Category: News

Austin-Smith:Lord’s redesign of Bridgegate in Irvine, Ayrshire was officially unveiled on the 29^th November 2013. This marks the completion of a £2.2m public realm project to transform the town centre following a design competition in 2010.

Over the last 18 months the historic heart of the former New Town has been completely rejuvenated, with natural stone public realm, artworks and streetscape improvements being part of a wider £10m regeneration programme by Irvine Bay Regeneration Company and North Ayrshire Council.

Austin-Smith:Lord worked closely with artists WAVE and lighting specialists dpa to incorporate public art and feature lighting into the redesign of Bridgegate. Land Engineering were main contractors, O’Connor Sutton Cronin were engineers and Neilson Partnership were cost consultants.

The project features the 9m high Trinity Mirror sculpture that reflects the stunning neo-Gothic Trinity Church and reveals inscriptions on an anamorphic projection around its base. This artwork, coupled with a timeline, reveal aspects of the town’s long, interesting history and its identity developed in discussion with the townsfolk.

Former Trinity Church bells, landform artworks and programmed feature lighting further enrich the experience and setting of the Bridgegate. The space is highly flexible and has immediately hosted farmers and Christmas markets, drawing people to the town centre.

Siobhan Vernon, Austin-Smith:Lord’s lead landscape architect on the project said:

‘We’re delighted at the very positive response to our design for Bridgegate.

“The completed scheme is faithful to our original concepts in the design competition. It redefines Bridgegate as an urban piazza, opening up connections to the landmark Trinity Church and bringing together the new and historic aspects of Irvine town centre.

“The integration of public art and feature lighting into the new streetscape enriches the space and celebrates the town.

“The project has been enhanced through collaboration between the local community, the project partners, design team and artists. The quality of the workmanship is befitting such an important project and a credit to the contractors.”

Local MSP and Housing and Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess carried out the official launch of the project which is expected to bring a boost to the economy, attracting new retailers and increasing footfall to the area. Margaret Burgess, MSP said:

“I am delighted to see the successful completion of this outstanding project. Local people have been directly involved in the transformation, commenting on ideas and helping to shape the public art which is a central element of the refurbishment. Their involvement is core to the success of this regeneration project, which is about providing new opportunities for local people.”

Liverpool Central Library has been ranked #1 of 124 attractions in Liverpool. With 142 reviews, 115 of which are Excellent, the Library is proving to be a “Fantastic” tourist destination.

See link below to TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186337-d215392-Reviews-Liverpool_Central_Library-Liverpool_Merseyside_England.html

 

Liverpool Central Library is the winner of Best Technical Innovation award.

The challenge the project team faced was the difficulty of marrying the new build extension to the existing grade 2 listed building of 1850.  This threw up competing technical issues around access, fire safety and preservation of the historic facade.

Close working relationships were developed to find solutions to the various problems thrown up by the constraints and various specialist consultants were employed to deal with issues such as fire safety and disabled access requirements.

Link to LABC website and Daily Post Article:

https://www.labc.uk.com/best-technical-innovation-2013

https://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpools-central-library-wins-building-6330198#.UpCSe5Rh4Ls.email

The Calman Cancer Support Centre has been awarded the Conservation Design Award at the Glasgow Institute of Architects annual members’ dinner.

The category B listed building (formerly Gartnavel Royal Hospital Chapel), designed in 1905 by J.J. Burnet, has been carefully conserved by the Austin-Smith:Lord team in Glasgow and adapted into a flagship therapy centre for the provision of free counselling and complementary therapies for cancer outpatients.

Austin-Smith:Lord LLP have been delighted to be associated with the project which has been such a success thanks to the efforts of a considerable number of people over the last seven years or so, not least Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, Morham & Brotchie, Addison Consulting and FLN Consulting.

Head of Conservation at Austin-Smith:Lord, David Millar, said ‘We started work on the options appraisal in 2006 with GBPT and it is so rewarding to now see all the planning and design work coming to fruition in such a delightful and enjoyable building. A derelict building now gives such hope, support and inspiration for a new generation. Well done to all the individuals who had a hand in this success story.”

This adds to the Centre’s growing list of awards, including the 2013 National Lottery Award for Heritage, and the 2012 Friends of Glasgow West Gold Award.

The Carmelite Monastery won the prestigious Architects Choice International award last night (14 November) at the Brick Development Awards.

The event was attended by Partner, Maggie Mullan and Director, Mike Yates.

Completed in 2013, the design is a modern interpretation of the monastic tradition. Silence and light articulates the architecture which is calm, ordered and uplifting.

In 2004 the Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre won the CLAW Best Building in Wales Award, so here is our second CLAW Award –  this time a Commendation Award for Llanyrafon Manor.

CLAW stands for Consortium of Local Authorities in Wales, so all Local Authority led projects throughout Wales are eligible.

The award categories are just two – Building of the Year and Commendation Award.  There were a total of 10 entries this year.

The Client has commented “As you we had a good team on the project and I know it was a tremendous ‘team’ effort that achieved this result.”

The Grade I Listed Llanelly House in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire has opened to the public as a major visitor attraction, after extensive conservation and sensitive adaptation, that has taken a little over three years to complete.

Despite only being open for a few days, the House, which is now a National Centre for Genealogy, has already received praise from visitors and the local community, regarding the quality and standard of the conservation that has been undertaken.

Austin-Smith:Lord was commissioned to undertake the careful conservation of this nationally important Grade I Listed building, which had been at the centre of community life in Llanelli for centuries, before falling into disuse and in grave danger of serious degradation.

The building is a rare Welsh example of an early Georgian Townhouse and contains many exquisite treasures. There are fine overmantle paintings, rare grisaille wall paintings trimmed with gold leaf and lavish oak panelled rooms.

The exciting progress of the project has been captured by the BBC and culminates in a one hour documentary presented by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen which will air on BBC2 Wales on Tuesday 5th November at 7pm.

Austin-Smith:Lord’s conservation team in Glasgow undertook a £2.4m upgrade project at Paisley Town Hall.  The work was required as the Hall will host the opening ceremony for the Royal National Mod.  It is expected that more that 8,000 people will flock to Paisley as it hosts Scotland’s flagship celebration on traditional and Gaelic culture for the first time.

Our upgrade consisted of extensive repairs to masonry features, a radical but restrained makeover of the foyer/reception area incorporating glazing across the loggia frontage and the installation of external entrance ramp and steps.

Photo credit – Keith Hunter

The Barbara Daley Northwestern Halls Salon, for which Austin-Smith:Lord undertook extensive interior and architectural design, has been recognised by the prestigious Leading Salons of the World guide.

The scheme, which was undertaken in 2008, relocated the Salon to a ground floor unit of the Grade II Listed Northwestern Hall in Liverpool. The project aimed to transform the Salon into a dramatic space, to generate interest and increase customer sales through the ‘wow’ factor. This was achieved by reinstating a variety of original features and purposefully withholding others. The character of the space was retained by maintaining the room’s appearance as a ‘magnificent saloon’ with central styling salons and housing all back of house facilities behind an internal wall within the former corridor.

Though primarily a retail project, the work on the Salon required an active working knowledge of Conservation and Architecture, as well as Interior Design.

Congratulations to Barbara and her team on their fantastic achievement!