Sport & Leisure

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

Complete: Westbury Swimarium

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Sarah Harris and Rick Johnstone, of the Swim School Ltd, came to gcp with a challenge: to design and deliver their ‘Swimarium’ in Westbury, Wiltshire. Being a retrofit of a former warehouse made the brief a little unusual.  The pool itself had already been procured, leaving the challenge of accommodating the ancillary facilities and plant in the remaining space.

The pool occupies approximately a 100m2 footprint, within a building that has a 230m2 gross internal area. Necessary accommodation also included: An entrance hallway, an accessible wc, 2 changing rooms, a viewing gallery, lockers, a plant room, a chemical store, raised teaching walkways and compliant escape routes; making the spatial tolerances are extremely fine. 

gcp undertook all the design work from the initial feasibility study through to concept, planning and technical design stage. The warehouse underwent an extensive thermal and structural upgrade, with half the roof accommodating solar pv panels. gcp also supported the construction team throughout, with the design calling for some unique detailing around the piled pool slab, teaching walkways and external walls. All credit goes to the contractor, Hill Project Management, who ran the build stage diligently and professionally, under significant time constraints.

Recently we were also pleased to be invited along to the grand opening. With a long waiting list and thousands of satisfied customers, we hope that this will be one of many more Swimariums to come!

End of Year Wrap Up: 2022

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2022 has seen the “new normal” become the normal-normal, with hybrid working and remote meetings just a part of everyday life now. With bubble-working and office closures a thing of the past, the word of the year at gcp has been collaboration. We have really enjoyed being back in the office together, sharing stories and cakes at our Monday huddles and using our new whiteboard space for design workshops.

We started the year by offsetting carbon emissions: a frosty January day was spent planting trees with Avon Needs Trees. gcp are committed to tackling climate change both through our designs and our actions. We hope to build off this initial planting session by further developing our carbon tracking, reduction, reporting, and offsetting strategies to better understand how we can make a difference.

In February we celebrated national apprenticeship week, with architectural apprentice Owen Faunt. We are pleased to be supporting Owen through his Architectural Apprenticeship at South Bank University, London. We love discussing his projects and seeing his finished work and are incredibly proud of how far he’s come since his change of careers 3 years ago.

Part of his experience this year was the chance to work on The Ranch, Southmead, with DIY SOS. gcp helped with the overarching vision and Owen got the chance to put his amazing sketching skills to work.

Team challenges form the cornerstone of office morale here at gcp, and in March we split into team-bikes and team-books to see who could go the furthest – readers or cyclists. Team reading easily beat the cyclists, though with their many pub lunch cycles clocked up, who was the real winning team?!

In July, some of the staff, their partners and families took a relaxing weekend trip to Devon and in September we celebrated the company’s 30th birthday with our favorite memories and a huge cake.

2022 has seen a boom in recent sports project experience. gcp were proud to help bring a top class sporting facility to West London, with the completion of a fantastic cricket centre developed in conjunction with the Wilf Slack Trust, Middlesex Cricket and Willam Perkins School. We have some more exciting sports projects on the program for 2023!

Our long-running relationship with Curo continued this year, with Century Park a 128 unit scheme progressing well on site. This scheme has received great press and is a finalist in Bristol Property Awards, for Residential Development.

Alongside marking a continued relationship with Curo, we were pleased to be working with EG Carters, a partnership which has been ongoing for over 18 years. We have worked closely with the EG Carter team over the years to find practical development solutions for often tricky sites across the South West.

Our first project together (back in 2004!) was a small infill housing project in a dense urban neighbourhood in Bristol. Current projects include Rural Exception sites in Somerset and Wiltshire where we have worked closely with the E G Carter team, jointly negotiating our way through complex planning, land and environmental issues, to deliver needed affordable homes that are welcomed by the local community.

We celebrated with Acorn Property Group and Halsall the completion of Brooks Dye Works, a 113-home regeneration project in St Werburghs, Bristol.

Our initial contact with Acorn began when we supported Halsall Construction on the Otters Holt development in Ottery St Mary, a complex brownfield development in a conservation area. Acorn subsequently approached us to resolve planning conditions and provide technical design for their major project at the old Brooks Laundry in Bristol. Alongside architectural design we also provided energy assessments to meet Acorn's performance targets through our in-house energy consultancy.

