Austin-Smith:Lord is delighted at having been appointed by Linc Cymru Housing Association to work with them and their project partners Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, ARCH and Bridgend Council, on their exciting proposals for the Bridgend Wellness Village project. The redevelopment of the Sunnyside site is an extremely interesting project of significant importance to Bridgend and its community, aiming to regenerate the site of the old Magistrates Court.

The brief is innovative and forward looking in its aim of providing a vibrant, multi-generational community focussed on integrating Wellness into the design of the mixed use development. The positive impact of good design on health and wellbeing will be actively integrated into the masterplan with the project forming part of a wider network of innovative Wellness facilities to promote health and wellbeing for the people of South Wales.

Wellness is defined by the World Health Organization as; “…a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The development will provide much needed social housing, supported accommodation, a new primary care health centre and community spaces linked together through landscaping which focuses on the wellbeing of its users, residents and the wider community. The new health and wellbeing centre, comprising of GP surgery and primary care services, will form the new frontage of the site and connect to the existing established leisure facilities, further enhancing the wellbeing approach to the scheme. The design concept for the proposed social housing ‘village’ is based on clusters of different housing units around shared courtyards aiming to foster community engagement and ownership amongst tenants.

Linc Cymru and their project team partners have outlined the following specific objectives for the project:

• A multi-use health and social care building incorporating a GP surgery along with Primary Care facilities for the wider community, with flexibility to deal with future demands
• General needs social housing units for a range of different residents, designed to be accessible for all including those with dementia
• Supported accommodation for those with additional needs, with shared community spaces open to all and encourage social activities and connections to the health centre
• Linkages to the wider community and surrounding amenities to create a sustainable Wellness Village, whilst complementing Bridgend town centre and the established neighbouring leisure facilities
• Integrated site-wide landscaping to include well-designed public open spaces, opportunities for growing, socialising, recreation and relaxation, community events and public arts

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Lead client on the project, Linc Cymru, specialise in the provision affordable housing, social care and health sectors in Wales. They provide homes and services to tenants across the social, intermediate and market rent sectors as well as health and social care support services.

Austin-Smith:Lord has been appointed by Tenovus Cancer Care to design the interior fit-out of their next mobile chemotherapy treatment vehicle (Unit 3).

Our appointment is a departure for Tenovus from previous reliance on the specialist coach-builders who have created their existing pair of mobile units and represents a conscious move to involve professional interior designers in the delivery of this vehicle. It reinforces the ambition to create a unique and cutting-edge patient focussed facility for cancer patients across Wales, and is testament to the reputation of Austin-Smith:Lord’s interiors team to be selected for such a crucial and innovative project.

Transported in the footprint of a standard articulated trailer, the mobile treatment unit will expand to provide approximately 100m2 of internal space comprising reception, treatment area, consultation room, private treatment space, accessible WC and staff kitchen. The focus of the cancer care and treatment facility will be on the patient experience and so whilst being fully compliant with infection control requirements and equipped with state of the art medical equipment this will not be a space with a clinical appearance or ambience.

Following extensive consultations throughout December 2017 involving stakeholders including nursing staff and Tenovus senior management team members, and several sessions on board the existing vehicles with cancer patients undergoing treatment, ASL produced a series of interior layout options supported by sketch ideas for detailing and precedent images to help describe the ambience we propose. A preferred option was selected at a workshop held in mid-January and is being developed to be the final design.

Austin-Smith:Lord’s design will be issued to the specialist coach-builder during the first week of February with construction commencing immediately and delivery of the completed vehicle to Tenovus in July.

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Image: Existing Tenovus Mobile Treatment Unit 2

Austin-Smith:Lord are attending MIPIM 2018. Two of our Partners, Martin Roe and Graham Ross, will join delegates in Cannes from 13-16 March to discuss our ongoing array of urban regeneration, mixed-use, commercial, residential, industrial and infrastructure projects from across the UK.

