The Knab, Lerwick

7N Architects’ masterplan for the former Anderson High School at the Knab, Lerwick, is vibrant mixed use vision for a key civic site to help to meet critical housing needs on the Shetland Islands.

The proposals were developed following extensive stakeholder and community engagement on the future use of the site, undertaken with Nick Wright Planning. The re-development of the Knab site presents an opportunity to create a vibrant, thriving, place that can help to meet community aspirations and sustain the town centre.

The masterplan will re-purpose a key site in public ownership in order to deliver a wider civic value for the Lerwick. This innovative approach represents a significant departure from how public property assets are commonly disposed of where the focus is often on capital value.

The buildings and public realm have been designed to stitch the site into the grain of Lerwick's Old Town. Staggered building forms are offset around intimate streets, spaces and residential courtyards, designed in collaboration with Rankin Fraser Landscape Architecture. A central pedestrian-prioritised street provides a fully accessible route through the masterplan that connects each of the public spaces.