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Employee Satisfaction #mentalhealthawareness

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For several years, gcp have been on a journey to evolve our mental health and wellbeing initiatives, putting our team and their specific needs at the center of change.

This year marked our fourth year of running an Employee Survey, and our first year of running a separate feedback forum where staff could share all the things we are currently doing well.

We are committed to running an annual employee satisfaction survey using quality questions for benchmarking, so that we can monitor trends in satisfaction and track how any changes impact the wider team.

Following feedback from the team on this survey and via our Employee Council, we have now introduced a monthly wellbeing survey so there is less time between whole office check-ins.

Whilst this process continues to evolve, we decided that this year we would celebrate the positive things we are currently doing. We asked employees to pick out the things that meant the most to them and most supported their wellbeing at work.

We shared this with the whole team during mental health awareness week and will be adding this feedback to our website over the coming months.

It is important to us, not only to improve our offering, but to maintain the things that employees like, need, and appreciate.

Appointment: Barnsley Gymnastics Club

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Following referral by a national sport equipment provider, gcp were appointed by Barnsley Gymnastics Club to assess the feasibility of the club’s relocation.

We firmly believe that sport development needs to happen in partnership with key local actors to have maximum impact in the community. We therefore consulted with key stakeholders including the National Governing Body for Gymnastics, the Council, and the local Active Partnership to develop the feasibility study. Alongside our strategic review, we developed a project brief and cost plan to give the club an accurate picture of the investment involved to enable their ongoing growth.

Sheffield Caribbean Sports Club: Public Consultation

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On the 16th of July gcp had the opportunity to engage with the public through a consultation event for the redevelopment of the Sheffield Caribbean Sports Club (SCSC).

The project came about as Des Smith, the founder of SCSC and BBC Sports Personality ‘Unsung Hero’ at the end of 2023, gaining traction and prompting the redevelopment of the club.

It was a lively day engaging with residents, coaches, children that play at the club and several volunteers for the club. It was great to receive an overwhelmingly positive response to the flexible approach we’ve taken on the design that allows for a functional, future proof space.
Additionally, the introduction of diverse opportunities for sports at masterplan level was welcomed by the community, and we were happy to see the growing excitement for developing better opportunities for women in sports from the club as well as from the public.

We’d like to thank everyone that attended as well as the club and volunteers for giving us a taste of the welcoming community that already exists at SCSC, it is our goal to create spaces that match the inspiring nature of the people that use them.

Osterley Cricket Club Redevelopment

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Following a devastating fire in 2022, which destroyed most their clubhouse, Osterley Cricket Club appointed gcp to prepare a detailed feasibility study for the redevelopment of their ground just off Tentelow Lane in Southall. The ground is set within the historic and listed landscape around Osterley House. The site is busy throughout the year and is also the home of Cademy FC, a vibrant and successful youth football club with links to many premier league football teams. The feasibility study quickly highlighted that in order to deliver the club’s vision for the site, a comprehensive masterplan was required to allow for a phased redevelopment as funding becomes available.   

 

The preliminary planning stage masterplan design includes a remodelled site with parking improvements and ecological enhancements to support biodiversity, a new clubhouse incorporating the remainder of the fire-damaged changing block, a secondary officials’ block with sensory space, and 3 new practice batting lanes. The planning design is a result of extensive collaboration between the club, the England & Wales Cricket Board and numerous stakeholders including Ealing Borough Council, Sport England, Middlesex Cricket, Middlesex FA, The Football Foundation and specialist subconsultants.

 

The final stage of the planning stage design development is a half day public consultation event at the club on Wednesday 10th July between 12 noon and 7pm. Following feedback received from the consultation designs will be revised and developed for planning submission by September 2024.

Green light for investment by McBraida plc

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After lengthy negotiations over the final Section 106 Agreement between all parties, we received last week on behalf of our client, McBraida plc the Planning Decision Notice that backs up the unanimous committee decision in favour of the development.

McBraida plc are a tier 1 aerospace component manufacturers with production facilities in both the UK and Poland. This approval allows them to realise their long-held ambition to more than double their head office footprint in Bridgeyate, between Bristol and Bath.

