shepheard epstein hunter overview02 may 2013

Overview

Shepheard Epstein Hunter architecture planning landscape

Issue 02 May 2013

overview

schools

higher education

student residences

conservation and transformation

other public buildings

housing

Shepheard Epstein Hunter architecture planning landscape an established practice recognised over many years

for our imagination, experience, and ability to deliver,

with particular experience in education, housing

and masterplanning.

[email protected]

www.seh.co.uk

Shepheard Epstein Hunter

Phoenix Yard 65 Kings Cross Road London WC1X 9LW

020 7841 7500

Steven Pidwill, Chairman

[email protected]

Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013

Some of our awards

2013 RICS 2013 East Midlands Award for Building Conservation2013 RICS 2013 East Midlands Award for Commercial Building - Finalist 2013 RICS 2013 East Midlands Award for Tourism and Leisure Building - Finalist 2012 London Planning Awards Best Development Five Years On- Finalist2012 Procon Leicestershire Award Building of the Year 2012 – Finalist2012 Leicestershire Joint Consultative Committee craftsmanship award 2012 East Midlands Property Award 2012 – Finalist2012 Partnership Awards - Best Designed Project - Finalist2012 Partnership Awards - Best Accommodation Project - Finalist2011 Leicester Civic Society - Best New Building Award2011 Procon Leicestershire - Building of the Year Award2011 3R (Refurb Rethink Retrofit) - Best Public Sector Higher Education Building 2011 East Midlands Constructing Excellence - Project of the Year Award2011 Institute of Clerk of Works Building on Quality Awards - Best New Building 2011 East Midlands Property Design Excellence Award 2011 LABC East Midlands - Best Large Commercial Development Award2011 NUS Green Impact Students' Unions - Gold Award2011 Leicestershire LJCC (Local Joint Consultative Committees Award) Award 2011 LABC National Award Best Commercial Building - Highly Commended 2011 RIBA East Midlands Awards - Highly Commended2011 ACE Association Consulting Engineers - Highly Commended2011 Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards (Toronto) – Finalist2011 Construction Manager of the Year, Percy Gee Building - Finalist2011 Procon Leicestershire - Best Sustainable Building -Finalist2011 LABC East Midlands - Best Education Development - Finalist2011 Constructing Excellence National Awards - Finalist2011 RIBA East Midlands - OPUN Award - Finalist2011 CIBSE Awards: Refurbishment Project 2011 - Finalist2011 Scala Awards Best Civic Building Finalist, Runner Up2011 London Planning Awards Best Built Project 2010 RICS National Regeneration Award 2010 RICS London Region Awards - Overall Winner2010 RICS London Region Awards - Regeneration Award 2010 Hackney Design Awards - finalist2010 Retrofit Awards - Public building - finalist2009 RICS Pro-Yorkshire Awards finalist2008 Liverpool Architectural Society Awards finalist2008 European and Regional Planning Award2008 RIBA Awards finalist 2007 London Planning Award 2006 Civic trust finalist 2006 Regeneration Award finalist2005 RTPI Award for Sustainable Communities 2004 Best Building Transformation Regeneration Awards - Finalist2004 Civic Trust Awards mention2004 SCALA commendation 2003 RIBA - finalist 2003 Best New Housing Development Evening Standard Award2002 Civic Trust mention 2001 Housing Design Award finalist2000 Civic Trust commendation 2000 Housing Design Award finalist

Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013

Some of our clients Apollo Education Barratt Homes Bouygues UK Brent Coefficient Bristol City Council Bristol Community Housing Foundation CABE Carillion City University London Countryside Cranfield University Defence Housing Executive MOD Eastbourne College Eastend Homes Fairview Homes Greenacre School for Girls Hillside Housing Trust Houses of Parliament Hull Citybuild Hyde Housing Association IALS University of London Ideal Homes Institute of Education International Transport Workers Federation Isle College Jayhems Limited King’s College London Lancaster University Leadbitter Learning Trust, Hackney London Borough of Brent London Borough of Camden London Borough of Enfield

London Borough of Greenwich London Borough of Hackney London Borough of Hounslow London Borough of Lambeth London Borough of Sutton London Borough of Tower Hamlets London Borough of Waltham Forest London Borough of Wandsworth London Diocesan Board for Schools London School of Economics London South Bank University Morgan Sindall Northumbria University Roger Malcolm Homes Rooff Group Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Royal Small Arms Island Village Company Savills School of Pharmacy Sovereign Housing Association Telford Homes The Guinness Trust The Royal Society Toynbee Housing Association University of Durham University of East Anglia University of Hertfordshire University of Hull University of Kent University of Leicester University of Liverpool University of Sussex University of Warwick Westminster City Council

schools

SEH consultation with pupils at New Norwood School


schools

Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013 schools / page 1

Gateway School, City of Westminster: The scheme expands the school from 2 to 3 forms of entry by adding a new four-storey block providing hall, kitchen, six classrooms, group rooms, ICT suite, music room, and toilets on this very constrained inner city site, joined to the original Victorian buildings by a three storey entrance/ atrium space. Sustainability measures include exposed concrete floors, high levels of insulation, natural ventilation and passive solar shading and a green roof. The school remained

schools


Above: Gateway School Westminster Below: Paddington Green School Westminster

schools


This extension to Paddington Green Primary School for Westminster expanded the school from one to two forms of entry. The two-storey timber frame building houses a new hall, dining room, kitchens, and classrooms and was designed to be constructed off site to speed up the programme and reduce disruption to the school. The new building is connected to the existing school by a glazed atrium housing the new stair and lift, serving as the new central core to the school giving access to and linking all the floors, both old and new, with the reception and secretarial office.

