Festival Square is a modern piazza in the West End of Edinburgh, lying on the western side of Lothian Road opposite the Usher Hall. The square was laid out in 1984 and the Sheraton Hotel occupies the west side of the square, with the offices in Capital House to the north and Clydesdale Bank Plaza / The Exchange to the south. Festival Square occupies the site of the good sheds which formed part of the former Princes Street Railway Station, which closed in 1965.

Sir Terry Farrell used Festival Square as a key anchor for the development of his Edinburgh District Masterplan.

Project Partners
Landscape Architects: Ian White Associates
Engineering Consultant: Arup

Two drafts and a press cutting file.

This project dates from 2003-2010 and consists of distinct project phases relating to the scheme to redevelop land north and south of Royal Street close to St Thomas' Hospital proposed by the Terry Farrell Partnership. This involved designing a series of residential towers on derelict land. Lambeth Council originally rejected the designed proposals for Founder's Place in 2006. The original rejection focused on listed buildings within the proposed project area and the status of some protected trees, along with the availability of sunlight for existing residents, and some objections from local community groups. After a public inquiry the scheme was approved in 2007. The scheme was designed to provide a range of affordable and private housing and health facilities. This included key worker accommodation and accommodation for families of sick children being treated at the Evelina Children's Hospital. A scaled down application focusing on Canterbury House and Ronald McDonald House was submitted in 2009. However, in 2010 Guy's and St Thomas' Charity conducted a financial and general risk appraisal and withdrew support for the scheme.

Material contains project codes FOUND2 or FOUND3 and relates to earlier or later project application submissions.

Construction Partners:
Heritage Assessment: W H H Van Sickle
Main Contractor: Taylor Woodrow
Engineers: WSP
Surveyor: Gordon Ingram Associates

In September 1992 SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals issued a brief for the design of a research and development complex in Great Burgh in Epsom, Surrey. The brief was to provide a new headquarters building incorporating efficient flexible space as a comfortable working environment for non-laboratory functions, with servicing capacity to cope with increased IT use in the future. The programme required project completion by December 1994. In January 1993 a development strategy for the complex was agreed with Terry Farrell and Company and instructions were given to proceed with the design. Key features of the design included a restablishment of entranceways, full historic building frontage and covered pedestrian walkways. These produced an aesthtically pleasing conference environment space.

The focus of the design was the Neo/Georgian Great Burgh House, initially built in 1912/1913. The site was a composite of a large variety of buildings including laboratories, administration offices, stores and leisure facilities, developed over a period of time and in a piecemeal manner. The buildings were set within substantial areas of established landscaped grounds and trees, part of which was designated and Urban Open Land Area by the Local Planning Authority.

Construction Partners:
Engineers: Arup
Landscape Architect: Townsend

The Green Building was an environmentally conscious mixed-use development situated in the Southern Gateway area of Manchester City Centre, England. The Green Building was designed by Terry Farrell and Partners who aimed to create a sustainable environment on an unusual triangular plot, adjacent to Oxford Road national rail station. The building was constructed by Taylor Woodrow as part of the Macintosh Village development, which took its name as the birthplace site of the Mackintosh raincoat.

The building consisted of 32 apartment units built in a 10-storey drum placed centrally above a 2-storey base containing a 120-place nursery and a medical centre. The lower section is a wedge-shaped plinth following the triangular alignment of New Wakefield Street and River Street, with the long sides of the plinth punctured by a series of brightly coloured windows set within the blue brick base.

Ecological features included a roof-mounted wind generator, solar panels, an atrium-based natural ventilation system, materials selected on the basis of low-embodied energy and various water conservation measures.

Construction Partners:
Main Contractor: Taylor Woodrow

Farrell’s masterplan was based on the view that the site has the potential to provide a full range of uses and remain compatible with Greenwich planning policies. The plan envisaged a hierarchy of public space ascending from the local square, the central park, to the park corridor. Farrell's envisaged Greenwich as being a mixed use, densely populated and mixed use area, incorporating high-density housing with some working space, integrated transport and good local facilities.

Farrell's appears to have had ad-hoc involvement in the masterplanning phase, but a formal position as Greenwich masterplanner was not fully realised between 2000-2004. Material present in the archive indicates that planning permission was obtained in March 2004, but it is unclear how far the masterplan developed from this point.

The Guangzhou Station project was a competition winning scheme designed by Terry Farrell Partnership / Farrells Ltd in collaboration with The Fourth Railway Survey & Design Institute, and the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design.

The design’s primary brief was to connect the districts of Guangzhou and Foshan to either side of the station, and the opportunity to create a ‘garden station’ which could act as a catalyst for an entirely new urban area. The masterplan addressed both districts with the creation of two landscaped urban plazas constituting the entrances to the station, with the tracks elevated to allow free pedestrian access through the landscaped arrival concourse. Another important primary driver behind the design was the desire to keep the space as column free as possible.

In addition to its train services, the station was intended as a significant interchange to other modes of transport, including taxi, car, metro and bus. Metro lines and concourse comprised two basement levels, with all other arrivals situated at ground level. Departures occur from an elevated concourse with waiting rooms and clear views to the 28 platforms below.

Project Partners:
Engineers: WS Atkins

In 2000, Terry Farrell & Partners won the appointment to design a £100 million public building in Guangzhou housing both the headquarters building of China's then largest newspaper publisher, the Guangzhou Daily News, as well as cultural and commercial activities. The design was a large-scale scheme for a 250,000 square metre public arts complex that integrated a constructed building with a 1 hectare public plaza, a library, an exhibition hall, an arts centre, a five-star hotel, and retail space which included an ice-skating rink and IMAX cinema complex.

The design concept was based on two interlocking geometric shapes which formed the basis of the building's three main components: a raised cube formed by two angled towers, an L-shaped block, and a podium at ground level. The distinctive form grew out of manipulating blocks in such a way that a corner was extracted from the cube and lifted vertically, creating a grand public square below, described as the 'city room'.

The original plan was for the building to be a partnership between Farrell and a state-run Chinese design institute, with Farrell & Partners handing over responsibility halfway through the working drawing stage. However, in 2002 the practice lost the commission following changes in the developer’s brief for the site’s use. At this point the brief focused on developing a commercial building.

Construction Partners:
Engineer: WS Atkins
Structural Engineer: Schlaich Bergman

Hammersmith Island Study, 1984. Hammersmith Broadway, London. For Greater London Council and local residents.