Sport & Leisure

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.

First Urban Cricket Centre opens in Leyton

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Leyton County Ground host the first in a series of new Urban Cricket Centres being planned be the England & Wales Cricket Board. Developed in association with the London Borough of Waltham Forest, new £1.7 million facility is the first of three pilots ahead of a roll out of up to create 20 new Urban Cricket Centres in major urban areas as part of the ECB’s 2020-2024 ‘Inspiring Generations’ strategy.

 

The ECB’s six-point strategy to secure the long-term future of the sport in England and Wales seeks to broaden the appeal of cricket to new audiences, transform women and girl’s cricket, inspire through our elite teams and support local communities.

 

gcp worked closely with the ECB on the development of the Urban Cricket Centre concept, before devising a site selection strategy to identify the first Urban Cricket Centre pilot site. The idea behind each centre is to increase the profile of the cricket to residents in city locations and attract greater diversity in the sport at grass roots level. A key element of the project is creating a space for the local community to socialise and engage with cricket in all its forms.

 

The Leyton Ground pilot involved the refurbishment of an existing 1905’s sports hall.  The design and construction of indoor cricket facilities has a focus on the flatness of the flooring; flicker free, high quality lighting and flexible configuration of netting all delivered to the exacting standard defined by the ECB. The aim was to create a first-class cricket centre in East London with the opportunities to play cricket in multiple formats. The project, commissioned in January 2019, was opened by Graham Gooch just over 6 months later, the day after the England vs Australia ODI match at Lords.

Watch Lord Kamlesh Patel bowling to former England batsman Graham Gooch at the opening of Leyton Urban Cricket Club.

The next Urban cricket centre pilots of likely to be in West Yorkshire and Birmingham.

Click here to read about the work we are doing at Bristol Cricket Centre.

Bristol County Ground ready for T20 Series

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Bristol Cricket Centre: photos of new indoor nets ready for T20 series

The County Ground is being transformed in time for the new T20 series with street art by Silent Hobo and the launch of the Bristol Cricket Centre.

The transformation work is part of a package of initiatives to modernise facilities around the ground that includes the redevelopment of the indoor practice net facility and confirming Bristol as an international cricket venue. The indoor nets, rebranded as Bristol Cricket Centre, have been designed to the ECB’s international practice standard. The work for the County Ground is one of several cricket project gcp have supported during this fantastic summer for cricket, with our main commission working directly for the ECB in developing their Urban Cricket Centre concept.

Click here to read about the first Urban Cricket Centre opening in Leyton, another project gcp are working on for the ECB.

Women in Property visit Foundation Park

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On 10 July, Women in Property hosted a site visit and networking opportunity at Foundation Park, Swindon. If you’ve been following us on Twitter or Instagram, you will have seen activity around this project we are working on for Swindon Town Football Club Community Foundation. You might have even read this round-up blog written by James Pilling.

Contractor Beard Construction organised this event through Women in Property and gcp were delighted to be able to attend. James, who has been heavily involved in this project, took colleague Esther and Architecture student Martha along to tour the site.

Esther said of the visit:

This was a fantastic opportunity to learn about the journey of Foundation Park – a project that will drastically change and uplift the area. Jon Holloway spoke of the struggles with planning and the challenges STFC Community Foundation faced to get enough funding to get the project started.

It was great to hear the passion he has, not only for this project, but the whole team. And in return, how much dedication the whole team involved have for Foundation Park.

It was great to hear him speak with such enthusiasm about this project and it really felt like that passion was replicated through the wider team as well.  

We were taken around the construction site and Dean Barnett from Beard answered many of our questions about particular construction points, helping us gain a deeper understanding about the process they have been through on site to date. Most people at the event were local to the area and it was a good opportunity to chat with them and to better understand what this project means to the wider community.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable and informative event and a great opportunity to see, what will surely be an iconic project, being constructed.

Meet the Team: Olia Kyritsi

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Images by Olia: The relaxing effect of the Aegean blue, Arabic architecture and the microclimate of open spaces, Getting lost in the colourful souks of Marrakesh

Architect Olia Kyritsi joined gcp last year at the start of a very busy summer period. Olia has 6 years working experience on residential, retirement living and commercial schemes, workspaces 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.