schools


King's Avenue School for Lambeth transformed two existing schools on three sites to form a three-form entry primary school on two sites, with reception and nursery classes on one site and primary years 1-6 on the other. A 'centre of excellence' for visually impaired children, the design incorporates a wide variety of sensory aides to make the whole building accessible. The scheme is included in the CABE digital library of England's best buildings and spaces, and features in Building Bulletin 99 and is an exemplar in the DfES publication: ‘Inspirational Design for PE and Sports Spaces’.

schools


King's Avenue School for Lambeth

schools


New Norwood School for

Lambeth: this project adapts a fine red brick Arts and

Crafts 1910 building to create a new two-form entry

primary school in West Norwood. .A new extension

on the northern side, cut into the sloping site, will provide additional halls,

classrooms and community facilities.

schools


,

This new two-storey inner-city primary school for The London Diocesan Board for Schools replaced the school’s existing inadequate buildings and was funded by new student housing on four floors above. A significant amount of site area was kept free for external playgrounds. The school stayed in operation in its old building throughout construction and decanted across the site when the new building was finished to allow the demolition of the old.

schools


The Thomas Fairchild School, a locally listed Victorian building with a recent Children’s Centre on a small site in Hackney, was severely damaged by fire in 2009. We prepared an options appraisal for the Learning Trust for the recovery of the site. We prepared ten options for consideration, with costs and structural assessment, ranging from reinstating the existing situation through to complete replacement.

schools


The London Borough of Newham’s birth rate rose by 32% from 4,800 to 6,350 between 2002 and 2010. Together with a recent increase in inward migration and one of the largest regeneration programmes in Europe, this has led to a significant additional demand for primary school places – the borough estimates that an additional 45 to 50 forms of entry will be required by 2014-15, or space for 9,500 to 10,500 children. (One form of entry = space for 30 children over their seven primary school years.) We are working with Morgan Sindall on this project in Newham for the expansion of places at Upton Cross Primary School to provide three forms of entry on the Credon site, near West Ham football ground. The main building is a Victorian board school part bomb-damaged in the Second World War which will be adapted and extended. Two smaller buildings, the Annex and Ravenhill buildings will be adapted to provide hall, ancillary and nursery accommodation. The original Credon Road board school was opened in 1896 for 1,576 children, reorganized in 1930 for senior boys, senior girls, and infants, bombed and closed in 1940, and reopened in 1945 for mixed juniors and infants.

schools


Capel Manor Primary School, Enfield is a one form entry school located in the green belt and within the Forty Hill Conservation Area. This project doubles the size of the school, to become a two form entry school. A new curved extension is developed to the rear of the existing single storey buildings to provide the bulk of the new accommodation. Smaller extensions at the front of the existing buildings provide further teaching accommodation, new offices, new studio and a new welcoming entrance. Specialist ICT, design and food science and library facilities are provided. The school playground is moved further into the site, away from the traffic on busy Bullsmoor Lane. The curved block has large areas of glazing looking out over the green site; the views out from the existing classrooms were noted by the school as one of the existing buildings best features. Large overhanging roofs and a brise-soleil provide solar shading to minimise solar gain. A glazed canopy incorporating PV cells will provide sheltered play and some solar shading to existing classrooms, as well as providing 20% of the new build’s energy needs. The site is of potential archaeological interest; recent finds of iron age artefacts in the vicinity required exploratory work on site before construction started. The final phases are nearing completion.

schools


This project expands Honilands Primary School in Enfield from a 2 form entry school with a nursery to a 3 form entry school with Children’s Centre. The new extension is to the rear of the existing two storey wing and uses the existing vaulted roof profile and staggered building footprint as a starting point for the new building, which is made up of three oblongs in a similar staggered formation mirroring the existing footprint. Elevations are in brickwork in quarter bond with a diagonal pattern, and 2.1 m high steel grating overcladding runs from ground level, with climbing plants on the south-easterly facing elevation. The gables on both ends of the oblong are glazed, ensuring that the teaching areas are well lit. To the northeast, the rooms face a nature area courtyard, to the southwest they face the playing field. Generous roof overhangs on the southwest gable ends provide solar shading, enhanced by opaque insulated panels within the fenestration. A two-storey glazed corridor links old and new.

schools


The buildings of Sunnyhill Primary School in Lambeth are listed Grade II and were built around 1900. The school site was acquired by the Schools Board for London in 1898 from Mrs Elizabeth Mortimer and others for a cost of £4,400. Plans were drawn up by the Board’s architect TJ Bailey and signed in January 1899. The Board’s Annual Report for 1900-1901 records that the school, in the West Lambeth Division, included a cookery and laundry centre and a manual centre for 40 boys. The school was designed to accommodate 808 children at a cost of £26,839 including the site. This project provides accommodation to enable the school to expand from 2 forms of entry to 3FE to help satisfy demand across the Borough of Lambeth for some ten new forms of entry. The new accommodation is in four phases, the last due for completion in 2013. The sustainable servicing aspects of the new extension include stack effect ventilation, and a ground source heat pump system under the playing pitch which will supply underfloor heating and preheat the domestic hot water.

