Architect has grand designs on home city

Jun 22 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

The architect who created the £36m Trinity Gardens development on Newcastle's Quayside has strong views on the city's buildings. And as regional chairman of the Institute of Directors, his forthright opinions do not stop at bricks and mortar, writes Peter McCusker.

RICHARD Elphick’s father was a North East architect and he had felt drawn to the profession from an early age, so after completing his studies at Newcastle University, he went to work in London – but it wasn’t long before he returned.

“This is the most wonderful, diverse and attractive part of the country,” he enthuses. “We have a compact, historic and characterful city with access to the most stunning coastline and countryside, and the quality of life and opportunities the region offers are second to none.”

But the North East’s natural environment was just part of the young architect’s motivation. He also had grand designs to alter the region’s built landscape, due in part, to the horror he believed had been foisted on the region by previous generations.

“Some major projects in Newcastle were designed by London architects, for example Westgate House, Swan House and Sun Alliance House, and these are some of the worst buildings in the region.

”They were created by people who did not care about the area and simply wanted to make money out of it.

“The public authorities would always look outside the region to the big boys.

“I wanted to come back and help develop a business that would show it could compete and could provide excellence, with better design and a better service.”

That was 20 years ago, and since then Elphick has been involved, and continues to be involved, in some of the region’s major developments, with his most impressive completed project being Trinity Gardens on Newcastle’s Quayside.

This mixed-use development incorporates 13,000sq m of Grade A office space, retail, restaurants, 52 apartments and a 500-space multi-storey car park.

On the other side of the river, on Baltic Place, next to Baltic, a £20m office and regeneration project has just been completed for City & Northern.

He is also involved in mixed-use regeneration developments in Newcastle, at Pilgrim Street and the Stephenson Quarter, and at Wynyard Park he is devising a masterplan for a 700 acre, low carbon, mixed use sustainable community.

Elphick has a strong interest in conservation, he is a specialist in the preservation and conservation of the historic environment and has Life memberships of the National Trust, English Heritage, and SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings).

Elphick’s infectious pride in his achievements has not tempered his passion and drive, and he still has much to quarrel with in the way Newcastle’s cityscape has been developed since his return 20 years ago.

When I ask him what his favourite building in the city is, he eventually plumps for the Union Club on Westgate Road, now the home of a Wetherspoons pub, for its interesting, French chateau-style feel, and the Civic Centre, which he describes as a good example of 1960s architecture.

But one high-profile city landmark is curtly dismissed.

“The Centre for Life looks impersonal, it is fickle and does not offer anything of character to the public realm.”

The public realm is a subject close to Elphick’s heart and one which lies at the core of his design philosophy.

“There are some interesting buildings in Newcastle but they do not contribute to the public realm. Individuals buildings may look quite interesting, but unless they give something to the public realm at pavement level then something will always be missing to my mind.”

He cites the public square at Trinity Gardens as an example of what he means by public realm and believes that Newcastle needs its own city centre park, or parks, to add a missing ingredient.