Throughout the development of the planning application, gcp as lead consultant, received valuable, impartial opinions on the proposal from development control and economic development officers at South Gloucestershire Council. They provided honest, clear and unambiguous comments on the proposal to the design team that allowed the planning design to evolve in response to site constraints and stakeholder consultations to ensure this vitally important investment in high technology engineering is secured for the county, the region and the UK.

The recent signing of the 106 Agreement clears the last hurdle before the green light can be pressed for the detailed design. We look forward to picking up a conversation with the client in the next few weeks to plan the next stages for this exciting and strategically important development.

Work about to start in St Nick’s Covered Market, Bristol!

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gcp has been working with a fantastic team at Bristol City Council to reimagine the central area of the Grade 2* Listed Covered Market in the highly popular St Nicholas Markets.

The Covered Market has not enjoyed the same footfall as other parts of the market; the scheme therefore provides a new destination to encourage visitors to experience the market in its fullness.

The scheme plays with structure, materials, and recesses to create a finely balanced proposal which achieves both commercially viable floorspace and breathing space to a previously cramped site.

Our Declaration of Carbon Neutrality

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Reducing our environmental impact has always been a key consideration in our design work. From delivering the UK’s first BREEAM Excellent sports centre in 2000, to becoming Passivhaus certified in 2007, and most recently generating whole life carbon assessments in 2019.

We are used to talking the talk, but in 2023 we decided it was time to walk the walk. Through our Employee Council we floated the idea of measuring our own carbon impact with a view to reducing carbon emissions as far as possible and becoming carbon neutral.

We reviewed various certification schemes and assessment methodologies including B-Corp, PAS 2060 and EcoVadis. The pros and cons were discussed in the Employee Council before a report was prepared for the Board. We settled on PAS 2060 as our methodology for measuring carbon emissions, creating a carbon reduction plan, and offsetting.

We can now release our Declaration of Carbon Neutrality for 2022-2023.

During this time, we reported on our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, alongside Scope 3 emissions for transport. Scope 1 relates to on-site emissions, e.g. gas boilers. Scope 2 relates to off-site emissions for energy used on-site e.g. electric boiler. Scope 3 covers all other emissions on and off site including relevant upstream and downstream emissions.

Our total carbon footprint for 2022/23 was 6.2tCO2e, split into 44% Scope 2 and 56% Scope 3 emissions.

Over our historic reporting period our Scope 2 emissions have reduced year on year due to:

  • Installing an efficient HVAC unit with heat recovery to reduce carbon emissions through ventilation as well as improving office air quality.

  • Changing all office lighting to better performing LED fittings.

  • UK grid decarbonization.

In the same period our Scope 3 emissions fell sharply due to COVID, but also due to:

  • Encouraging staff to cycle where appropriate to reduce travel emissions.

  • Reducing the number of on-site meetings where not necessary.

  • Encouraging low carbon transport methods where possible.

Whilst 2022/23 saw an increase in Scope 3 emissions from 2020/21 and 2021/22 this is primarily due to an increase in staff numbers alongside business returning somewhat to the pre-COVID norm. Ignoring the impact of COVID, our Scope 3 emissions have reduced by 46% from our 2018/19 base level. This is demonstrated by the graph below.

Whilst we continue to reduce our carbon emissions, there will always be a need to offset the remaining emissions to achieve carbon neutrality. As such from 2022 we started a tree planting program.

Initially our tree planting was based on a will to do the right thing rather than data, but now we report against PAS 2060 we are monitoring how many trees should be planted annually to cover our emissions.

Our offsetting strategy is based on Pending Issuance Units (PIUs) for predicted growth of saplings rather than Woodland Carbon Units (WCUs) which cover sequestered carbon in mature woodland. gcp will monitor the survival rate and growth of the trees over the next reporting period to accurately monitor the carbon absorption.

In February 2024 gcp planted 160 trees to offset our carbon emissions for the 2022/23 reporting period. This equates to approximately 160 tonnes of carbon over the lifetime of the trees. This is far greater than what was required to offset our 6.2 tonnes of carbon emissions for the reporting period, but overachieving with PIUs allows us to achieve a real-world carbon break even point as soon as possible.