schools


Elm Wood Primary School

This project enables the expansion from 1 form of entry (FE) to 2 FE of Elm Wood Primary School, Carnac Street, London, part of the Gypsy Hill Federation of Schools, recognised as a National Support School by the National College for School Leadership and as a designated Primary Academy Sponsor by the Department of Education, part of Lambeth’s programme to meet increased demand for primary school places in this area and create an additional ten or so forms of entry across the borough. The site is small and the design results from extensive options appraisals and negotiations with the school’s management team, planning authority and neighbours

higher education

Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings London South Bank University


Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013 higher education / page 1

higher education

Having worked closely with the University since 2001, we prepared the University of Leicester Development Framework Plan 2008, which provides detailed proposals for all of the University’s University Road sites, and enables the University to expand student numbers by 50% on its current land holding - an additional 100,000 m2. It was prepared following extensive consultation with a range of stakeholders within the University, and in the City and County


higher education

The Percy Gee Building houses the Students Union of the University of Leicester. It was one of the first of several mid 20C buildings which created the present character of the University. The architect T Shirley Worthington cut the building into the steeply sloping site, and so it had 26 different floor levels over five storeys and no lifts. The £17m 2008/11 transformation project changed the Percy Gee into a thriving multi-purpose Union building at the entrance to the campus. A social hub in an atrium at the core of the building, now called The Square, has been created by the addition of a new glazed roof in the middle of the original U shape of the building. The roof is supported on curved glulam timber beams in a wishbone arrangement, supported on steel trees, which allowed freedom of where new columns could be placed. The Square opens onto a west facing terrace two floors above University Road overlooking the mature trees opposite, reached by a grand external staircase. The experience of entering the building – and the campus – has been greatly improved. A second new 'slot atrium', over four-storeys and adjacent to The Square, running north-south across the width of the building, gives hugely improved access for people with disabilities, and allows anyone using the building to easily understand its layout. The transformed 9,000m2 building (aiming to achieve ‘BREEAM Excellent’) was occupied by the SU throughout the 64 weeks of the main contract works, and now enjoys much increased student and visitor use – the SU has recorded 12,000 visits in one week. It accommodates multiple uses: shops, offices, restaurant, coffee bar, Scholar bar, resource centre, welfare and clinic, gym and meeting rooms. The project was recognised in 19 awards schemes in 2011, including 'Best Higher Education Building' and 'Building of the Year'.


higher education

Above: the Percy Gee Building from University Road; Below: inside the O2 Academy Leicester


higher education

The Percy Gee Building at the University of Leicester


higher education

The Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB, left and below) at LSBU is a unique, teaching, research and demonstration resource for the built environment hosting and testing renewable and intelligent energy solutions

The extension and refurbishment of the Central Library at the University of East Anglia: a high quality cost-effective project providing a well-lit, glare free and comfortable environment requiring minimal energy. ‘A fresh twist on a modern classic’ – Martin Spring, Building


higher education

Central Library at the University of East Anglia


higher education

We prepared Northumbria University’s masterplan for this site and the Stage D design for these new buildings which create a new public space between them. The six-storey Design school has exhibition areas, display spaces and workshops on ground floor with studio spaces, IT, offices and seminar rooms above. The Law and Business Schools building has lecture theatres and seminar rooms on lower floors with offices on the top floor.

The Bennett Foyer at the University of Leicester: the regeneration of a 1958 building by Leslie Martin, adapting the foyer to display the highly attractive geographical and geological images of the resident departments, which are informative and educational, but simultaneously work in the same way as good abstract art in their relationship to the building.


higher education

The University of Liverpool Sydney Jones Library connects two noteworthy twentieth century buildings at the heart of the University of Liverpool campus. A new link building, situated between the Sydney Jones Library by Basil Spence (1974) and Senate House by Tom Mellor (1968), enabled the University to double the size of its library and provide a facility befitting its status as a leading centre for research.

Phil Sykes, University Librarian, University of Liverpool: ‘You have triumphantly exceeded our expectations. The central atrium has a real grandeur that every visitor to the building responds to. The whole building exudes a sense of light, spaciousness, possibility and optimism that brings to mind Disraeli’s dictum that a university should be a place of ‘light, liberty and learning’.


higher education

Stamford Court: this project has transformed rather tired student accommodation from the mid 20C into a flexible centre for meetings and functions for the University of Leicester in the Oadby Hilltop Conservation Area, in three phases, connecting with the surrounding mature landscape, and providing sophisticated audio-visual and presentation facilities and a range of seminar, break-out and social spaces. It revives the best qualities of the original Edwardian house, and links the previously disparate elements of the plan to form a coherent spatial sequence. The house has been reconfigured: the original staircase, fire places and doors have been restored, and the fire strategy has been updated to allow the removal of 20C Georgian wired partitions and provide transparency using large areas of fire-resisting glass. It has been shortlisted (pending) for the ProCon Building of the Year and has received an LJCC Craftmanship award.


