to the fully refurbished Imperial House.

A Cor-Ten clad Imperial Tobacco factory building had previously occupied the north of the site, but had been demolished 1997-8. We felt that, without the factory building, the north edge of the site felt incomplete, so wanted to create a design for that would reference the previous building in form and language.The Copper Building is an entirely new 4-storey building that sits above the new 3-storey car park affording views over the lake and 10 acres of landscape. The building brings the parkland together, addresses the retail park beyond, and completes the approach and entrances to the existing building by integrating circulation across the site.

A key move in the design was the innovative section at top floor level, creating a dual-aspect duplex that maximizes the number of south-facing apartments delivered and offering stunning views across the lake. There is also a generosity of space on the south-facing balconies, providing the apartments with enormous floor-to-ceiling sliding glazed doors , so that the living space can be extended onto the balcony.

The 136 apartments in Copper Building brings the total number of homes at Lakeshore to 422 and the scheme completed in mid-2019.

The project won Residential Project of the Year (36 units and over) in the Michelmores Property Awards 2020. One of the judges commented, “The design of Copper Building is not only distinctive, but has taken sustainability into account. The architects have thought about how people will move around the site and the building – it’s outstanding.”

Read more about its low energy design here.