Jonathan Platt

Wilf Slack Cricket Centre Opens

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Tuesday 26th April saw the opening of Wilf Slack Cricket Centre in Ealing, London. This community-focused centre was the brainchild of Keir Smith (William Perkin CofE High School) and Katie Berry (Middlesex Cricket) who have worked tirelessly for the last seven years to bring their vision to reality.

On the recommendation of the England and Wales Cricket Board, gcp were brought on board in 2021 to provide technical guidance and deliver the project. Through close collaboration with specialists and stakeholders, we collectively delivered a centre which provides:

-          Four independent ECB compliant cricket lanes

-          Multisport capability including basketball and badminton

-          Specialist LED lighting with scene control for cricket / badminton / exam conditions

-          Safe viewing areas for coaches and parents

-          State of the art lane cameras with playback capabilities for coaching - possibly the best in the country!

-          Inspiring brand environment designed by RAW Brothers (https://rawbrothers.co.uk/blog/cricketing-legend-wilf-slack) which tells the compelling story of Wilf Slack

-          Meeting room facilities with live / recorded camera playback for events and coaching

Developed with the local community in mind, with a particular focus on providing opportunities for women / girls and people with disabilities, the centre builds on excellent outdoor facilities including a full-sized cricket pitch. Middlesex Cricket’s Women, the Sunrisers (https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2020/08/sunrisers-launch-new-website) and Girls squads, Disability squads and Participation Team are already making use of the facility alongside local recreational clubs and schools.

It was brilliant to see the centre in use at Tuesday’s opening event. The feedback from all stakeholders was incredibly positive and leaves us with no doubts that the centre will be a success.

Katie Berry, Middlesex Cricket’s Director of Participation, commented:

“As a facility, the Wilf Slack Cricket Centre, stands head and shoulders above anything else in the county. The term state of the art was made for this facility and with the shared vision we have with the team at Twyford CofE Academies Trust, we know that this centre will become a vital hub for the local community.”

Keir Smith, former William Perkin CofE School Head Teacher, commented:

“As a state school, we are extremely proud to be able to offer a first-class cricket facility that rivals anything else in the area, even in the private school sector, and we want this centre to be a shining example of what can be done in state schools with the right vision and the right partners in place.”

Jonathan Platt, Director at gcp Chartered Architects said:

”The future is so exciting for a school with such fantastic sports facilities and demonstrates the true benefit of a trusting partnership between a school, a professional club, local authority, Sport England, and a governing body in the England & Wales Cricket Board can bring in terms of sporting opportunities. There should be more facilities like this that utilises the assets within schools for the wider community. What a great legacy to a committed and highly respected crickets. ”

Planning Granted for new Cricket facilities in Bradford

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The second ECB Urban Cricket Centre is one step closer to reality having been granted planning approval earlier this month.

Working with existing buildings is rarely straight forward and that was the case with this project in Bradford. In December 2020 we submitted designs to planning for two new cricket lanes and other community facilities at Parkside Sports Centre. During the planning process a huge attenuation tank was discovered beneath the proposed site which tested the project’s viability and ruled out large sections of the site for construction. With a bit of creativity and lots of design reviews, we managed to come up with a viable alternative which positioned the cricket lanes at first floor level, cantilevered out in front of the existing building as a prominent advert for cricket.

As a Bradfordian this has been a fantastic project to work on and it is very encouraging to see the ECB investing in urban areas with such incredible potential but limited existing facilities. This is what the ECB Urban Cricket Centre Initiative was set up to do, and hopefully projects like this will continue to pop up across the UK in coming years.

by Matt Bonney, Project Architect, gcp Chartered Architects

Planning Granted for a modest residential development in Blackhorse Place

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 A planning application has been granted by South Glos Council for a small development of 3 bespoke homes on Blackhorse Place, Vinney Green. What was initially seen as a relatively uncontentious and modest development for 3 new homes, actually required a relatively complex planning application and multiple design iterations.

gcp conceived and developed a pre-application followed by the planning design. Particular attention was paid to the immediate context, neighbours’ concerns, a sustainable urban drainage system, site ecology and sustainable transportation.

The team constantly developed the design, in close liaison with all parties and proactively managed the planning process, negotiating directing with the planning team. Ultimately, delivering a planning approval for a design which both met the client’s aspirations and was acceptable to the local authority.

Creating Opportunities for Community Engagement in Cricket.

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It has been a busy few years in sport for gcp Chartered Architects, particularly when it comes to cricket.