This is demonstrated in the graph below:

This demonstrates our predicted carbon emissions over the next 30 years against the real-time carbon offsets through tree planting. We can forecast that from the start of our reporting period we will be carbon neutral by 2044.

Extrapolating this in both directions, which includes a lot of assumptions, we can approximate that gcp will be carbon neutral for all emissions since conception in 1987 by 2061.

Above: gcp tree planting 2024

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The Value of Competitions: Midland Road | Bristol

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Background

In July 2023, Brighter Places in partnership with the Bristol Housing Festival launched a design competition, for a new affordable development within Bristol City center.

Midland Road is a prominent local centre, adjacent to Old Market and previous home to a paintworks, since demolished. The brief was to provide a 100% affordable / social rented development of up to 70 units.

Having previously worked with Brighter Places, our aim was to create both a destination location within the wider local community, and a design that sensitively responds to its local context and needs.

Process

For this scheme an understanding of local and broader contexts was key. We began by reviewing the typology and scale of the surrounding environment, the sites’ access to green spaces and the overall local transport links.

From this we recognized that Midland Roads presents a unique focus point of transport links, creating an idealized meeting place for residents & passers alike, with opportunity for commercial / community led interventions.

Similarly, our initial studies identified a lack of local green space links (both public and private). These spaces are critical to community growth & function, as such the provision of accessible green space was critical to the design.

Understanding the immediate context was also key. Surrounding structures presented a high density of 5+ stories, with a mostly industrial context, infilled with more modern midrise housing developments.

Our initial Massing would follow the relatively limited footprint of the site, whilst cutting out key foot / cycle connections to permeate the structure and allowing for a central courtyard to create meeting and commercial opportunities.

Looking at the opportunities & constraints available to us, we quickly identified 3 key strategies to develop:

  1. Green Spaces for all: green spaces are often a luxury in urban centers. Our aim was to create a mixture of both public and private green spaces within the scheme, by using the roofs as interconnected terraces to create over 900sqm of space for residents & a ground floor courtyard for the public.

  2. Fostering Community: modern housing often lacks community, with disconnected structures and sterile circulation. Our aim was to create a winding path laced with social spaces throughout the structure that then further connected to proposed green spaces. The aim was to create an interconnected set of communal streets to enhance interaction.

  3. Activated Streets: The site is uniquely located at the intersection between transport links, from foot to local buses. This presents the opportunity to create a local hub, the proposal would need to be open in nature, with ground floor uses that would encourage residents and non-residents alike inside.

The Design

The final design appeals to the industrial character of the site, using an exposed frame with infill patterned brick panels. The mass is broken down by circulation cut through’s at ground level, and circulation at upper levels, conjunction with the perforated forms of the flats this gives the structure a high degree of permeability. The structure itself steps down with the context, beginning with 10 stories, gradually reducing to 6 stories.

Starting at the ground level is a mixture of public courtyards and commercial units, moving up the structure is a winding path of private roof gardens & circulation paths, each flat within the block has to move up or down a maximum of one storey to access a green space.

Each flat has its own balcony, and by mixing walk up and same storey accesses, there is only a singular circulation corridor per 2 levels of flats, maximizing social opportunities to shared areas.

 

The Submission

The final design was submitted in August. Unfortunately, gcp were not selected for the final shortlist this time. Designing a dense urban proposal in the center of Bristol was both invaluable and enjoyable; an experience that we can take with us into future projects.

End of Year Wrap Up: 2023

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After a successful 2022, we started 2023 on a high, determined to build on last year’s key themes of collaboration, team work and supporting the next generation of designers and architects.

In January, we ran a workshop in a local primary school, where we helped the students think about the design of an outdoor education space. Later in the year, we had a year 10 work experience student join us for the week.

We also celebrated Owen Faunt graduating from his Architectural Assistant Degree Apprenticeship in May, Sarah Makroum completing her RIBA Part 2 qualification, Hazel Momberg becoming a chartered member of CIAT and Matt Taylor completing his RIBA Part 3 to become a fully qualified architect.