higher education

Stamford Court for the University of Leicester See more on http://vimeo.com/48304155


higher education

This £40 million University of Leicester Residential Training and Conference Centre, with 200 bedrooms, 150 seat lecture theatre, seminar rooms, bar, social and breakout spaces, restaurant, swimming pool, sports hall and gym, was designed to use low energy technologies including solar thermal tubes, high thermal mass, high levels of daylight, green and brown roofs, sustainable urban drainage, passive ventilation, combined heat and power, bio mass boilers and promotion of greener means of travel. The Sports Centre provided a 25m pool. Both buildings achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ at design stage.


higher education


higher education

The Borough Road Building represents the history and roots of London South Bank University on its Elephant and Castle Campus. The entrance was ‘…tired, dreary and decorated in institutional cream’. Alterations over decades had reduced an impressive space

flowing into a sweeping staircase by adding doors, ‘defensive’ reception counter, emergency panels and switch boxes, security barriers, lobbies and stores enclosing the staircase, poor lighting, exposed plumbing and intrusive radiators. This project (above)

stripped away the clutter to reveal the original qualities of the space. A separate project converted part of the ground floor into a gallery to house the important Sarah Rose Collection of David Bomberg and paintings by the Borough Group (below).


higher education

The School of Pharmacy, above and over page.


higher education

The School of Pharmacy (above, below and next page) appointed us to address similar problems with the entrance area of their existing eight storey building off Brunswick Square: the main entrance was reconfigured to create a more accessible, pleasant, light and airy reception space with high quality displays. Below: our work for Parliament includes the remodeling of the entrance to the House of Lords on the south façade of the Grade I listed Palace of Westminster, (originally Black Rod’s house). The project provides a much more welcoming entrance for pass holders with improved security control and additional search lane for visitors, accommodating up to 500 people over a short space of time for banquets and special functions.


higher education


higher education

London South Bank University’s Technopark houses human resources and many other London South Bank University support departments, the Vice-Chancellor's office, and work space for a range of small enterprises and not-for-profit organisations. As LSBU's framework architect much of our work with the University over the last six years has been concerned with the incremental transformation and improvement of the estate, to make it more efficient, better utlilised, more conducive to study and research, and more welcoming and attractive. This project carried out a programme of phased improvements in an occupied building to provide better meeting spaces, open plan working, and small kitchen and refreshment facilities as a focus for work teams. The reception area was opened up and transformed into a welcoming space for visitors, worthy of the reputation of the University, but delivered to tight budget and time constraints.


higher education

This project for City University transformed two floors of the 1970’s Drysdale Building, to improve circulation spaces and create a student hub where previously there was a forlorn corridor. The project was one of three Shepheard Epstein Hunter projects featured in ‘Small Budget Big Impact’ the RIBA Higher Education Design Quality Forum’s publication of 2011


higher education

This project provides a masterplan for the Institute of Education (IoE) and a first phase extension to the 1970’s building designed by Denys Lasdun on Bedford Way in London, which is listed Grade II*. It is surrounded by Georgian buildings within a conservation area which are listed Grade II. The masterplan enables development at the IoE over the next ten years, and is based on an analysis of the Bloomsbury area and its development from the early 19th century, (mainly James Burton, Thomas Cubitt and James Sim) through Leslie Martin’s 1957 masterplan for the University of London to Lasdun’s 1965 proposal for five wings or ‘stepped spurs’ and his built 1977 scheme (in which only one spur is realised). The project is conceived as a marriage and metamorphosis of the Georgian and Lasdun languages, and the preferred arrangement results from the appraisal of twelve options for the massing of new accommodation. The project was supported by English Heritage, the 20th Century Society, the Georgian Group and other stakeholders, and by planning officers, but refused at the London Borough of Camden’s planning committee. The Institute challenged this decision successfully at appeal at the end of 2009, and the scheme now has consent.


higher education

At the University of Leicester we refurbished the Adrian Building, a deep-plan laboratory building (A at the bottom of the aerial photograph below) which remained occupied throughout. The GENIE (Genetics Education Networking for Innovation and Excellence), the UK's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Genetics. was set up here as part of this project. We developed proposals for better utilisation of space at the Medical Sciences building (B, below), working with stakeholders to explore innovative space-sharing and open–plan working arrangements. We prepared the design (top) for the 21,000 m2 Multi- Professional Education and Training Centre (MPET) for the University of Leicester in partnership with De Montfort University and University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust, to improve integration of teaching of learning across medical and nursing disciplines.

A

B


higher education

This project transformed a ten storey Grade II listed office and banking building on London’s Aldwych, designed by John James Burnet, into a teaching building for the London School of Economics. Clement House was built in 1909-10 as the London headquarters of the General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Company, and sits at the point where the crescent of the Aldwych straightens out towards Fleet Street to the east. It was converted in the 1960s for speculative office use, and by the time it was purchased by the LSE in 1993 had become rather dowdy with a fire certificate limiting the number of people who could occupy the building to 300.

As a result of this project it now accommodates over 1100 students and staff in eighteen lecture and seminar rooms, with three floors of academic offices. By radically restructuring the eight office floors above the old banking hall at the rear of the plan, column free space was created for large flat-floored lecture and seminar rooms. These rooms are cooled in summer - as a result the building became one the main summertime exam venues for the LSE. New plant and ducting was concealed within the fabric of the existing 1910 structure.The double height banking hall (which had been split with a mezzanine to create more office space) was opened up, the east end shortened to accommodate a new fire escape stair, and the ceilings restored to provide a multi media lecture theatre for 200 students, and a flexible venue for special occasions.

Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk page 22

student residences

South West Campus Lancaster University


student residences

Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013 student residences / page 23

St Mary St Pancras: new residences funding and built over a new primary school

student residences


This mixed use scheme provides four floors of student bedrooms over two floors of new primary school, each with their separate street entrances. The provision of the student bedrooms enabled the London Diocesan Board for Schools (LDBS) and the Governors of St Pancras & St Mary’s Primary School to replace their school accommodation within the boundaries of their existing site. The development was funded through the sale of the airspace over the school for student accommodation. The project was let as a development package to Unite, who manage the student residences. The scheme was recognised in the London Planning Awards as ‘Best Community based Planning Initiative’.

student residences


Pendle College, Lancaster University

After we had prepared Lancaster University’s revised masterplan we went on to design and build over 1200 student bedrooms in five separate projects (through traditional contracts and novation to design and build contractors):

SW campus phase 1 452

Pendle College 474

George Fox 118

Tower Avenue/ Slaidburn House 64

Furness Residences 100

TOTAL 1208

student residences


This page shows Pendle College, 474 bedrooms (above left and below): the scheme is planned as a series of single staircase four-storey blocks or ‘houses’ around landscaped courtyards with the bar and social facilities in a separate pavilion. Each block has common shared kitchens on each floor, so that students relate to a hierarchy of communities: the floor group, the block, the courtyard, the College, the University. Although not built with en-suite bathrooms, the plan was designed so that all blocks can be converted to en-suite with only 25% loss of bedrooms, should this suit the University in future. Top right is the George Fox Building, also at Lancaster: the top two floors are student residences arranged as a ‘doughnut’ over two lower floors of flexible teaching rooms and café. The two upper floors were conceived, designed and instructed when the two lower floors had been on site for six months.

student residences


Slaidburn House, Tower Avenue, Lancaster University was a complex infill development which created 64 new student bedrooms on four floors above two floors of retain and ancillary space. Another significant driver of the project was the creation of a new square (in the form of an ellipse) which converted a shabby service area into a new place within the campus. Most importantly, it links three different floor levels on the campus with an elliptical ramp for wheelchair users (and everybody else), significantly improving inclusive access on the campus

student residences


student residences


South West Campus, Lancaster University 452 bedrooms as a student village

student residences


This was the first phase of development outside the university ring road, the result of our revision of the university masterplan which enabled rapid expansion and retained sites within the ring road for academic development. We designed South West Campus in the form of a student village in an area of outstanding natural beauty to house 3000 students. For this £7.4m first phase of 452 en-suite bedrooms with social and ancillary facilities, we acted for the University up to tender acceptance, and were then novated to the contractor during the construction period. The scheme ensures that the streets of the new village have a sense of place, and different blocks have their own identity, while being part of a coherent whole.

student residences


South West Campus, Lancaster University 452 bedrooms as a student village

conservation and

transformation

Proposals for extending and transforming the University of Leicester library



Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013 conservation and transformation / page 1

Making the best use of existing buildings makes up a significant proportion of our work. Whereas new building projects have often been seen as more glamorous than ‘refurbishment’, there has been a growing realisation over the last decade or so that transforming existing buildings can effect a bigger improvement in utilisation, sustainability, value for money, carbon emissions and speed of delivery than replacement. The value of this approach has been recognised more recently with the 3R Refurb, Rethink Retrofit awards, the Zerofootprint re-skinning awards and the CIBSE Refurbishment Project awards. Below are some examples of recent projects transforming existing buildings and arguably achieving a better result than would have been the case with replacement.

The Percy Gee Building (above) at the University of Leicester – a £17m adaptation of a 1948 building at the heart of the university, providing 9,000m2 of mixed use space at the heart of the campus, with minimal decanting, costing about 60% of a new build equivalent, with a significant reduction in carbon emissions and a near BREEAM Excellent rating. The design solved the access problems of the original building which had 26 different floor levels over five storeys. Recognised in 20 awards schemes, it won Best Higher Education Building at the 3R awards 2011 and Building of the Year at Procon Leicestershire 2011, and is the home of the new Leicester O2 Academy. Welcoming over 12,000 visitors a week, the building was described by Aaron Porter, President of the NUS as now ‘...the very best Students’ Union building in the UK...’

The Bennett Building (above), also at Leicester, is a 1965 building designed by Leslie Martin – it had become rather drab and unattractive but was still a building with underlying quality. We prepared a masterplan for the gradual refurbishment of the whole building and designed this transformation of the foyer: clutter which had accreted over decades has been stripped out and new lighting and high quality displays exploit the highly attractive geographical and geological images of the resident departments. These are informative and educational, but also work in the same way as good abstract art. The project was chosen for the RIBA HEDQF's Small Budget Big Impact Exhibition 2011

The transformation of two floors of the Drysdale Building at City University London, also in the RIBA HEDQF's Small Budget Big Impact selection, removed corridors and created a student hub as an informal social / study area at the heart of the campus in a densely occupied building, over the summer period.

Also for City University, these alterations to the Social Sciences Building change the location of the entrance and replace a blank concrete wall with glass and lobbied doors, reducing heat loss, providing a far more attractive approach with views through to the entrance, and dramatically improving the relationship with the adjacent square.



