I think Cheltenham currently has four multi-story car parks and a new one will be coming when the recently approved North Place development becomes reality.
The Regent Arcade and Beechwood car parks are architecturally bland (as are the shopping centres they are attached to). However, the Grosvenor Terrace Car Park (for some reason not long ago re-named as Town Centre East ?!) and the Brewery Car Park on the corner of Monson Avenue and St Margarets Road are both good looking structures.
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| Grosvenor Terrace Car Park or Town Centre East or TCE |
I especially like the way this car park straddles the shops below on the angle and the contrast between the simple brick lift/stair block and the more decorative concrete car park exterior works well visually.
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| Exterior brown vertical concrete panels and blue steel corner detail. |
Despite being a functional building, it seems that plenty of thought went into the design. The potential severity of three horizontal layers has been avoided by the proliferation of thin vertical panels on all sides and the trees planted along the "ring road" edge have grown up nicely to act as a partial screen between road and car park.
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| Trees add additional colour to the view from this side (for most of the year !) |
Here is the view along the entrance side:
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| Entrance side |
and the opposite long side...
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| Side street view. |
Its not all right angles though and there is one satisfyingly rounded corner on the corner of Albion Street and the side street.
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| Curved Car Park corner. |
Further round the "ring road" you would do well to ignore the godforsaken wind tunnel that is the Brewery development and turn your eyes instead to the opposite side of the road and enjoy the much nicer multi-storey car park.
This is a great looking car park - a pleasingly low-rise structure with cream coloured rendered walls, grey steel panels and open parapet which all work together to great effect.
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| The Brewery Car Park |
On the Dunalley Street side it gets even better with a super grey steel-clad polygonal stairwell !
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| The view from Dunalley Street looking towards St Margarets Road. |
and not forgetting the fantastic black and yellow NCP logo against the pleasingly green-streaked wall.
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| NCP - Nice Car park |
That is just the outside but inside there is plenty more lovely concrete and although the ceilings are very low, it still manages not to feel too oppressive due to the light colour of the concrete and reasonable lighting. The polished concrete floor also still seems to reflects light despite a number of years of continuous wear.
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| Inside |
Still on the subject of car park interiors I thought I would finish off with a few pictures taken inside the Waitrose car park where the real interest lies in the fantastic array of suspended metal cable housings, duct pipes and fixings covering the ceiling.
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| Waitrose Car Park Ceiling, Cheltenham |
This busy looking ceiling is in marked contrast to the simplicity of Brewery Car Park but both look great in their own way!
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| The same view with some colour adjustments! |
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| and from a different angle... |