This year a key focus for us has been sustainability. We have been invited to lead seminars to help others understand Whole Life Carbon, emerging policy and specifics relating to their own projects. We can now undertake Whole Life Carbon Assessments to help with target setting and reporting – get in touch if you would like to know more!

Several of our construction projects have wrapped up in 2023, including all-but-one phase of Century Park, Lawrence Weston, phase 1 of Oakfield in Swindon, phase 2 of Margaret Bondfield Close in Pilton, the refurbishment of three tower blocks on Silcox Road in Bristol, and the Swimarium in Westbury.

gcp have always had a strong portfolio of housing projects and we have finished this year on another high: achieving planning permission on sites including a rural exception site in the Forest of Dean and conversion of a warehouse to apartments in Bristol.

In June we achieved planning for Walwyn Gardens, a scheme that finally achieved planning after a two-year wait. This retrofit scheme includes demolishing and replacing existing leaking courtyard access walkways with contemporary, thermally improved communal access routes. All windows and doors will be replaced as well as a new colour palette introduced to the reclad corridor elements. Construction work has now begun.

Two years of design and consultation with a team of environmental consultants culminated with unanimous support of the South Gloucestershire Development Committee of our proposals for extensions to the McBraida Aerospace engineering works at Bridgeyate, Bristol. This marks a significant milestone in the McBraida company’s long-term plan to expand and modernize their UK headquarters. We were thrilled to be part of the team helping the expansion plan to succeed.

It had been a while since gcp had entered any big competitions, but we loved the look of Bristol Housing Festival’s Nover’s Hill.

Nover’s Hill is a ecologically constrained site and the brief was for a sustainable development with high biodiversity. Through careful analysis of the levels, the existing trees, the views and the pond we created a high density housing scheme which promoted large amounts of public and private amenity spaces, natural light and ventilation.

Entering more competitions was a 2023 aspiration for our team, so we thought we’d give it a go. We were thrilled to win the competition!

We will be working on developing the scheme in more detail for Goram Homes in 2024.

Back with our team, we continued to focus on mental health and wellbeing, using National Work Life Week and Mental Health Awareness Week as part of our annual diary, not just because they support our company values, but because they allow us to report, refocus, review our polices and remind ourselves regularly to check in with each other.

This year we planted sunflowers, made art together, took some forest walks, went to the café as an office and played board games. These events gave importance to taking a break, having some fun and connecting with our colleagues. We are just finishing up our advent of December games, where we take a few moments each day to be silly and enjoy some friendly competition.

It's been another busy year for gcp. We took some time at the beginning of December to enjoy a Christmas meal together in Keynsham and will hold farewell drinks for Martin Spear on Thursday, when he retires after 35 years of wonderful service. He will be sadly missed, but we wish him well on his next adventure.

It’s exciting to welcome more talent and experience to our growing team. Esther Slade, Jenny Gossage, Tim Oswald, Tina Vasilache and Richard Glass joined us in 2023 and we have one more new starter joining us in the New Year.

We can’t wait to see what is in store for us and for you, in 2024.

Season’s greetings to all and wishing you a very happy New Year.

Planning consent for first zero-carbon clubhouse in the UK!

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This small project in Bristol for Downend & Frenchay Tennis Club brings together two of gcp’s passions: sport and sustainability. From conversations with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), we believe this is the first LTA-affiliated clubhouse in the country to be designed as zero-carbon! This is a great step for the sport, and is particularly poignant as the LTA transitions into its 1st full phase of its Environmental Sustainability Plan.

The new clubhouse is on the grounds of Frenchay Cricket Club. With the tennis club going from strength to strength, it became quickly apparent that the club required facilities of its own. DFTC appointed gcp to develop a project brief and designs for a tiny slither of land, located between the tennis courts and the site boundary. Given the site’s constraints, we focused on the core spaces required to support the club: a clubroom to host post-match teas, enable coaching briefings, and provide an all-important hub for club socials; a sheltered viewing area; and toilet and showering facilities. The 75sqm facility is designed to ensure accessibility for all with level thresholds throughout. Materials have been chosen to be robust, to ensure the club’s ongoing enjoyment of the facility without incurring high maintenance costs.