Alongside our continued housing experience and exciting sports projects, we have been working on Retrofit in the Forest of Dean. At the CIH conference in September, Tom Mellor presented alongside Curtins, Two Rivers and Rider Levett Bucknall as part of the “Bristol Retrofit Collective” speaking to Demystify PAS2035. We will be running some further seminars on this subject in the New Year, so please get in touch if you’d like to get added to the list.

All in all, it’s been a busy year for gcp and we rounded it off with a lovely Christmas meal in Bristol last week. After a busy few months, it was lovely to gather around the table, enjoy good food and even better company and raise a glass to the success of our small team over the year.

We can’t wait to see what is in store for us and for you, in 2023.

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

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. ”

ECB Bradford Accessibility Review

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Making cricket facilities accessible: 3 things we have learnt

Accessibility and inclusivity are fundamental requirements for the ECB when developing any new or refurbished facilities. In 2019 the ECB launched their Inspiring Generations (2020-2024) strategy which looked to deliver on six objectives:

·         Grow and nurture the core

·         Inspire through elite teams

·         Make cricket accessible

·         Engage children and young people

·         Transform women’s and girls’ cricket

·         Support our communities

Urban Cricket Centres (UCC) provide a unique opportunity to deliver on many of these objectives, but to fully reap the benefit of these high aspirations, due consideration should be taken at an early design stage.

For the first UCC in Leyton, East London, achieving any accessibility goals were particularly challenging due to the nature of the existing buildings. Through careful planning, we managed to reimagine the existing buildings to provide; a range of improvements including a range of accessible gender neutral changing spaces for individuals, small groups and teams; lift access to a first-floor viewing area which now includes Perspex panels to allow for uninterrupted views from a wheelchair, a dedicated faith room, and step free access around the entire facility. Elsewhere on the site two further changing rooms were refurbished to provide flexible changing for the outdoor cricket / football pitches as well as introducing new referee and accessible changing facilities again with step free access to make the whole site fully accessible.

Working on the design stage of the second UCC in Bradford even more scope for inclusivity was available to the design team as the scheme needed a new entrance and circulation routes for the centre. Through collaboration with Jane Simpson Access at scheme design stage,  the project provides first class accessibility through having: accessible WCs on every level, providing dedicated accessible changing, improving the existing changing to allow for ambulant WCs and showers, increasing the size of circulation routes and sizing the lift to accommodate sports wheelchairs, and providing additional accessible parking spaces and ensuing step free access to the facility.

Refurbishing existing buildings to improve accessibility comes with its challenges, but these changes are fundamental to creating Urban Cricket Centres which truly serve all of their communities. The top three things learnt from these projects are:

1.       Ensure accessibility is fully discussed by key stakeholders and is integral to the client briefing stage

2.       Engage an appropriately qualified access consultant as part of the design team early in the development process

3.       Ensure the true cost of the access improvements are picked up in the cost planning process, and provide the client with specific cost advice on the access enhancement as they might be able to attract specific funding for features that go beyond the minimum requirement of the Building Regulations

To further support the design and management of cricket facilities, the ECB has created a suite of documents including a guide, survey form and facility check list as part of their drive to Create Welcoming Environments. These guides are equally applicable to any sports facility.

Mezzanine Guardrail sketch review

Investigations into whole life carbon analysis

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gcp are always looking for ways to improve as a business. For years we have analysed the operational energy of our designs, but now we are starting to review our performance as a business by setting up our own carbon strategy which looks at tracking, reducing, and offsetting our carbon emissions. Currently we can track our scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions, however the elephant in the room for design and construction businesses currently is scope 3 emissions and specifically whole life carbon in the buildings we design.

Whole life carbon analysis is currently quite challenging due to the wide range of calculators available, and the level of detail required to accurately measure embodied carbon. Gcp have recently trialed three pieces of software to inform how we can perform embodied carbon assessments in the future. The results from one of these are listed below.

We took Foundation Park Pavilion, Swindon as the test project and ran it through the carbon assessment software to see how much carbon is embodied within the construction. We then ran the same project with a CLT frame rather than traditional construction and 70% GGBS in the concrete mix to see the impact. The conclusion was that using CLT and cement substitutes would have given a 66% decrease in embodied carbon and pushed the design well beyond the RIBA 2030 Challenge standard. [Calculations using FCBStudios carbon assessment tool].

This new form of building analysis can be implemented from Stage 0 and help to inform decisions around construction type, finishes, servicing etc. Moving forward we will be looking to integrate this analysis into our design process to better inform clients and improve the performance of their buildings.

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

Foundation Park Dome - a fantastic new facility on the horizon.