This year Austin-Smith:Lord are delighted to be supporting the Invest Glasgow delegation. Austin-Smith:Lord, with MVRDV, have led the preparation of city centre district regeneration frameworks for Glasgow City Council. The four (Y)our City Centre frameworks are due for publication throughout 2018, starting with Broomielaw, one of the most significant mixed-use waterfront regeneration opportunities in the UK. Invest Glasgow will be announcing project and investment opportunities in the city centre and elsewhere in the city region during MIPIM 2018.

The Austin-Smith:Lord MIPIM team are looking forward to discussing opportunities throughout the UK, drawing upon our design expertise from our studios in Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool and London. If you would like to meet up please get in touch with;

Martin Roe , Partner
Martin.Roe@austinsmithlord.com
+44 (0)7879 402639

Graham Ross, Partner
Graham.Ross@austinsmithlord.com
+44 (0) 7795 608575

We look forward to hearing from you.

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MIPIM (Le marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier) is the world’s leading property event, held annually in Cannes, in southern France. From 13 – 16 March 2018 around 23,000 delegates from over 100 countries are expected to attend the intensive four-day MIPIM programme which includes conference sessions, exhibition areas and networking events. MIPIM aims to facilitate business between investors, end-users, local authorities, construction and property professionals.

Austin-Smith:Lord is a creative design practice delivering excellence in architecture, landscape architecture, conservation, interior design and urban design masterplanning. We enjoy delivering innovative and outstanding design solutions through collaboration.

Austin-Smith:Lord are pleased to announce we have secured Investors in People Standard accreditation.

Investors in People sets the standard for better people management. The Standard defines what it takes to lead, support and manage people well for sustainable results.

The Investors in People Standard is underpinned by a rigorous assessment methodology and a framework which reflects the latest workplace trends, essential skills and effective structures required to outperform in contemporary business.

Graham Ross, Partner said, “we’re delighted to have secured IiP accreditation following an assessment of all of our studios, and involving canvassing opinion from across our talented team.

“The Standard reaffirms our commitment to maintain and improve in the way we work collectively across the practice. Moreover it helps to identify ways in which to do even better as we seek to infuse our working culture with our shared values.

“I look forward to working with colleagues to ensure our clients, collaborators and the communities with whom we work benefit from the ‘creative collective’ approach underpinning our team’s ethos.”

You can find out more about Investors in People here

Graham Ross, Depute Chair at Architecture & Design Scotland and Partner at Austin-Smith:Lord is part of the Architecture & Design Scotland’s team who will be participating in the Social Bite mass sleep-out in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh on 9 December to raise awareness and funds to tackle homelessness in Scotland. The A&DS team are aiming to raise £3,000 to contribute to Social Bite’s campaign to eradicate homelessness in Scotland.

If you are able to support this cause we’d be very grateful for any donations to help reach, and hopefully exceed, this target. You can make donations at;

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/a-ds-sleepinthepark17

Architecture & Design Scotland are the national champion for quality in architecture, design and placemaking. Enabling the delivery of high quality homes to meet Scotland’s housing need is a priority in our new Corporate Strategy. You can find out more about A&DS and our work at; https://www.ads.org.uk/
https://www.ads.org.uk/corp_strategy_17_20/

The Social Bite Fund (SC045232) is a registered charity in Scotland which seeks to alleviate homelessness through innovative solutions from employment and support programmes, to temporary housing. You can find out more at;
https://social-bite.co.uk/socialbitefund/

Sleep in the Park, the world’s largest mass sleepout, is being organised by Social Bite. They hope attract 9,000 people to sleep out overnight in the cold, in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens on 9 December to raise money to tackle, and seek to eradicate, homelessness in Scotland. You can get further information at;
https://www.sleepinthepark.co.uk/

Any support you may be able to offer to this cause will be greatly appreciated. Thanks to those who have already pledged support.

Planning has now been approved for the new Dance Hub Birmingham development for the Birmingham Hippodrome campus. The New York inspired rooftop extension will enable increased access for local artists and communities developing the infrastructure for the vibrant and growing dance sector in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands region.

The Hippodrome campus, home to resident company Birmingham Royal Ballet and comprising the 1,850-seat Hippodrome Theatre and 200-seat Patrick Centre, DanceXchange and Dance Consortium, is the busiest venue for dance in the UK outside of London. The extension will create 675m² of new space for professional and community dancers including a large dance rehearsal studio, ancillary facilities and office space.