We are continuing to support the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) Urban Cricket Centre Initiative, a corner stone of Inspiring Generations 2020-24, the game-wide five-year strategic plan to grow cricket in England. This initiative, which is being piloted across the country, looks to create new cricket facilities in densely populated urban areas where access to traditional facilities are limited.

Flyer Axo Phase 2, Bradford

Flyer Axo Phase 2, Bradford

The latest scheme in Bradford will provide two new cricket lanes and additional community facilities that will transform the Parkside Sports Centre into the second ECB Urban Cricket Centre. The first centre at the former Leyton Cricket Ground in East London was opened by Graham Gooch in July 2019 to celebrate the Cricket World Cup.

Following on from the Bradford and Leyton schemes, we are currently working on the very early stages a third pilot site, also in northern England. If the pilots prove successful, centres will be rolled out across ten major urban areas in England, with each area supporting a minimum of two cricket centres.

Our most recent commission is working with Middlesex Cricket to develop a new cricket development centre at the William Perkin School in Ealing. In honour of the talented Middlesex left hander who formed a formidable opening partnership with Graham Barlow in the early 1980’s, the centre will be named the Wilf Slack Cricket Centre. This project, to compliment Lords Indoor Cricket Centre, will see the school’s existing multi-use sports hall transformed into a cricket focused facility that also makes provision for badminton and basketball. Designed in exacting standards as defined by the ECB, the Wilf Slack Cricket Centre will promote participation from an early age and lay out clear routes for progression in the both the men’s and women’s game.

All centres designed by gcp Chartered Architects integrate the latest thinking around netting layout and configuration to maximize flexibility in use and coaching potential, LED lighting to provide the optimum playing environment for the specified sports (particularly cricket), and sports flooring to provide the highest performing surface. All installations are designed to standards defined by the ECB Technical Guidance Notes and tested upon completion to ensure safe playing environments.

For an informal chat about your cricket development project contact gcp Chartered Architects cricket facility design specialists:

Here are some other exciting sport projects undertaken by gcp in the last two years…

  • Foundation Park Pavilion, County Ground, Swindon.

Planning submitted for new Cricket facilities in Bradford.

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Following on from the completion of the Leyton Urban Cricket Centre pilot scheme earlier this year, a planning application has now been submitted for the next Urban Cricket Centre pilot in Bradford.

 The cricket centre will have two indoor cricket lanes and will be based at the well used Parkside Sports Centre in West Bowling, to the south of the city. In addition to the cricket lanes that will be a multi-purpose space providing opportunities for dance and aerobic type exercise, the project will also feature a new gym, studio and community café. The scheme will completely transform the sport centre: it is designed to allow it to offer a far wider range of activities, increase utilisation across the site and thereby its bolster its financial resilience.  The scheme is the second pilot in the ECB’s Urban Cricket Centre programme, linked to their Inspiring Generations strategic plan and the South Asian Action Plan. Potential funders include the ECB, Power to Change, Sport England amongst others.

The Bradford pilot, differs from the Leyton scheme in that the host organisation in Bradford is a charity, Bradford Trident. Leyton is hosted by a public authority, London Borough of Waltham Forest. The pilot programme was designed to evaluate a minimum of three Urban Cricket Centre sites hosted by different types of organisation ie public, charity and private and or faith organisation before committing funds to a wider role out. The third pilot site is yet to be announced.

 

Community-led Housing: Creating a group and getting community support

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We are really pleased to have supported Southmead Development Trust in the early stages of their first Glencoyne Square community led housing project as featured in this excellent video. We are also pleased to be investigating a second scheme on their Greenway Community Centre site with support from the Homes England Community Housing Fund.

Meet the Team: Jonathan Platt

Graphics: Leyton summer & winter sporting options; St Pauls Sports Academy; The Trinity Centre


September is a special month here at gcp as it marks the company’s birthday! This year is our 32nd anniversary and to celebrate we will be reflecting on past staff events over on social media.

As part of this celebration, we have conducted Director-interviews to add to our meet-the-team series. Next up is Jonathan Platt, Architect and Director who, joined gcp in 1995 and became a director in 1997.

Upon qualification in 1989 Jonathan worked for the progressive JT Design Build in Bristol, the county’s first integrated services contractor. From 1992 Jonathan worked for the regional offices of a couple of London based commercial architectural practices before joining gcp in 1995.

Jonathan has developed the practice expertise in both inner city and rural regeneration projects through his understanding of the funding environment and by tailoring the businesses services to support clients accordingly. This work has included community consultations and engagement, site identification, planning analysis, partner brokerage and capital funding appraisals.