Above: the £2m transformation of Stamford Court, a student bar added in the 1960’s to an Edwardian building, has created a flexible conference and meetings centre which can be offered in association with adjacent student residences in Oadby for the University of Leicester. The existing hall was extended and overhauled to provide a 300 seat lecture/ seminar/ cabaret-style room with stunning views out to the existing mature landscape, breakout spaces and good quality open plan offices and meeting rooms in the older building. Finalist for Procon Building of the Year and East Midland Property Awards in 2012.

At the School of Pharmacy, University of London, above, the remodelled entrance creates a reception worthy of an advanced research and teaching school, with the addition of security systems, on a low budget. A series of similar low-budget interventions has created informal social / working / meeting / gathering space and improved junior common room (below).

At London South Bank University (below) a number of transformation projects have radically improved office, academic space and entrances to buildings. Shown below are Borough Road Entrance, Keyworth Building, and Sarah Rose gallery.



The repair and renovation of 5 Great College Street, a Grade II* office building of 1903 by W.D. Caroe, composed of red brick with Portland stone dressings, and slate roofs, and close to the Palace of Westminster, was carried out for the Houses of Parliament. The project involved liaison with English Heritage, analysis and repairs, where brickwork had spalled, external joinery had deteriorated, and corrosion and expansion of original steel beams had caused cracks in brick and stone work at high level.



The Borough Road Building represents the history and roots of London South Bank University on its Elephant and Castle Campus. The entrance was ‘…tired, dreary and decorated in institutional cream’. Alterations over decades had reduced an impressive space flowing into a sweeping staircase by adding doors, ‘defensive’ reception counter, emergency panels and switch boxes, security barriers, lobbies and stores enclosing the staircase, poor lighting, exposed plumbing and intrusive radiators. This project (above) stripped away the clutter to reveal the original qualities of the space. A separate project converted part of the ground floor into a gallery to house the important Sarah Rose Collection of David Bomberg and paintings by the Borough Group



The School of Pharmacy, University of London, appointed us to address similar problems with the entrance area of their existing eight storey building off Brunswick Square: the main entrance was reconfigured to create a more accessible, pleasant, light and airy reception space with high quality displays



Below: our work for Parliament includes the remodelling of the entrance to the House of Lords on the south façade of the Grade I listed Palace of Westminster, (originally Black Rod’s house), which has resulted in a much more welcoming entrance for pass holders, with improved security control and an additional search lane for visitors, screening up to 500 people attending banquets and special functions over a short space of time.

Below and next page: this project transformed a ten storey Grade II listed office and

banking building on London’s Aldwych, designed by John James Burnet, into a teaching building for the London School of Economics. Clement House, built in

1909-10 as the London headquarters of the General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Company was converted in the 1960s for speculative office use, and when purchased by

the LSE in 1993 was dowdy, with little of its former character evident, with a fire certificate limiting occupancy to 300. Following conversion it now accommodates over 1100 students

and staff in eighteen lecture and seminar rooms, with three floors of academic offices.



Clement House continued:

By radically restructuring the eight office floors above the old banking hall at the rear of the plan, column

free space was created for large flat-floored lecture and seminar rooms.

These rooms are cooled in summer - as a result the building became one the main summertime exam venues for the LSE. New plant and ducting

was concealed within the fabric of the existing 1910 structure.The double

height banking hall (which had been split with a mezzanine to create more office space) was opened up, the east

end shortened to accommodate a new fire escape stair, and the ceilings

restored to provide a multi media lecture theatre for 200 students, and a flexible venue for special occasions.



Our project for the transformation of the International Transport Workers Federation's headquarters building is due for completion in

May 2013:

The fourth floor of this Grade II listed building in Southwark, which facilitates meetings of ITF

delegates from all over the world with simultaneous translation facilities, is being gutted and overhauled to provide energy-efficient environmental services, enhanced

conference facilities, new mezzanines, meeting rooms and ancillary spaces.

The transformation provides 80m2 of additional

floor area within the existing envelope (the mezzanines) and provides a much more efficient

environmental services system using 27% less plant space.


Clapton library, Hackney



Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013 other public buildings / page 1

Enfield Town Library, opened in March 2010 by Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, embodies Enfield’s vision of a friendly, accessible and welcoming building, more like a bookshop than a traditional library. The project won ‘Best Built Project’ at the London Planning Awards in January 2011 hosted by London Mayor Boris Johnson, who praised the 'bold and successful architectural intervention' that brought a 'real sense of town centre renewal' and said that ‘the new building has turned the library around, both literally and metaphorically'. An array of boreholes sunk some 100m below the Green provides a large portion of the heating and cooling requirements of the building from a renewable energy source. The building has achieved a BREEAM rating of 'Excellent'.



Clapton Library, Hackney: a £3 million transformation of a 1914 Grade II listed building to provide more space, better disabled access, new areas for private study and young people, meeting facilities for community use and quiet reading areas, with rain water harvesting, solar water heating, solar powered passive ventilation using windcatchers and automatically opening windows, optimum use of daylight, creative recycling of existing structures, and energy efficient lighting and heating systems. We integrated furniture, shelving, graphics and signage with the design making a huge difference to the finished building.



