The Chocolate Works hits the sweet spot
Posted 14 October 2016 by
Ben SalisburyIt’s National Chocolate Week! The UK’s biggest celebration of the brown stuff started on October 10th and culminates in The Chocolate Show at Olympia National Hall starting today and running until Sunday 16 October.
David Wilson Homes have the perfect location for National Chocolate Week, a new development whose history is an important part of the UK’s love story with the chocolate industry.
The Chocolate Works in York City Centre is on the site of the former Terry’s chocolate factory, which closed its doors in 2005.
The new homes built in front of the old Terry’s chocolate factory have a number of remarkable features, including aluminium window frames coated in a burnished gold, a reference to Terry’s All Gold, their famous box of chocolates, which first went on sale in 1932 and part of a theme designed to celebrate the site’s history.
One of the apartment buildings is named Neapolitan after the famous box of miniature chocolate bars and perhaps most impressive of all is a Chocolate Orange sculpture by Malton’s Sherburn Foundry, which takes pride of place on the avenue leading up to the old factory.
The luxurious new homes are set in a fabulous location close to the racecourse and near trendy Bishopthorpe Road with its deli’s and restaurants and yet still close to everything that York city centre has to offer.
The Chocolate Works development from David Wilson Homes consists of 319 properties, 20% of them classified as affordable, a mix of apartments, townhouses and detached homes ranging from one bedroom flats to townhouses to detached homes.
Rather than use a familiar design, the properties are designed to reflect the site’s heritage using architects Richards Partington to use inspiration from the art deco factory. The new properties are the cubes and rectangles favoured by the early Modernist architects of the 1920’s. The materials were selected to mirror the old buildings and the clock tower and are a combination of red and white brick.
One of the key features is a broad, tree-lined avenue leading up to the factory building and a second tree-lined boulevard running parallel to it. In keeping with York’s traditional pattern of straight terraced streets the homes are laid out in smaller streets at right angles to each other.
The architect used stone colonnades and glass panels between the balconies tinted in the colours of Neapolitan chocolates, at an extra cost but resulting in a bespoke design that celebrates the history of chocolate associated with the site.
Some of the homes have racecourse views and all have luxurious and spacious interiors and contemporary designs. All are designed to be energy-efficient, with good insulation and high performance double glazing. All of the houses will be built with a mix of red and pink brick to contrast the red brick of the factory buildings and the Terry’s clock tower will be visible from everywhere on the development.
Find out more about The Chocolate Works from David Wilson Homes