The new space will blur the traditional boundaries between public and private space between studios dedicated to artists and those accessible to communities. Initial consultation carried out by Dance Hub Birmingham has found that artists want space that welcomes people of different ages, backgrounds and ambitions, encourages them to rub shoulders and exchange ideas and experiences, and that joins up with other spaces across and beyond the City. Run by Culture Central, Dance Hub Birmingham has been working with the arts sector to put dance at the forefront of plans for the city.

Monique Deletant, Director of Dance Hub Birmingham said: “I’m delighted that the plans for the new Dance Hub facility have been approved. The plans were developed in response to wider consultation with the dance sector and demonstrate a new wave of collaborative working which will continue to deepen and develop once the building opens its doors in 2019.”

Peter Knott, Area Director, Arts Council England, said: “The architectural plans for the Dance Hub in Birmingham look very exciting. This collaborative space certainly promises to provide something special. It is great to see that the city has taken this opportunity to further accelerate the West Midlands’ reputation as an international leader in the most inclusive of art forms. This looks to be a great addition to the region’s thriving cultural offer.”

Rob Firman, Project Director Austin-Smith:Lord said: “It was exciting to engage with the enthusiastic community of stakeholders to the Dance Hub project as we devised and developed our design concept and we are extremely pleased to have received planning approval for our vision for this ambitious facility. We are looking forward now to the construction phase and making the building a reality.”

The new development is funded through strategic investment from Arts Council England. Work will commence in Spring 2018 with completion in Spring 2019.

For further information on Dance Hub Birmingham visit www.culturecentral.co.uk/dance-hub

Deafblind Scotland’s new learning and development centre in Lenzie has been officially opened by The Princess Royal.

Initially called ‘The Field of Dreams’, the £2m centre was designed by Austin-Smith:Lord and constructed by Clark Contracts. It features an arts facility, IT room and recording studio which will be a daily resource for more than 800 Deafblind Scotland members who are severely dual sensory impaired.

The 7,000 square foot building, commissioned by leading charity Deafblind Scotland, is acoustically neutral with sound and light absorbing surfaces.

Ruth Dorman, Chief Executive, Deafblind Scotland, said: “Clark Contracts and their design team have been instrumental in the delivery of the project with a hands on and approachable attitude. The team made the language of construction accessible to us all at Deafblind Scotland which in turn made the process inclusive for everyone.”

Michael Scanlan, Director, Clark Contracts, said: “We have enjoyed working with Deafblind Scotland and our Design Team to deliver this important project that we hope will provide valuable facilities for deafblind people across Scotland for many years to come.”

Andrew McCafferty, Director, Austin-Smith:Lord said: “This was an immensely satisfying project being part of Clark Contract’s team, working within the constraints of budget and demanding timescale to create a positive learning and teaching environment for Deafblind Scotland, and also achieve a significant presence within the local community.”

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) has awarded the construction contract for the redevelopment of our recently designed Partick Bus Station to Luddon Construction Ltd, with works due for completion in summer 2018.

Serving one of Scotland’s busiest and most densely populated districts, Partick Bus Station has become part of a vital multi modal transportation hub for West Glasgow integrating bus, rail and subway with national cycle and local footpath networks. It also connects key attractions and city amenities including the Riverside Museum, Glasgow Harbour, Glasgow University, Kelvingrove Museum and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The design solution we have created includes an increase to the number of stances required to meet the growing number of passengers using the station since the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and forecast to use the service following recent and upcoming development within the area.

Fabricated with contemporary materials including curved aluminium cantilevering roofs, structural glass walls, granite plinths and automatic doors, the new bespoke bus stances and waiting space will feature integrated lighting, CCTV, seating and customer information technology and together provide a significant improvement to the customer experience.

From project outset, a significant emphasis was placed on improving safety in and around the bus station. The approved design achieves this by segregating bus movement from other vehicles, segregating pedestrians from the bus manouvering area, creating improved road crossing points and incorporating new lighting.