Alongside this, Jonathan pursued his interest in sport, resulting in the combination of inner-city regeneration with the development of new sports facilities. This included England’s first BREEAM Excellent sports centre in central Bristol, as well as The Urban Cricket Concept for the England & Wales Cricket Board, conceived to unite communities through sport.

Parallel to his speciality with community and sports related projects, Jonathan has supported the development of gcp Consulting, an environmental assessment and design service that supports both internal and external projects. Jonathan consequently has a wealth of experience regarding successful sustainable development, from both a social and a political perspective. Jonathan has also worked as an expert assessor for Innovate UK on several competitions including: Retro fit for the Future (domestic energy reduction competition), Climate of Future Climates (climate change adaptation to build in resilience) and Information & Computer Technology knowledge transfer between manufacturing and construction.

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Morning Jonathan! I think your introduction and career history speak for themselves really, such a fantastic and diverse portfolio. I hope you don’t mind me asking you a few questions today so that the readers of our blog can get to know you a little better. This year marks 24 years with gcp, a tenure that has built you much respect within in our team, particularly your expertise in delivering schemes in areas of Bristol which need some improvement. Can you tell us what inspired you to pursue architecture?

Despite my dad and his uncle being architects, my path into profession was a reactionary one. Not having taken secondary school too seriously for whatever reason (the usual distractions if I am honest and a bit of dyslexia, but no real excuse there), and then given my predicted results and being presented with the career options that were a bit of a shock, and without giving it any more thought I immediately declared I was going to become an architect - much derision from teaching staff etc. I then started to work.

It's an unconventional start to an architectural career! If you weren’t an architect, what do you think you would be?

The army or a fireman were the options presented to me as career options at school. Nothing wrong with them, but if I wasn’t an architect and if was to have forged a different path, it would have had to involve the outdoors, wood and making things. I had always been really practical, helping my dad with minor building projects around the house and creating mini projects of my own such as building fitted wardrobe etc in my bedroom from scrap wood.

And what’s your favourite project that you’ve worked on to date?

We have just completed the delivery of the first Urban Cricket Centre on behalf of the England and Wales Cricket Board in partnership with London Borough of Waltham Forest. This has been a fantastic scheme, and is perhaps my favourite because it is fresh in my memory, but it is the culmination of many things I have been passionate about throughout my career: sport as a catalyst of regeneration; repurposing of existing buildings and facilities by making them relevant for economic use today; working in partnership with multiple stakeholders and agencies to deliver more benefits greater than the sum of the part and finally blending funding from many sources to deliver a fantastic outcome for the local community.

Could you tell me what your best moment at gcp in the last year has been?

Within the last year the best experience at gcp must be seeing the staff take on new responsibilities with zest and gusto. It is just fantastic to see colleagues grow and flourish, even when it means I am more accountable to other than ever before.

Couldn’t agree more – it’s been lovely to see our team members take on new responsibilities and really embrace the challenge with such enthusiasm. Speaking about change, do you think you could tell me a bit about how gcp has changed over the years?

We have learnt how to build a culture of working together that is supportive and inclusive that has created a fantastic team. This didn’t happen overnight but started when as directors we realised, we could do everything, and things needed to change. This was around the time of the Egan Report that we embraced and used some of the culture change tool kits to redesign the business decision making structure.

jonathan platt

What’s your proudest personal achievement?

My proudest achievement is helping to deliver schemes that brings investment into the relatively deprived area around any city or town centre. In Bristol I have been intrinsically involved with bringing forward investment into three major schemes in east of the city, where investment is always hard to come by.

St Paul’s Sports Academy is just off the M32, when built in 2003 was the first major investment in sport in the inner city for many years, the 1st BREEAM Excellent sports centre and the 1st duel-use sports centre on a primary school site. We undertook extensive community consultation that was key to attracting investment from both Sport England and the SWRDA (forerunner of WECA). Now well over 15 years old, the building looks almost as good as it did the day it was opened by Olympic sprinter, Tessa Sanderson. It also won a Bristol Civic Trust Award.

The development of the Junction 3 project, again just off the M32 was a significant milestone for the business and sense of significant personal achievement. This project was the culmination of two previous failed attempts at developing the site (just 32 legal titles to acquire) and took a great deal of courage from our clients (Bristol City Council, SPAN and Knightstone housing – now LiveWest) to have faith in the idea and see it through to completion. The scheme has completely transformed an area of Bristol that was blighted by antisocial behaviour and was generally a no-go area. It is now a thriving commuter intersection used as a meeting and reference point in the city.