The club’s ambitions did not stop at a functional clubhouse. Clubchair Penny White and fellow committee members wanted an environmentally sustainable clubhouse, and we couldn’t be more pleased to support this ambition. We specified high performing thermal fabric and worked with an M&E consultant to ensure heating and ventilation systems would be as efficient as possible. We explored the option of Passivhaus certification. Unfortunately, the site constraints limited us to a long rectangular form running along a north-south axis, not ideal for Passivhaus. We modelled energy use and on-site energy generation and storage, ultimately achieving a design solution which is zero carbon in operation.

Construction itself has a high environmental impact. With the support of Structural Engineers at Build Collective, we looked at construction systems to minimise the carbon footprint of the building, whilst maintaining the high performance standards. An engineering joist system was chosen, along with wood-based insulation for walls and roof.

Having supported the Club in their funding applications to South Gloucestershire Council and Enovert, we are delighted that the project has secured substantial funding and look forward to being on site next year!

Above: Design Development

Planning Policy Across The Southwest

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2024/2025 will see wholesale changes to planning policy across the Southwest which will impact environmental strategies for all developments. But is the construction industry ready for these changes?

Bath and Northeast Somerset

Bath and Northeast Somerset threw down the gauntlet in Feb 2023 by introducing some of the most advanced low carbon planning policies in the country.

Policy SCR6 - Sustainable Construction Policy for New Build Residential Development

  • Space Heating <30kWh/m2/annum

  • Total Energy Demand <40kWh/m2/annum

  • On-Site Renewable Energy Generation to balance the Total Energy Usage

Policy SCR7 - Sustainable Construction Policy for New Build Non-Residential Buildings 

  • Net zero for regulated operational carbon emissions

Policy SCR8 - Embodied Carbon

  • Embodied carbon assessments required for developments over 50 dwellings or 5000m2. Score of 900kgCO2e/m2 for substructure, superstructure and finishes must be achieved.

BaNES’ local plan update also saw the introduction of a carbon offset fund for projects which could not achieve net-zero on-site. The price of offsets is anticipated to be £373-378/tCO2 based on the BEIS Green Book values.

The remaining members of the West of England Combined Authority are currently updating their local plans to align and surpass the targets set out by BaNES.

Bristol

Bristol have just published their local plan update which will be formally adopted in Q1 2025.

Policy NZC2 - Net zero carbon development – operational carbon

  • Space Heating <15-20kWh/m2/annum

  • Total Energy Demand <35kWh/m2/annum

  • On-Site Renewable Energy Generation to balance the Total Energy Usage

  • Passivhaus Classic offered as an alternative way to achieve compliance.

Policy NZC3 -Embodied carbon, materials and waste

  • Embodied carbon assessments required for developments over 10 dwellings or 1000m2.

Upfront embodied carbon:

o Residential (4 storeys or fewer) - <400 kgCO2 e/m²

o Residential (5 storeys or greater) - <500 kgCO2 e/m²

o Major non-residential schemes - <600 kgCO2 e/m²

Whole life-cycle embodied carbon:

o Residential (4 storeys or fewer) - <625 kgCO2 e/m²

o Residential (5 storeys or greater) - <800 kgCO2 e/m²

o Major non-residential schemes - <970 kgCO2 e/m²

Bristol local plan update will also include a carbon offset fund priced at the same rate as BaNES.

South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire are currently consulting on their new local plan which should be adopted in 2025.

Policy PSP6 – Onsite renewable and low carbon energy

  • Net-zero in operation. Regulated or regulated and unregulated TBC.

  • Passivhaus Classic offered as an alternative way to achieve compliance.

South Gloucestershire local plan update will also include a carbon offset fund priced at the same rate as BaNES.

North Somerset

North Somerset are still consulting on their new local plan, but the latest consultation document closely replicates that of Bristol.

Policy DP6 – Net Zero Construction

  • Space Heating <15kWh/m2/annum

  • Total Energy Demand <35kWh/m2/annum

  • On-Site Renewable Energy Generation to balance the Total Energy Usage

  • Passivhaus Plus offered as an alternative way to achieve compliance.