To assist in addressing the complex issue of designing a barrier free public place, the Glasgow Access Panel were consulted as part of the design process.  The emerging proposals and the measures being taken to provide a legible environment; where wayfinding for those with sensory impairment was at the forefront of the design, were fully supported.

The public realm linking the new bus station with the existing interchange includes the installation of new granite paving, seating, trees and lighting which will also be extended along the interchange frontage to tie in with the recently completed public realm upgrade works by Glasgow City Council.

Austin-Smith:Lord Project Director/Lead Designer Andrew McCafferty says: “We are delighted to have led the design process in collaboration with our design sub-consultants Curtins and SVM. We have enjoyed working closely with SPT and their stakeholders to develop a design solution that will improve the bus passenger experience, promote connectivity with the existing subway/rail interchange and enhance the quality of environment for those who live and work within the area. We are looking forward to working with Luddon to successfully deliver the project for opening in summer 2018.”

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The design team includes:

• Austin-Smith:Lord – Lead Design Consultant, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Principal Designer & Contract Administrator
• Curtins – Transportation + Civil & Structural Engineering
• SVM – Services Engineering
• Turner & Townsend – Principal Design Adviser
• Currie & Brown – Cost Consultants

The (Y)our City Centre project is creating ambitious plans for the core retail, business, civic and cultural heart of Scotland’s largest city. Glasgow’s city centre is a wonderful historical ensemble but it faces challenges including vacant buildings, under-utilised plots, changes in retail patterns, city centre living, public open space, safety and traffic.

A team led by MVRDV and Austin-Smith:Lord, supported by Space Syntax and a multidisciplinary team, has been commissioned by Glasgow City Council to embark on the development of District Regeneration Frameworks for four districts of Glasgow City Centre. With your help, these Regeneration Frameworks will look to create a clear urban structure that can fully realise Glasgow’s economic, cultural and social potential.

We would like your help identifying the challenges and opportunities for positive change in the next 10 years for these four districts; Broomielaw, St Enoch, Central and Blythswood. Your contributions will help shape the design of District Regeneration Frameworks for four districts of Glasgow City Centre. The Frameworks will lay out the plans and become supplementary planning guidance for Glasgow to fully realise its economic, cultural and social potential.

We want to hear the views of residents, businesses, landowners, students, visitors, those who live, work and play in the city centre. We are looking for small and big ideas and comments for the short term and long term. You can share (Y)our ideas via our online platform https://yourcitycentre.commonplace.is/

Alongside our on-street and workshop engagement we have had over 1100 contributions via the online platform, highlighting a wide range of issues and ideas. The online platform will be available until the end of August 2017, after which the comments will still be available for review. We look forward to collaborating with the Glaswegians on this exciting project, let us know (Y)our Ideas. Keep up to date with project via www.yourcitycentre.com, Facebook and Twitter.

If you have any immediate concerns about an issue in the city centre, please contact Glasgow City Council directly through the appropriate channels.

Douglas Wheeler Associates and Austin-Smith:Lord have been appointed by Midlothian Council to work with the people of Penicuik to draw up proposals for the heritage regeneration of the town.

The work, which has been made possible through a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, will include developing repair proposals to restore buildings, improve streets and potentially develop new community activities in the town centre.

The consultation will focus on creating a community-led vision for the historic core of the town centre and work will also be conducted to gather the technical information needed to submit a further funding application to the Heritage Lottery Fund to carry out the proposed plan.

If the second funding application is successful, it will mean an award of up to £1.69 million over 5 years to implement the project from April 2018.  It will also release £725,000 of funding from Historic Environment Scotland.

In coming weeks, the consultation team will be launching an online questionnaire for local people, businesses and visitors as the first step in engaging with the community.

David Millar, Director and Head of Conservation at Austin-Smith:Lord commented: It’s great to be working alongside Douglas Wheeler on this project, getting to know the community in Penicuik and also the Council team who have successfully steered the project through the first stage of the Lottery funding process. The HLF funded Townscape Heritage Initiative has the real potential to improve the quality of the building stock but to also make town centres more vibrant and active and can encourage people in the community to learn about their heritage and even develop new skills. We are looking forward to starting the work immediately.”