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Following the successful delivery of Foundation Park Pavilion, we are excited to be supporting Swindon Town Football Club Community Foundation again.  

“We are very excited to announce that we have now formally submitted a planning application to build a covered sports facility on the disused bowls club at Foundation Park.

This covered facility would be another fantastic addition to the sporting hub at Foundation Park, offering more opportunities to the people of Swindon.
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— Swindon Town Football Club Community Foundation

The site, occupied by Swindon Borough Council, is located on the north side of the newly built Foundation Park Pavilion. The site is 0.31hectares and had been used by County Ground Bowls Club, which was founded in 1925 until 2017. For the last three years the site has been disused and left abandoned.

The choice of site is driven by its adjacency to Swindon Town F.C Community Foundation’s new ‘state of the art’ pavilion building. The new site will offer immediate adjacency to allow for the further expansion of the foundation.

The proposals are for an engineered covered structure and specialist all-weather multi-sports facility. There will be three small-sized sports pitches, two running east to west with a full-size 5-a-side football pitch running north to south. The proposals include a glulam structure with a tensile covering which will be translucent to allow natural light into the facility, with the materials used on the bowls club refurbishment will match the cladding used on the adjacent pavilion building.

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New covered pitch proposals with existing pavilion in foreground.

New covered pitch proposals with existing pavilion in foreground.

The development’s primary objective is to serve the needs of the local people in Swindon. The Community Foundation provides fantastic support to the people of Swindon to improve their physical and mental well-being. This facility will provide a platform for people to thrive.

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.

 

2020 Favourites: Urban Cricket Centre

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“I chose this project because it is the first project I have taken from concept to completion with gcp. It is also the first pilot scheme in the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) exciting Urban Cricket Centre Initiative (UCCI) which aims to increase community engagement with cricket, but more importantly sports, health, and wellbeing. Refurbishing an existing building under an accelerated programme created various challenges to solve but working closely with fantastic design and construction teams meant that Phase 1 was opened as part of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, with Phase 2/3 following in Summer 2020. Our client (ECB) and the end user (Waltham Forest) have been delighted with the transformation. We hope to achieve similar success on the future UCCI centres across the UK.”
— Matt Bonney, gcp
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We asked everyone in the office to name their favourite project of 2020. Matt has worked on several cricket schemes over the past 2 years so no wonder this makes the list of his favourite project.

2020 Favourites: Downend & Frenchay Pavilion

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“We have a number of sports enthusiasts here at gcp and so it’s always a delight to design facilities to support sport in the community. We’ve been working with Downend & Frenchay Tennis Club to deliver a new pavilion to cater for their growing membership and exciting programmes. We share a passion for sustainable communities with the client and are looking at ways to make the pavilion as self-sufficient as possible with regards to energy generation and use.”
— Sarah Makroum, gcp
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We asked everyone in the office to name their favourite project of 2020. Sarah couldn’t decide on her favourite so along with Radford Cottage (8th December), she also enjoyed working on Downend & Frenchay Tennis Pavilion.

Leyton achieves completion - a personal account from Lead Architect, Matt Bonney.

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Building work has recently completed on Phase 2 and 3 of the Urban Cricket Centre in Leyton. gcp Chartered Architects have again worked alongside the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Waltham Forest Council to create this multi-purpose facility for the community of Leyton, complimenting Phase 1 of the scheme that completed during the Cricket World Cup in 2019. 

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The remodelling of these existing buildings reflects the priorities of the ECB's South Asian Communities Action Plan which look to 'focus on youth participation and provide a haven of cricket in the local community'. As well as supporting an international standard indoor cricket facility, the Urban Cricket Centre provides ‘wider societal benefits by providing an accessible space for a range of partners to run community projects'. 

Working with existing buildings provides a series of great challenges/opportunities to fuse a new programme with an existing structure. Constraints often lead to interesting design opportunities which may otherwise not be explored with a new build. Leyton Urban Cricket Centre was no different in this respect and the initial constraints became my favourite aspects of the finished building. 

One key challenge with this design was linking the two existing buildings in a way which extended and improved the circulation routes without overcomplicating the wayfinding. This was achieved by moving the reception closer to the main entrance and increasing the central circulation space, providing a more welcoming entrance with uninterrupted views to the new sports hall link. Expanding the heart of the building created a space for informal interaction which is important for any community building.