  • Embodied carbon emission targets currently being reviewed.

Interestingly, whilst Passivhaus Classic is being used as an alternative route to compliance by Bristol and South Glos, Passivhaus Classic does not actually achieve net-zero. This means quality assurance through proof of airtightness and no thermal bridging is being prioritised over renewables.

The direction of travel is clear, but how achievable are these targets. Analysis undertaken by the University of Bath reviewing planning submissions against the latest BaNES targets found the following:

  • 54% of eligible planning applications did not comply with the new operational energy policy, primarily due to a lack of awareness.

  • 1/3 of applicants submitted incomplete energy model calculations, making them unreproducible and difficult to verify.

  • 88% of those applications which failed to meet the energy standards were due to a lack of on-site renewable energy generation. Largely due to available roof space for PV.

Concerns were also raised around the cost of creating the necessary energy models to demonstrate compliance at planning stage. This applies particularly to small developments where these works will form a disproportionally large percentage of the overall construction cost.

Major developments will likely also incur additional costs due to the new offsetting requirements in BaNES and Bristol. Taking the RIBA Climate Challenge 2030 ‘business as usual’ model as a baseline the following offset costs could be assumed:

  • £94.50/m2 operational carbon (£7,465 for a 2-bed, £8,788 for a 3 bed) worst case scenario

  • £214.48/m2 embodied carbon (£16,943 for a 2-bed, £19,946 for a 3-bed)

These costs are significant and can add up quickly across a large development site. If you need any support reviewing your current or future developments against these standards feel free to get in touch for some advice.

gcp offer Passivhaus design, whole life carbon assessments, and energy strategy assessments which can help developers to navigate these new planning changes to make the most informed decisions.

Meet the Team: Matt T

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Following on from Hazel’s Meet The Team interview, we have Matt Taylor, also celebrating one-year at gcp.

Matt is an Architectural Assistant who has worked for a variety of practices ranging from very small teams up to multi-office national practices. He joined gcp in 2022 to support our housing sector and is undertaking Part 3 training to register as an Architect.

Matt’s early employment enabled him to work on many small projects within sensitive areas such as Areas of Outstanding National Beauty, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Conservation Areas, and buildings with listed status. Working later for multi-disciplinary and larger practices, Matt focused on developing masterplans for housing and mixed-use schemes ranging from 10 to over 1000 unit schemes, and progressing these through to planning.

Since joining gcp, Matt has been heavily involved in Retrofit, supporting contractors with on-site works for the fabric upgrade of social housing stock.

Matt’s experience lies most particularly within the housing sector. Through his extensive  masterplanning work he brings a thorough understanding of the opportunities and constraints linked to housing development, including the impact of planning policy and sites with special designations.

Having worked with multiple housebuilders and housing associations, he is able to very quickly provide appraisals for housing sites to suit each particular client’s needs.

Matt’s masterplanning experience is balanced with rigorous technical knowledge which enables him to provide technical coordination for volume housebuilding, and support  retrofit works in the housing sector. He has particularly been involved in pilot projects for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and is working towards becoming a qualified UK Retrofit Designer to support projects delivered under PAS 2035.


Morning Matt! What we always like to ask first is, what inspired you to pursue architecture?

I had a big interest in the sciences as a teenager (mostly physics) but come from an artistic background, having two older artist siblings, architecture was what I saw to be a blending of the two interests growing up.

 

Great! And what has been your favourite project to work on at gcp, so far?

 

The SHDF wave 1 work (two Rivers) has been a high point for me as the first project ive taken all the way through from planning to completion, with the Help of Michael.

 

If you want to check our Michael Hanson’s Meet The Team: 23-year Anniversary Interview, click here.

 

This year has gone so quickly. What has been your best moment with gcp in the last year?

 

I can pin down any particular moment, but I’ve enjoyed the many social activities, Devon weekend, barbecue, even just the Friday pub, easily the most social office I’ve worked for.

 

gcp really pride ourselves on our social events and team activities, so really pleased you’ve enjoyed them. What do you like to do in your spare time?

 

I enjoy playing a lot of boardgames / DND, I also paint digitally in my spare time most days.

