Duxford Officer's Mess Business Centre wins regional BCO Refurbishment Award

The refurbishment and conversion of the Officer's Mess at IWM Duxford has been selected for a regional award. The British Council for Offices (BCO) judges were impressed by the transformation of the listed Officer’s Mess building in IWM Duxford, from its’ previous condition of disrepair and into the vibrant and thriving Officers' Mess Business Centre.

The judges highlighted that a vast central atrium has been created within the heart of the complex in a previously derelict external courtyard, housing a business centre, reception café and co-working facilities. They added that the building now offers well-appointed workspace within an inspiring heritage setting, perfect for serviced offices.

The project now goes forward for a national award in October.

Please follow this link for further information, from the BCO website: http://www.bco.org.uk/Awards/Winners/2017/Refurbished_Workplace_2017.aspx

Work underway at Winchester College

CGA have developed designs for the renovation, conversion and development of a site in central Winchester, for Winchester College. The proposal will create 11 new dwellings, with associated landscaping.

After several months delay due to a comprehensive archaeological investigation, piling work is now underway on site, and the project is due for completion in Spring 2018.

Stonehenge Visitor Centre

We are proud to be working on £2.4m additional facilities at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre, to enable smooth processing and onward transit of the many hundreds of thousands of annual visitors, with up to 10,000 visitors per day. We developed the project from RIBA 2 prepared by another architect. We reworked the shuttle system with new platforms and loops to streamline the visitor flows, and at the same time expanded the coach park and designed a new ancillary building providing group ticketing, audio guides and generous WC provision to cater for coach groups.

The work here has naturally been closely scrutinised by Historic England due to its internationally significant archaeological setting and at the same time the design has had to satisfy the practical day to day requirements of the site team keen to ensure that their significant operational difficulties experienced during the busiest periods are minimised.

Work was completed to programme which opened up the operation of the new expanded coach park and shuttle system for the recent Easter holiday with reports that the new set up is working well. The remaining elements of the project will be completed in the next few months. 

New Visitor Centre for Suffolk Wildlife Trust

The Practice is currently developing the RIBA stage 3 design of a new visitor centre and associated infrastucture for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust at their Carlton and Oulton Marshes site near Lowestoft, Suffolk.

CGA won a competition to design a new building that is to provide an inspirational gateway to the Southern Broads. The building will be highly sustainable built from cross laminated timber and clad in reed thatch walling and a bronze roof.

Two projects shortlisted for RIBA East Awards 2017

The practice is pleased to report that two recently completed projects have been shortlisted for this year's RIBA East Awards:

Westering House, a contemporary private residence on the North Norfolk Coast:

Westering House, North Norfolk

Residential care accommodation at The Great Hospital, Norwich:

The Great Hospital, Norwich

The full shortlist was reported by The Architect's Journal, and can be viewed here:

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/revealed-huge-shortlist-for-2017-riba-east-awards/10018512.article#.WNTVyBKZBAo.twitter

Retail, Community & Arts scheme secures consent in coastal Essex location

Cowper Griffith is developing designs for a café, retail and arts complex designed to offer local produce, locally sourced dining and to support a thriving local arts scene in this coastal, village location.

Ultimately, the site – which includes a former ‘pick your own’ facility – will generate its own crops both for retail and on-site dining, whilst a converted and refurbished café will provide an arts studio space for a variety of local groups.

The design references existing, local agricultural structures which are characterised by their modest scale, ad hoc layout and strictly limited palette of black timber and corrugated metal sheet. We expect to be on site later in 2017.

Heckington Mill Progress

The new Visitor facilities at Heckington Windmill are progressing well on site. All of the buildings are now watertight and the external boarding is due to be completed shortly. 2nd fix heating and electrics are well underway, and completion of the facility is anticipated for early April.

David Parr House secures Heritage Lottery Fund grant & planning permission

David Parr House, a unique time-capsule of Victorian working-class art and life, is set for major restoration after the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) confirmed funding of £625,300.

The money will be used to repair and restore the Victorian terraced house and its remarkable William Morris-inspired hand-painted interiors; and open the house to the public. A small visitor space will be built, and exciting outreach and learning events and collaborations will allow a wide range of people to enjoy the David Parr experience.

The HLF-funded project will restore David Parr’s home and open it to the public as a historic working man’s house. Visitors will have guided tours of the house, and be able to explore related arts, culture and crafts through a film, museum-on-a-bike, city guides, and other creative tools. Volunteers will be recruited and trained to work as tour guides, take audio-histories of locals, and archive the collection.

It is hoped that project work will start in April this year, and be complete by autumn 2019.

The house was featured in The Guardian on Wednesday 4th and on BBC Look East on Thursday 5th January. Links to the articles can be found below:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/04/david-parr-cambridge-cottage-lottery-grant-art-victorian-painter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b085f16h/look-east-evening-news-05012017

Consent achieved for Roundhouse Heritage Hub

Cowper Griffith is delighted to announce a recent consent and unanimous Committee approval for the conversion of the GII* Listed Roundhouse in central Birmingham into a new visitor facility offering complementary interpretation, leisure, eating and enterprise spaces.

Project Partner Simon Redman says: ‘The Roundhouse is a unique and prized asset in the heart of our second city. We are grateful for and remain excited by the opportunity to transform this genuine ‘one off’ into a dynamic and diverse facility for enterprise, for urban heritage, cycle-based leisure and eating. We hope it will have a transformative effect on its surroundings. The design will carefully conserve and show off the structure’s idiosyncratic form and construction whilst introducing a family of contemporary – and sometimes bold - insertions, enabling full reuse. Project architect Neil Charlton has successfully completed extensive consultations with a broad stakeholder group to ensure the facility exceeds all expectations.’

New House, Widdington

In June 2016 CGA was delighted to secure Planning Consent for a replacement dwelling in the village of Widdington near Saffron Walden.

The project is in a particularly sensitive location on the edge of open countryside as you enter the village from the west. CGA prepared a visual impact assessment to demonstrate how the design would carefully integrate in to this rural setting.