The Trinity Centre in the Old Market district of the city is a converted Grade II* Listed de-consecrated church repurposed as a community arts centre. We have worked with Trinity over the last 15 years, where we have helped facilitate multiple phases of redevelopment as funding has come available (over £1M investment secured to date). It has been fantastic to see the organisation and staff grow and thrive, moving from a rather shambolic rave and live music venue into a respected community arts centre with multiple partnerships. We helped the set out a development master-plan in 2009 that provides a template to complete the redevelopment – only a further £1.9M is needed to finish the job which I hope to see completed before I retire!

 What are you looking forward to in the next year?

 On the back of the phenomenally successful summer of cricket, I am really looking forward to delivering the next two pilot projects as part of the ECB’s Urban cricket Centre programme. It is just a great time to be associated with cricket and sport in general.

Finally, could you tell us what do you like to do in your spare time? 

Play sport, watch live music and sport, plan active holidays, take active holidays, see my family and cooking.

Thanks for your time today Jonathan!

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As part of the interview Jonathan was asked to pick his three most iconic projects with gcp. Mentioned in the answers above are two of those: The Trinity Centre and St Pauls Sports Academy.


The third was Leyton County Cricket Ground where phase 1 has just been completed. See our cricket fixed story on Instagram to see the progress made at Leyton (and Bristol). As was the case with The Trinity Centre, many projects that are funded have a long term plan where the improvement works will be phased to ensure there is enough funding and support for each stage.

Phase 1 of this project focused on the reconfiguration and fit out of the sports hall, outdoor changing provision and creating a link to the George Mitchell Arts building. Phase 2 will involve the redevelopment of that Arts building to create a cricket focused sports facility. These works are funded predominantly by the ECB, English Cricket Board and the redevelopment works are to be in line with their guidance and standards.

There are possible further phases which could include improving the parking, new sports boards, and general improvement of the grounds capabilities. The above graphics show a summer and winter version of the possible capabilities of the site, allowing for not only a cricket ground but also a mix of sports and athletics that can be used by the local school and the community.

Leyton Cricket Ground was the first of hopefully many cricket based projects for gcp. We are currently also working on works to Bristol and Bradford Cricket facilities.

 

 

uwe enterprise studio launches academic research project based on gcp initiative

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Lawrence Weston Community Hub

A Healthy City Week 2016 event organised by gcp Chartered Architects has created a far ranging multi stage research project between University of the West of England Enterprise Studio and Ambition Lawrence Weston.  The project will look at the benefits the Lawrence Weston Community Hub will bring to the people of Lawrence Weston. The hub comprises of a range of public and voluntary sector services including a gp practice, pharmacy, public health offices, library, community rooms (meetings, dance, exercise etc), shared consulting rooms and office space for Ambition Lawrence Weston.

The project, to be undertaken by a number of Masters interns in successive years, will examine the benefit the hub is expected to deliver concerning community health and well-being. The project will look at three clear phases to the project, namely before, during and after implementation of the Hub with the first year of the study essentially a baseline and planning year.

Jonathan Platt, director at gcp, part of the wider research support group said

“Having been part of the original group that managed to safeguard the development site for the hub, we are delighted the potential benefits of such an intervention (the hub) are central to this research project. So often capital investments are committed without hard evidence as to the real benefits the idea will deliver. Hopefully this research will demonstrate that such One Public Estate projects can bring real benefits to both public finances, but also the host community they are designed to support”.

The project is expected to start on site in early 2018 with a planning completion before the end of the year.

A Community in Transition

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gcp have submitted a planning application on behalf of Ambition Lawrence Weston for a Community Hub.
 
Lawrence Weston Community Hub is a 'bottom-up' community-led development. It incorporates a doctors' surgery, pharmacy, café, library, studios, space for other health and council services, small businesses and a crèche.
 
Ambition Lawrence Weston is a resident-led Development Trust, established as part of the Community Planning process. Within the Community Plan, completed in 2013, residents expressed a desire for a new community facility.  With funding support from the HCA and SIB, the project has developed in close consultation with local people.
 
The Hub incorporates a fabric-first, low energy approach, reducing running costs for the future. The project is now part of the NHS future plan for primary care in North Bristol. A planning decision is due at the beginning of July 2015.
 
If you would like more information please contact Jonathan Platt.