Another opportunity presented by the unique layout was for connections between the sports hall and neighbouring classroom. Breaking through the intermediary wall allowed for the classroom to be transformed into a club room with excellent views to both the indoor cricket facility and outdoor pitch. 

My favourite part of this project was seeing Phase 1 up and running whilst working on Phase 2 and 3. It was incredibly rewarding to see the community engaging with the cricket centre as intended. Leyton Urban Cricket Centre is currently operating at a greatly reduced capacity due to the pandemic, however, I hope we have created a facility which will help the community come together and grow once the restrictions are lifted. 

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Bristol County Cricket: a summer of cricket for gcp

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On the 21st April 2019 we were appointed to help Gloucestershire Country Cricket Club deliver Phase 1 of this fast-paced project for England v Pakistan ODI on May 14th. Phase 1 has been designed to improve the existing indoor practice hall with a new configuration of bowling lanes, nets and LED lighting adopting the ECB’s latest format standards encapsulated in their 2019-2023 Inspiring Generation strategy.

The bowling and batting ends have now been switched creating a safer entrance approach to the hall with new padding up and bag drop areas with IT enhanced coaching aids. The new lights are the very first LED, ECB approved installation designed to provide 1500 lux in the practice nets.

gcp worked closely with Ridge & Partners (QS) and Griffiths Evans (Lighting Engineers) and 21st Century Building Services to deliver Phase 1.

Phase 2 (yet to be instructed) would extend the hall allowing the bowlers a longer run-up in line with ECB technical design standards.

gcp are also working directly for the ECB to deliver a new Urban Cricket Centre in Leyton, East London in time for the Cricket World Cup being hosted in England throughout this summer.

Planning Consent secured for Downend and Frenchay Tennis Club’s new clubroom

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tennis clubroom sketch

gcp has secured planning consent in the Green Belt for a new clubroom at Downend and Frenchay Tennis Club. This exciting project will provide much-needed indoor facilities for the club, as well as a covered external viewing gallery. Technical design stage starting soon!

 

We are passionate at gcp about designing places for sport and leisure; this clubroom is the latest in a string of projects for clients including England and Wales Cricket Board, Swindon Town Football Club Foundation and various Local Authorities.  

tennis clubroom sketch 2

Yule Log

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December has brought completion of a couple of our larger commercial projects of 2019.  Elizabeth House was the strip-out, extension and refurbishment of a seven floor office building next to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, City of London.  The project was supervised by Tom Mellor under a traditional contract for long-standing client Courtenay Investments Ltd. Foundation Park is a new sports pavilion for Swindon Town Football Club Foundation Trust on the County Ground site.  The building was rationalised within the parameters of an existing planning consent and the final design features a standing-seam single plane inclined roof giving the building its unique appearance. The construction phase was managed by James Pilling and Martin Spear.

Back in Warmley, the office is now seventeen strong with the arrival of tired ‘new dad’ Tom Hubbard as a senior technician and irrepressible ‘old dad’ Owen Faunt joining recently as our first ever architectural apprentice.  Owen disappears once a week to allegedly attend college at London South Bank University.  He was an insurance underwriter until recently and tells me he is working hard and very much enjoying his change of career.  Thanks for your secret santa present Owen!  Martha Eustace joined us on placement for six months over the summer doing a brilliant job of trying to make head or tail of our new marketing strategy and has now returned to her third year studies at the University of Bath for a well-earned rest.  James Pilling is close to completing his Architecture Part 1 distance learning course and Sarah Makroum has successfully completed her first year architecture Diploma, both at Oxford Brookes University.  Esther Brown is due to qualify as an architect early next year.

Housing projects continue to flourish with large schemes for Acorn at the former Brooks Dyeworks site in Ashley Down with the team very ably led by Siobhan Tarr; for Curo at Henacre Road in Lawrence Weston with Sarah Makroum; for Stonewater at Northwick Farm near Worcester with Olia Kyritsi; and for Mi-Space working for Nationwide in Swindon at Oakfield, a construction phase scheme with Jon Briscoe.  Ranelagh Road in Malvern for Broadway Estates and c-t-s Construction run by Esther Brown and Martin Spear is due to complete in the spring.   

We have also been busy with a couple of individual PassivHaus projects too, achieving completion of Homelands in Dundry, a private house with fantastic views north over Bristol and to the Suspension Bridge and Severn Bridges beyond, and the start on site at Clover Place in Eynsham, Oxfordshire. All in all, we reckon that we have 1,216 individual housing units either on the ‘drawing board’ or under construction, boosted by our continuing programme of refurbishment of mid and high-rise council flats in Bristol co-ordinated in necessary painstaking detail by Michael Hanson.

