Shortlisted for South West Building Excellence Awards 2019
Our affordable homes development in Mark for South Western Housing Society and built by EG Carter has been shortlisted as a finalist in two categories for the South West Building Excellence Awards 2019: Best Small New Housing Development and Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development!
25.03.19
Recently completed affordable rural housing designed by gcp Chartered Architects has won the ‘Best Affordable Housing’ category in the Somerset Local Authority Building Control Awards. The project, designed for South Western Housing Society and built by EG Carter Construction, provides 12 new homes for local families. gcp designed the homes to be comfortable and cheap to run, incorporating high levels of insulation with heating and hot water provided by ground-sourced heat pumps. Residents will enjoy low energy costs from a simple technology that is easy to operate and maintain.
Winner – Best Affordable Housing
Working with Stonewater, gcp have received planning permission for the construction of ten new affordable houses in Wiltshire. The new houses will form an extension to an existing Stonewater development of seven houses on the edge of the village of Sutton Benger.
New houses in Sutton Benger
Henacre Road, Bristol
During 2018, gcp has been continuing to work with Courtenay Investments on the strip back to shell refurbishment and extension of their 1950’s office block in Holborn, Central London. Enabling works are now complete and construction work proper will commence in Q1 2019.
Elizabeth House, Holborn
Four schemes have been progressing in Lawrence Weston in North West Bristol with ongoing design work for Ambition Lawrence Weston, Pioneer Medical Group and Bristol City Council to try and bring the vision of a community hub building to fruition. We are also working with social landlord Curo at Henacre Road and Corbett Close. The 128 home scheme at Henacre Road will be on site by Easter next year following a painstaking search for any unexploded ordnance scheduled for the New Year. The fourth scheme is for Bristol City Council to the rear of the Ridingleaze shops where we will have designed nine houses for social rent.
Henacre Road, Bristol
We have also been working on an inner-city housing scheme for Acorn Property Group at Brooks Dye Works in St. Werburghs, Bristol (106 units) and large rural schemes for Lindon Homes near Long Ashton (103 units for phase 1) and Stonewater at Northwick Farm near Worcester (62 units).
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been working with us on the development of their Urban Cricket Centre Concept, designed to bring playing opportunities to some of the most deprived post codes across East London, Birmingham and Bradford. The opening of the first site in East London is scheduled to coincide with the Cricket World Cup 2019.
ECB Urban Cricket Centre Concept
Halsall Construction continue to be a great supporter with design for projects completed at Silver Street in Willand and Station Road in Castle Carey. In Swindon we have been working with the football club’s community trust to bring about the construction of a new pavilion building to support their new artificial turf pitch at the County Ground site. In Malvern we have just secured planning consent for fourteen homes for c-t-s Construction and Broadway Heritage Ltd on the edge of a local conservation area in the grounds of a former convent.
Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust, Community Club Hub
It only remains for me on behalf of the Directors to express our warmest thanks to the staff, clients and fellow consultants who have made 2018 the most successful in our now 31 year history!
Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to you all.
Jeremy Pilling
Managing Director
gcp chartered Architects
View from public footpath towards Burthallan Farm (central to left of white gable end)
Burthallan Farm is a conversion of semi-derelict agricultural buildings to create a range of artists studios and managers residential accommodation on a prominent site on the edge of St Ives.
The site, unoccupied since 1927, occupies a prominent location within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); it is within the Green Belt and includes land down to the South West Coastal Path and beyond to the sea.
Working within the tight constraints of the St Ives Neighbourhood Development Plan 2015 – 2030 and the Cornwall Design Guide, the project seeks to build within the original envelope of the farm building formed of cob and granite, enhance the artist studio offer available in the area and provide a further boost to local tourism. The studios will include tuition space for painting and life drawings, private studios and space for sculpture.
A planning application is due to be submitted before the end of 2018 and if successful, it is anticipated the artists studios will be 40% funded by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Rural Tourism Infrastructure Growth Programme.
This is the third project undertaken for this client over a rewarding and successful ten-year period.
David Murray John tower block above the Brunel Centre
A feasibility study to explore potential redevelopment options for the David Murray John Building, an iconic 21 storey 1970’s tower block in the centre of Swindon situated above the Brunel Shopping Centre. Known as the Number One Wonder of Swindon, originally designed and built by the local authority, the building has over 3,500 sq metres of office accommodation on floors 2 to 13 and 72 flats from floors 14 to 21 flats. The office accommodation has been vacant for several years, the cladding has come to the end of its economic life and the services installations needs a major overhaul.
The study investigates a range of interventions including complete recladding and a wide range of alternative uses. The report sits with the council awaiting further instruction.
Community Club Hub for Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust
gcp Chartered Architects has been appointed by Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust to work with Beard Construction to develop a detailed design for the Football Foundation funded ‘Community Club Hub’ at the County Ground in Swindon.
The design team of Kilminster Beer, SDS Consulting and Method Consulting is well on the way to achieving a start on site in January next year. Swindon Borough Council will very shortly be completing the necessary pre-commencement highway improvement works.
The two- storey building amounting to 750m2 will accommodate four changing rooms to support the existing athletics track and a proposed floodlit all weather pitch as well as a café, clubroom, office space for the Trust and ancillary accommodation.
gcp are working for specialist contractor Rateavon on this is an external restoration project for two early 1960’s Bristol City Council tower blocks in sight of St Mary Redcliffe. This scheme includes window replacement, new roofing and complete redecoration.
Working within the constraints of two adjacent conservation areas, colour options to change the identity of the blocks away from established colour palette normally associated with affordable housing in the city have been carefully considered and discussed with the council’s conservation and planning officers before offering then to residents for comment.