Clapton Library, Hackney



This new library was created in the shell of a former Blockbusters' video store on a busy shopping street at the heart of Edmonton in London. The remodelled shop sets out to achieve a more relaxed, friendly atmosphere than is sometimes the case with traditional library design, so that people who would not normally consider using a library or reading books feel entirely comfortable about walking in and browsing what's on offer. A curved glass community room allows people to work together or just to focus on homework or research in a quieter atmosphere, while still maintaining a visual link with the rest of the room. Offices, staff areas and toilets are located at the back of the plan. The library offers facilities for DVDs, CDs, listening posts, audio books, internet access, teenage areas, PC games, under 5 storytimes, toy library, homework club (for 8 to 16 year olds), Baby Rhyme times and family storytimes.



These two projects - Concorde and Parkside – provide new ‘myplace’ facilities for young people in Hackney. Both involved a radical overhaul of existing basic accommodation to provide a range of spaces that are secure but welcoming, and which support the other regeneration projects and new housing being built close by in the borough.

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Nearing completion 2013: Blackfriars Settlement provides 33 flats on a complex site in south

London combined with new premises for a charitable community foundation


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Shepheard Epstein Hunter www.seh.co.uk Overview May 2013 housing / page 1

We prepared the Masterplan for the Regeneration of South Kilburn for South Kilburn New Deal for Communities and Brent Council. It set a framework for radical change to the physical form of South Kilburn, re-establishing neighbourhood centres and traditional street patterns and proposing an increased quality, number and tenure mix of homes with the introduction of 1500 privately owned units and the refurbishment or rebuild of all the existing publicly owned homes

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This project for the Defence Housing Executive in Tidworth replaced existing dull, poorly planned service accommodation with 484 new houses in a series of new neighbourhoods arranged around mews clusters, squares, a village green, crescents, and courtyards to create neighbourhoods linked by a pedestrian spine connecting a series of open spaces, some of which incorporate play areas.

Plan types and room arrangements evolved through the extensive resident consultation exercise. The Central Square is intended to be a warm and inviting area with trees and recreation space. At both ends of the square, the spine narrows to give a sense of enclosure and transition into areas where houses have a different character suiting their particular context and role, so that something special happens each time

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We prepared the Woodberry Down Masterplan and Urban Design Framework working with sub-consultants Matrix Partnership to encapsulate the vision that residents and the Council had for the Hackney estate of some 2000 units, the majority of which were in poor structural condition. Resident consultation explored the options available resulting in three variations which were re-tested in a second estate wide consultation and led to the final Urban Design Framework which proposes a doubling of the number of homes with 500 being sold to help cross subsidise the rebuilding of the social rented units. Construction is underway

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We were appointed jointly with Terence O’Rourke in 1995 to plan the future of the Stonebridge Estate in Harlesden, North West London: the existing 1970’s five storey system-built concrete slab blocks and tower blocks, some rising to 21 storeys, had created a hostile and notorious environment in which to live. Using models, visits, videos, workshops and meetings of different sorts we led an extensive consultation programme with the residents, culminating in three final options of different densities from which residents could vote for their preference.

All options proposed an arrangement of streets and public spaces, connected to the surrounding neighbourhood. Streets are made up of terraces of houses with equal plot widths, allowing varying depths and heights and with blocks of flats (a maximum of four storeys high) on corners.

In 1996 the residents voted for their preferred choice. We were selected, in competition, as one of the main architects to design the new homes in detail, and took on four smaller firms as sub-consultants to design selected areas to ensure diversity within a coherent framework.

Construction began in 1997, and in late 2003 the 700th home was finished, and the new Stonebridge halfway to completion. We continued to be involved in the implementation of the Masterplan, both in its strategic direction and in the design of each phase.

For the final phases we have worked with Hyde Housing Association and Countryside in Partnership to deliver the remaining 400 homes, and with Bouygues to deliver new PFI homes on peripheral sites.

Awards include: the European and Regional Planning Award,

Evening Standard New Homes Award for Best New Housing Association Development, three shortlistings

for Housing Design Awards, a Civic Trust commendation for Phase II, RICS 2010 National

Regeneration Award, London Region Regeneration Award and Overall Winner and finalist (pending) for the

2012 London Planning Awards ‘Five Years On’ award.

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Tudor Gardens: top and left above: 15 studio flatlets providing residential care for people with learning disabilities in clusters of five flatlets as part of the Brent PFI programme. Tidworth MOD housing Wiltshire: the replacement of poor quality barrack-style homes with new homes forming streets and squares, with a scale appropriate to the rural context, and diversity achieved through a mix of standard house types.

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We were appointed (with Terence O’Rourke) in 1995 to prepare a masterplan for the regeneration of the infamous Stonebridge Estate, and have subsequently designed many of the new homes. The masterplan proposed the replacement of the existing 1775 flats which were in high and medium rise concrete panel system flats (shown behind the new housing on the opposite page) with new terraced housing and four storey flats. The plan was phased to demolish the tower blocks and re-house some 1500 families in new sustainable homes which they have helped to create. (The plan actually provided over 2000 homes with additional development on the periphery). Using models, visits, videos, workshops and meetings we led an extensive consultation programme culminating in three options of different densities arranged as streets and public spaces connected to the surrounding neighbourhood, on which residents voted. Currently finalist in London Planning Awards 2013 ‘Best Built Project Five Years On’ and winner of the RICS National Regeneration Award. ‘SEH should be commended for their skill in making good urban homes and places‘ Hugo Hinsley, Architecture Today.

