Thames view - housing development at London Docklands in England

Architectural Review, The, Dec, 1998 by Penny McGuire

We must wait until summer 1999 for completion of Batson's and Regent's Wharves. The plan responds to the need to give each fiat a river view, and to the existing urban grain. The scheme stepped back from the waterfront has been split into seven separate units arranged in two rows. Waterfront buildings have been folded back into butterfly wings, the fold creating apertures in the row and giving the radially curving units at the back a view of the river. Echoes of proscenium arches and emphatic perspectives suggest the maritime theme has given way to drama.

CZWG has done much to restore a measure of self-respect to housing, a branch of architectural activity that has been clawing its way back from the pit. With time Wilkinson and Gough seem to have become more severe, less overtly outrageous, but you feel this is less from conviction and more from inclination and an immediate response to the site. As architects they are unpredictable and it should be remembered that Dundee was originally designed to be bright red. Curiously, though the sources of these buildings' designs are industrial, you cannot help thinking of Venetian palazzos competing for attention on the Grand Canal.

Architect CZWG Project architects (for Dundee and Batson's and Regent's Wharves)f Rex Wilkinson, Paul Jeffreys

Client for Dundee, Batson's/Regent's Wharves Ballymore Properties

Photographs China Wharf, Cascades: Jo Reid and John Peck Bankside: Chris Gascoigne/VIEW Dundee: Philip Bier Photography and Morley von Sternberg