Olia is celebrating her first-year anniversary this week so we took a little bit of time to find out more about her.  

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Hey Olia. Let’s jump right in with what inspired you to pursue architecture.

The idea that I will be an artist and an engineer at the same time…

So, if you weren’t an architect, what do you think you would you be?

Possibly a mathematician who writes cooking books in her spare time.

And an answer like that is exactly what makes you such a fun and interesting member of the team! How about your best moment at gcp in the last year?

Accepting the job offer and joining the gcp family.

I forgot to add delightful to the list above! You’ve brought a cheerful and calming influence to our side of the office for sure.

Tell us, what do you like to do in your spare time? Travelling in order to explore new cultures or cooking for friends.

And what’s your proudest personal achievement?

Surviving through my 7 year-long architectural studies.

We are pleased you did and even more so that you accepted the offer of joining our gang! Thanks for your time today Olia, just to finish could you tell us something we might not know about you?

My wardrobe is colour coordinated…

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Olia has been working closely with Jeremy Pilling this year on Bristol Down’s iconic Water Tower. She has been involved in our ongoing work at Trinity Community Arts Centre and working with Fare Share on their office redevelopment. Outside of her architectural work in the office, Olia attends many local CPD’s, industry talks and networking, connect on linked in if you’d like to catch up with her at an event.

Olia is a keen photographer and is often seen taking pictures at our gcp enrichment, industry and social events.

Keep an eye on our blog for more staff interviews over the coming weeks, the summer is a popular time to join our team!

Laying the foundations

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Foundation Park site progress

Foundation Park site progress

With the technical design now complete, we continue to support Beard Construction on site delivering this new community facility for Swindon Town Football Club Community Foundation.

 

We are now coming to the end of week 18 on this fast-moving project and have already experienced all four seasons. The guys on site have been doing a fantastic job of late, battling through some tough conditions, with the superstructure really starting to take shape.

 

There has been some impressive workmanship on site with one moment standing out, an apprentice carpenter forming the neat shuttering for the raft foundation. It’s always great to see new talent entering the industry.

 

The next few weeks will see a big change in appearance, with the standing seam roof on and the first fix trades moving in. We are excited to see the progress, keep up the good work team!

Foundation Park site progress photos

Meet the Team: Matt Bonney

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matt bonney

Architect Matt Bonney is celebrating his first-year anniversary with gcp. He joined us last year from 360 Architecture in Glasgow. Matt graduated Strathclyde University in 2016, where his studies focused on developing sustainable buildings with inter-seasonal energy storage.

We wanted to get to know Matt a little better, so asked him a few questions!

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So Matt, what inspired you to pursue architecture?

Meccano, K-nex and Lego along with a desire to create and an infinite imagination.

and if you weren’t an architect, what would you be?

Set designer or carpenter.

Can you tell us what’s your best moment at gcp in the last year?

The build up to Christmas!

Matt joins a long list of gcp employees who have a competitive streak - in the run up to Christmas last year we ran several games and challenges amongst the team to win chocolate, wine and - more importantly - glory!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Cycling or anything sporty really (not sure if appropriate but I also create beer pong tables as a side project).

Certainly interesting though! So, what’s your proudest personal achievement?

A-level art – creating a full-sized grand piano out of match sticks and coloured PVA (photos available)

And attached to this blog! Thanks for your time Matt, just to wrap up could you tell us your favourite project that you’ve worked on to date.

Leyton Urban Cricket Hub.

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Matt has worked on some interesting projects since starting with gcp, including Bristol County Ground, Bristol Tower blocks and the Urban Cricket Hub in Leyton. Outside of his architectural work in the office, he is on both our media and events groups; personally, he has just returned from a cycling expedition through the Alps.

 

Keep an eye on our blog for more staff interviews over the coming weeks.

  



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 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) is would extend the hall allowing the bowlers a longer run-up in line 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.

2018 Recap & Merry Christmas !

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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

Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust ‘Community Club Hub’

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Community Club Hub for Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust

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.

Next stage for Avon Valley Adventure & Wildlife Park funding application!

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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.

gcp working with the ECB

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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