Spencer and Norton are the 6th set of tower blocks we have worked on in the city since 2015 and over that time we have developed a detailed understanding of the issues associated with refurbishing these iconic buildings.
A planning application will be made before end of 2018 and works started October 2018 and are scheduled for completion by November 2019.
Spencer House from Bedminster Bridge roundabout
Avonmouth Community Centre proposed ground floor plan
Housed in a former Victorian primary school, Avonmouth Community Centre is a well used and much-loved community facility on the edge of Avonmouth Docks.
In line with council policy the management team were invited to bid to transfer the ownership via community asset transfer. With financial support from the Port Communities Resilience Fund the community association appointed gcp Chartered Architects to prepare a feasibility study to investigate the potential to increase revenue streams and secure existing tenancies for this popular community centre.
gcp devised a phased development plan that allowed for the progressive refurbishment as capital grants became available. Detailed design work are due to commence in the New Year.
Our latest rural housing scheme was handed over this week at Mark, Somerset.
The 10 new homes for South Western Housing Society are located on the edge of the village and form a lovely courtyard development providing a range of homes that include bungalows, houses and apartments, to cater for a range of housing needs.
The development is already fully let to people from the local area - excited to be moving in to these light and spacious homes. The development has been constructed by EG Carter Construction with a really excellent standard of finish. The homes have heating and hot water provided by Ground-Source Heat Pumps; which will keep energy costs to a minimum.
This development provides an excellent benchmark for affordable rural housing.
gcp Chartered Architects is looking to recruit an architectural technologist with at least three year’s experience producing construction information on multiple unit housing projects accurately and to demanding deadlines. Experience of AutoCad and Revit would be a distinct advantage. If you are interested in this post with salary commensurate with qualifications and experience then please contact me at jeremy.pilling@gcparch.co.uk in the first instance. No agencies please.
gcp is pleased to welcome Olia Kyritsi to the team!
Olia is a Chartered Architect, with 5 years working experience on residential, retirement living and commercial schemes, work spaces and leisure centres.
She holds a MArch from the National Technical University of Athens and an MSC on Environmental Design of Buildings from the Welsh School of Architecture.
Both she and Matt Bonney join at the start of a busy - and exciting - summer period for gcp.
gcp is pleased to welcome Matt Bonney to the team!
Matt is a recently qualified architect who previously worked for 360 Architecture in Glasgow. He graduated from Strathclyde University in 2016, where his studies focused on developing sustainable buildings with inter-seasonal energy storage.
Avon Valley Adventure & Wildlife Park has been invited by the Rural Development Programme to the next stage of grant funding application, which will help to provide new and improved facilities at the park. We’re excited to continue supporting Avon Valley Adventure & Wildlife Park in this, with the detailed application due in late September.
Competition Display Boards for Glencoyne Square Redevelopment
Southmead Development Trust invited architects and design teams to register their interest in taking part in a limited design competition for the redevelopment of the Glencoyne Square area of Southmead.
gcp Chartered Architects teamed up with Alec French Architects and McGregor Coxall Landscape and Urban Design Consultants to prepare a strong submission from Bristol-based design companies. The team was one of four shortlisted practices selected to develop their ideas through to a public and stakeholder consultation carried out over three days last week. This exercise created good interest from stakeholders and the local community, where there is an enthusiasm to support change and develop new facilities around the Glencoyne Square area. This exciting project could have wide-ranging benefits, supporting community organisations, local shops and traders, creating opportunities for new housing and community facilities and regenerating the infrastructure of the area.
All four design teams were challenged to explain and justify their ideas and approach. Southmead Development Trust are expected to announce a preferred design team to move forward for the next stage of the project that will include detailed consultation and planning applications.
Public consultation underway at the Greenway Centre
gcp are working with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), to support the delivery of their recently launched 11-point action plan to better engage with South Asian communities, which aims to diversify the game, remove barriers to participation and use cricket to make a positive difference to society.
Through the creation of the action plan, ECB identified that the most significant barrier to South Asian participation is limited access to cricket facilities in urban areas – where the vast majority of these communities live. To address this, ECB plans to provide year-round access to facilities, tackling the challenges of availability, quality and cost, by installing affordable community cricket facilities in urban locations where demand is highest. A key component of this action, is the piloting of three indoor Urban Cricket Centres during the next two years, with the ambition of creating more than 20 Centres over the next five years.
gcp have worked alongside ECB to develop the Urban Cricket Centre delivery model, and Ridge and Partners have worked with gcp and ECB to advise on costs.
This exciting opportunity follows up on gcp’s previous work with the ECB to develop the technical guidance note for indoor cricket facilities.
20+ new Urban Cricket Centres to be developed by 2024
gcp have been appointed by Curo Group to develop proposals for two large residential developments in Lawrence Weston which will deliver much needed affordable homes for sale and rent in this part of the city. The first main site for 128 new homes has been developed following detailed consultation with Bristol City Council and the local community.
Working closely with Curo Group and Planning Consultants GL Hearn, gcp developed detailed proposals that have been submitted and registered for planning consideration. This project will create a range of family homes in a landscaped setting that will provide a great place to live and excellent affordability for young people looking for their first property.
Site plan showing new homes and landscape setting.
You'll know from previous blog posts and correspondence that gcp are really proud of our Quality and Environmental Management System. We are committed to continually improving our systems and procedures. At the core of this is a drive to be innovative, efficient and forward-facing - we are dedicated to a high standard of customer service.
Following on from the integration of ISO14001 to our system in 2016, we have just completed a successful transition audit for ISO9001:2015 and ISO14001:2015 in line with the new Annexe SL format.
This continues a long-running history of successful compliance audits and builds on a continued desire for this system to be a robust management tool.
We would like to thank all members of staff, who always approach audits with diligence and good humour; continuing to be at the heart of the extended success of our system.