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Above: Blackfriars mixed use development: new housing above housing association offices Below: Island Gardens, for EastEnd Homes - 88 new homes of mixed tenure (64% private, 36% affordable) will be spread across three blocks with two individual family houses, in new buildings from 3-6 storeys.

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After the completion of the first four phases that delivered 1200 homes at Stonebridge, we worked with the Brent PFI team to develop the remaining peripheral sites. These included Alain Court at Winchelsea Road (named after Alain Head of SEH who led our work at Stonebridge over fifteen years), which provides 31 flats. A mix of render and coloured tiles make a building that sits happily with its neighbours but has its own identity. The project uses in-situ concrete construction, the preferred method of Bouygues, the contractor - all the walls at the perimeter of the flats and the floors are designed and detailed to allow fast construction while retaining flexibility for the flat layouts. A system commonly used in France, we worked with Bouygues to develop compliant details satisfying UK building regulations. The building is included in Architecture Today's issue on new social housing, May 2012,

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Ada Lewis House, Wembley – another Brent PFI project which developed peripheral Stonebridge sites using Bouygues’ concrete construction system: the balconies are simple metal posts arranged as a sinuous wave on the lower edge, resulting in an undulating screen as the main elevation of the building which changes with light conditions.

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Thornham Street estate, Greenwich: above, left, below: £3.6 million programme of improvements including new lightweight roof, new doors and windows, internal re-wiring, general fabric repairs, entryphone and security measures and landscape improvements.

College Place, left and below: £4m programme of refurbishment works for Camden including new front doors and windows, upgrade of common parts and landscape improvements and security, Originally designed by Shepheard and Epstein, the 1968 Housing Design Award said: ‘We have recommended this scheme for a Medal because of the consistently high and unpretentious quality and outwards appearance, layout and arrangement of the dwellings and the spaces around the dwellings’

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Previous page: Freedom Quay, an exemplar project commissioned by Citybuild for Hull's new riverside quarter of Humber Quays. Set within the Old Town Conservation Area, the scheme wraps around and conceals an existing multi-storey car park serving an adjacent new office building. On a corner site, the L-shaped building provides residents with spectacular long views over the Humber and allows them to enjoy the special qualities of light reflected on water. The massing of the building derives from an analysis of the urban grain, plot widths and architectural details of the historic buildings of the Old Town. We worked with developer Nikal and contractor Houlton to implement the scheme. When launched, most of the new homes were sold within three hours.

This page: Clyde and Langbourne Wharves: 145 new homes for sale ranging in size from smaller flats on Westferry Road to maisonettes with large projecting balconies, and penthouses, with extensive terraces, overlooking the river. On the southern tip of the Isle of Dogs, with exceptional views southward over the Thames to the Cutty Sark and Greenwich Royal Naval College, and northward towards the City of London, the scheme won the approval of the Royal Fine Arts Commission. The new south-facing riverfront square is publicly accessible.

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The Lakes, (Norway Dock, London): described by The Buildings of England (Pevsner) guide to London Docklands as follows: ‘...it is an imaginative scheme that draws water into its heart by using part of the old Norway Dock, one of the earliest docks in the Surreys, built in 1813 with wooden walls, though the central lake has been created above the level of the infilled dock. The housing is by Shepheard Epstein Hunter, 1988-1996. ...As if moored round the irregular lake, neat hipped-roofed double villas rest on almost freestanding timber decks. There is nothing like this elsewhere in England: the peaceful watery effect evokes Scandinavia’

Civic Trust: ‘Approached through the acres of banal, suburban boxes that make up most of the Surrey Docks redevelopment, The Lakes is a very pleasant surprise…175 houses and flats have been constructed around a rebuilt lake in a way that achieves an impressive sense of place. The use of water in the form of the recreated dock unites the development while also acting as a moat between the houses. The scheme is commended for implementing urban design principles to create a private development of real presence and identity.’

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Plough Lane: the site of Wimbledon Football Club until 2002, planning consent was gained for a mixed use but predominantly residential scheme in 2005. We worked with the developer and contractor to deliver 570 apartments of which 30% are ‘affordable’ The northern blocks have homes built over commercial space, southern blocks are arranged round a series of communal gardens. Over 3,500 sq metres of retail and commercial space occupies the ground and mezzanine floors of the northern half of the site with one block dedicated to office use. Undercroft and basement car parking provides spaces for 450 cars and 180 cycles.

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Canning Town: we are working with Countryside properties in partnership with Newham council and housing association William Sutton Homes to deliver the first phase of the £3.7 billion Canning Town and Custom House regeneration project, to designs up to RIBA Stage D by Maccreanor Lavington.

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We are working with EastEnd Homes and Telford Homes on the regeneration of the

Glamis Estate in London. New buildings are being integrated with the existing layout in

order to fund fabric and landscape improvements across the whole estate. This King David Lane project will provide 37 flats

ranging between 1 and 4 bedrooms eachacross the ten floors, in a mix of tenures.

Overview

Shepheard Epstein Hunter architecture planning landscape Issue 02 May 2013

shepheard epstein hunter overview02 may 2013

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