 

And what’s your proudest personal achievement? 

 

I once played paintball professionally (odd one I know its my dads doing) sponsored team and everything, got to play in France once .

 

Wow. So, if you weren’t an Architectural Assistant, what do you think you would be? 

 

Complete side-step but right up to when I decided on architecture I loved the idea of marine biology, so most likely that. Failing that some kind of artist.

 

Complete side-step indeed, but not surprising! You are a really interesting person with such varied hobbies. Lastly, I normally ask interviewees to tell us something we might not already know about you? 

 

I can play two instruments, bass and a bit of drums.

 

Another one for the gcp band! Thanks for your time today Matt, here’s to the next year.

 

Check out our blog to see more recent staff anniversaries, project news and round-ups of our recent social events.

 

 

gcp visit Edinburgh

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It was back in 2020, when former director, Colin Powell moved to Edinburgh from Bath to fulfil a family dream of living in Scotland. A global pandemic, three years and many successful projects later a small group of the gcp team embarked on a mini-office-trip to pay him (and magnificent Edinburgh) a visit.

Our trip started early on Friday morning with a 7am flight from Bristol International Airport, landing us in Edinburgh just as the day was beginning to break. An atmospheric mist settled over the streets as we took the bus into the capital, finally splitting to cast glorious sunshine over the gothic city once brunch was over.

That first morning was for exploring – the Botanical Gardens, Modern Two, quaintly cobbled streets and an independent-makers-market inside a church were some of the sights taken in before we headed to our meeting place of Edinburgh Castle for a group experience.

We battled the crowds to take in the beauty of the sun soaked city from upon high. The breathless, panoramic views were worth being squeezed like sardines through the entrance and once inside the settlement it was peaceful with lots to look at.

There might have been a pint (or two) consumed afterwards in an quirky little pub and many thousands of steps clocked up on the step trackers.

Day Two started off with pastries and coffee (for those of us who didn’t have breakfasts at the hotel or AirBnB) and meeting Colin at the bottom of the Royal Mile, for a walk that started in a graveyard and ended in a café.

We took a meandering route, soaking up amazing views and the lovely streets of New Town. There were surprising pockets of nature to be discovered in the West End, all sprinkled with history, stories, anecdotes and interesting facts from Colin. We caught up as we walked, taking in what felt like an entirely different city to the day before.

Everywhere you turn in Edinburgh, there is something for your eyes to feast upon. Each street looks like it could be a scene in a film or the setting of a novel; I found myself saying “it’s beautiful, no this is beautiful” more times that I can count. With Autumn just at the edges of the trees and the weather zig-zagging between smokey skies and blinding sunshine, I felt like we really got the best it could offer.

After our tour we were armed with knowledge of the best bookshops in the city and filled with the most delicious toastie I’ve ever eaten it was time for a well-earned rest. Another 15,000 steps clocked in on the tracker, there were a few free hours (an amazing entrance-way in the National Portrait Gallery, yoga, a chapter of my book, a glass of wine) before we met again for a lovely dinner.

Colin surprised us all with some hand-thrown tea bowls (he has taken up pottery since moving to Edinburgh); and we finished the evening in a wine bar, chatting about our trip so far and sharing our go-to karaoke songs.

By Sunday, there was still more to do and by now, my fitness tracker was wondering if perhaps my watch had been stolen by someone who walks much more than I normally do. Today was Arthur’s Seat for some, bookshops, people watching and coffee for others. Signed-First-Editions, origami book pages, museums, galleries, parks, fountains, a fancy new shopping mall – we made the most of our last, long day, squeezing in as many of the sights as we could, before heading back to Edinburgh Airport for dinner and a late flight back to Bristol.

 

Join gcp!

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Want to join gcp?

We are recruiting here at gcp Chartered Architects. If you are ready for a new challenge, we have several opportunities for design professionals to join our team in Bristol. You will need to be organised, proactive and keen to make a difference. Do you know anyone who might be interested?

Please click on the relevant title for more information.

