If there are visitors to and residents of, Swindon who don’t know where the old Great Western Railway Carriage Works are, they will soon be much more enlightened.
Swindon Borough Council has given itself permission to attach 22 signs to the listed late Victorian buildings, to let people know exactly what the huge stone-built wall running the length of London and Bristol Streets in the Railway Village was, and is.
The signs will be attached not only to the more coon view of the building from the street but also the back, facing the railway line, ensuring that even passengers just passing through on a train are made aware of the heritage building they’re looking at.
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The application shows the signs would be a circle of steel mesh as a background with stainless steel letters. The largest element with a huge C with a smaller W which then extends into two tick marks.
Underneath the logo are the words 'Carriage Works' and beneath those words, slightly smaller, the word 'Swindon'.
The application says the design is intended to not detract from the historic and listed wall: “Use of architectural mesh holds signage clear of the building’s façade, transparent mesh allows visibility of building facade and mean a reduced quantity of fixing points into face of building.”
The document says the design is both modern, and calls back to the historic GWR script and design: “The primary language for the range comes from exploring how a circle, when placed with a rectilinear construct, will create playful energy and contemporary tension. The reference for this approach is much taken from the Great Western Railway brand and architectural heritage.”
Steel mesh and lettering will be used because they are: “Long-lasting, self-finished and low wastage, informing an inherently beautiful and sustainable material strategy.
“Materials are also selected to help demonstrate harmony between old and new. Likewise, material treatment and processes consider complementary historic and contemporary techniques.”
The redevelopment of the Carriage Works, which were empty and not in a very good condition for decades has been a notable success for Swindon Borough Council.
It began in 2018 with the creation of the Work Shed in one unit, which is a facility for new start-ups and small businesses, particularly digital and online companies.
Since then The Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester has set up its cultural heritage institute in another part of the complex quickly followed by the iCAST ‘blue skies’ green technologies unit, a collaboration between Bath and Oxford Universities, and more recently new premises for Create Studios, a digital training and communications organisation.
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