Work with the England and Wales Cricket Board continues apace with successful completion of phase 1 at Leyton, East London, the conversion of an existing facility to create an indoor cricket centre opened by local legend, Graham Gooch.  Phase 2 in Leyton, run by Matt Bonney and further inner city projects in Bradford and Birmingham are due to come on stream in 2020.

We have also made fantastic progress with our instagram presence, masterminded by Esther Brown, and our blog by Natalie Lock, our long-suffering practice manager. Maria Steward, our office manager, has worked tirelessly to keep us all under some sort of control, usually remembers to pay us on time, and has checked the car park out on a regular basis throughout the year come rain or shine. In Autumn it was announced that we had won the small employer category of the Travelwest Business Travel Awards 2019. Well done everyone who braved the cycle path or waited for a bus over the summer.  The winnings were donated to Mind UK our chosen charity for the year.

On the social side we have tried to organise an event most months during the year with the highlights being a tough ten peaks hike in typically horrendous August weather in the Brecon Beacons; a mid-summer weekend (not) camping, eating, walking, swimming and drinking at Star Cottage on the Devon coast, courtesy of the Mellor family; and a couple of trips to Bath Races to blow the company profits.  The programme for 2020 is already in the planning with talk of axe throwing ( not in the office ) soon after Christmas, a casino night at the wonderful Kings Weston House in the spring, a vineyard visit ( unfortunately only to Somerset ) in the summer and a revival of our successful charity quiz night in the Autumn – bring your torches.

Siobhan Tarr continues to lead on our impressive variety of in house and RIBA organised CPD sessions.  We held a fascinating half day training session recently run by Mind UK, which really brought home our vulnerability to mental ill health at work.    

2019 has been very busy, challenging and rewarding in equal measure and with much more staff involvement in managing and marketing the business.  With our plans to convert to full employee ownership well under way, we have much to look forward to in 2020.  My thanks, as always, go to my fellow directors, Colin Powell and Jon Platt, and to a dedicated hard-working team of very talented individuals.

To our existing clients we hope you will give us the opportunity to work with you again next year and if you have not worked with us before please give us a call and we will do our very best to do a great job for you.

Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.

Jeremy Pilling

Managing Director

 

Downend & Frenchay Tennis Club

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Located within the grounds of Frenchay Cricket Club, at the bottom of the M32, in Bristol, this scheme has been planned to develop a club room for Downend & Frenchay Tennis Club, which relocated to the site in 2015. The club room is needed to support the growing junior & senior memberships along with increasing diversity of tennis opportunities for all ages, abilities, & disabilities. The Club introduced the use of Clubspark both to manage membership, course bookings, & court bookings, & recently added non member Pay & Play options. The project would enable bad weather coaching to take place in the club room, using video technology as a coaching tool, a dry, warm area for visitors & parents to wait, a social area for all members to enjoy, & provide toilets & a small changing facility.

 

By working with Frenchay Cricket Club, the tennis club have devised a combined ‘off grid’ sustainable foul drainage solution that will serve both clubs.

 

It is anticipated a Planning Application will be submitted in Autumn 2019 after which time the club will prepare and submit capital funding applications to appropriate funding sources which include South Gloucestershire Council Section 106  funds.

Inspiring Generations: Parity in the Game

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Parity in the game = driving up participation

In January 2019, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) unveiled the Inspiring Generations strategy. The strategy highlights key areas within the game where improvements could be made between 2020-24 to increase participation.

Of the six areas for improvement, the ‘biggest growth opportunity’ came from transforming women’s and girl’s cricket. The Inspiring Generations report identified that despite England Women winning the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup in Bristol, 35% of women questioned say “there is no cricket available for them”. Increasing numbers of women and girls are playing cricket recreationally, and whilst the desire exists, the infrastructure is frequently lacking.

In December 2018, gcp were appointed by the ECB to work on the first pilot Urban Cricket Centre in Leyton. The brief for this new cricket concept pilot was to embody the opportunities identified in both the Inspiring Generations strategy and the earlier South Asian Action Plan. One of the challenges facing gcp was to redesign an existing ‘male/ female’ changing facility to accommodate all genders taking account of any cultural sensitivities surrounding changing.

The Leyton Urban Cricket Centre pilot opened in July 2019, providing a new home for Essex Women’s XI as well as training facilities for many local schools and clubs.