Senior Architect RIBA

Senior Technologist CIAT

Sunny brickwork at Oakfield

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A few weeks ago we jumped at the opportunity to take a few snaps of Nationwide Building Society’s Oakfield development in Swindon as the sun made a rare appearance. We spent some time appreciating the details which really make this scheme sing. The variety of brick detail, brick bonds, and brick specification gives each terrace a unique character whilst at the same time creating a strong identity for the 239 home development as a whole.


Part of our role as delivery stage architects is to facilitate efficient construction. We painstakingly set out each brick configuration to limit the number of cut bricks required and therefore minimise waste. Which makes seeing the fantastic results all the sweeter!

 

For more info about the scheme, click here

 


gcp Seminars: Passivhaus / Retrofit / Whole Life Carbon

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At gcp we know that the growing terminology around low carbon housing is confusing and practical implications on development can seem unclear. As early advocates for Passivhaus and low carbon design, we want to help our clients explore how high quality and sustainable housing can be achieved.

We offer seminars on Whole Life Carbon, Passivhaus, Net-Zero and Retrofit. Please let us know if you would like us to drop by and talk with your team!

t 0117 967 6286

e mail@gcparch.co.uk

gcp Shortlisted for Novers Hill Design Competition

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gcp are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted in the Novers Hill Design Competition and will move forward to Stage 2 of the process. Below we share some of our process and considerations when appoaching a new scheme.

Background

Goram Homes, in partnership with the Bristol Housing Festival, launched a design competition on 2nd March 2023 for a new housing development in Knowle West.

Situated just off Novers Hill, the brownfield site bounds the ecologically significant Western Slopes, with fantastic views over Southwest Bristol.

Having previously worked with Goram Homes to report on and reduce their whole life carbon emissions, we jumped at the chance to produce a sensitive, low carbon exemplar design for the Knowle West community.

Our Process

Context is always important, but especially on such an ecologically significant site. Our process started by analysing the site from an ecological, social, geographical and historical point of view.

This allowed us to identify the areas which could be developed whilst limiting any negative impacts on existing habitats. The brownfield elements of this site offered an obvious development opportunity due to the level topography and lack of ecology.

Taking the developable area, we could carve out service routes and ancillary spaces, leaving the most suitable areas for the proposed dwellings.

Working with a concept massing allows many ideas to be tested at a site-wide level to investigate their suitability. We took this opportunity to adapt the form to better make use of the site’s natural resources such as sunlight and views.

Retaining a connection between Knowle West and the Western Slopes was a key part of integrating this development into the existing community. To encourage this, we chose to slice through the massing to form a physical link between the wonderful green spaces and the wider community.

Creative stacking of gardens allowed us to achieve the required housing densities without damaging any further green space. This stacking also made the most of natural daylighting and views.

Our Team

We selected a competition team with a wide ranging but complimentary skillset to efficiently deliver this competition entry.

  • Part 2 Architectural Assistant: Matt Taylor

 

The core team of Matt B, Matt T and Owen developed our design under the excellent stewardship of Sarah. Regular concept discussions between the core team allowed for speedy testing and evolution of ideas. Concepts were then presented to the wider office during several design reviews in our pin-up space, which helped to hone the proposal and focus the mind.

Holistic Design

We pride ourselves on being able to take projects from the first sketch all the way through to delivery. Part of this is thinking ahead and making sure we consider the detail within the big picture. Whilst this was a Stage 1 design, we wanted to ensure that buildability, sustainability and affordability were all considered to ensure smoother development as the design progresses. It is much easier to design in efficiency at an early stage than try to adjust a poor design further down the line.

In developing our submission, we considered:

  • Whole life carbon emissions by improving thermal performance, choosing low carbon materials and maximizing solar gains

  • Materials to allow for ease of construction, minimal ecological disruption and easy airtightness

  • Going beyond biodiversity net gain by retaining as many habitats as possible, enhancing existing grasslands and planting trees/vegetation to offset carbon emissions

  • Net Zero emissions in operation through an efficient form, fabric first design and large solar PV arrays

  • Affordability by eliminating unnecessary junctions/details, minimizing energy/running costs and reducing the overall building mass.

The Submission

Detailed site analysis and holistic design allowed us to generate an accurate impression of how the development could look.