A key brief objective was that the design of the new school should provide flexible and adaptable spaces to teach and learn the New Progressive Curriculum
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- FITZALAN HIGH SCHOOL, CARDIFF
Fitzalan High School, Cardiff
Austin-Smith:Lord were appointed as part of Kier’s winning team to design the School to RIBA Stage 4 after a mini competition based on Stage 1 information issued by Cardiff Council. The Design Team have worked closely with Cardiff City Council and their advisors, as well as the School, throughout the initial phases of the project.
The brief calls for the provision of a replacement new 11-18 high school at 10FE including 350 post 16 places to address “D” condition categorisation and “D” categorised sufficiency issues in the local area. This project represents a significant new facility for the pupils, staff and local community.
It is proposed that the new Fitzalan High School is built in the same area facing the catchment area that it serves. The site selected is close to the existing Fitzalan High School site, located on the other side of Lawrenny Avenue, Cardiff.
A key brief objective was that the design of the new school should provide flexible and adaptable spaces to teach and learn the New Progressive Curriculum. Our design proposals are supportive in delivering these principles and supporting the changing role of the teacher as a facilitator of learning.
We feel that ASL totally understood our vision and passion for our school and what we wanted the new school to enable us to be. They have captured our demands for an inspirational environment that also allows us to deliver the curriculum in the bespoke responsive way that ensures our pupils will be successful. We cannot be constrained by typical classrooms and traditional methods and the ASL team have grasped that as a concept and designed an amazing facility that will allow for the flexibility and innovation that we are so keen to continue.
Jo Kemp, Assistant Headteacher, Fitzalan School
CLIENT: CARDIFF CITY COUNCIL
COMPLETION: 2023
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE, INTERIORS, LANDSCAPE
SECTOR: EDUCATION
CONTRACTOR: KIER
LANDSCAPE: AUSTIN-SMITH:LORD
STRUCTURES: JUBB
SERVICES: AECOM
COST CONSULTANT: MACE
41 care-ready flats, providing fully accessible one and two bedroom homes and a range of communal facilities
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- MAELFA INDEPENDENT LIVING
Maelfa Independent Living
This high quality housing development, consisting of 41 care-ready flats, will provide fully accessible one and two bedroom homes and a range of communal facilities to serve both this new development and the existing Maelfa House tower block.
A garden connection between the development and the existing block will provide a direct link between them, as well as quality external space for the residents.
The project, being developed for Cardiff Council, is part of the ongoing transformation of the Maelfa neighbourhood, with Austin-Smith:Lord having been previously involved in the masterplanning and delivery of mixed use, housing and public realm spaces for the wider regeneration of the area.
Planning permission was recieved in March 2020.
As masterplanners of the reinvigorated Maelfa Estate, we felt A-S:L were perfectly placed to assist us with the nature of the proposal and challenges the site presented given their knowledge and interest in the local area. A-S:L’s team managed to take on board the design challenge and inputs from a number of stakeholders to bring together a thoughtfully designed scheme meeting our new older persons housing standards. We are delighted with the result and have decided to continue to work with A-S:L to ensure the high quality of the scheme continues across to the construction of the building.
Joseph Thomas – Programme Manager, Housing Development, Cardiff Council
As masterplanners of the reinvigorated Maelfa Estate, we felt A-S:L were perfectly placed to assist us with the nature of the proposal and challenges the site presented given their knowledge and interest in the local area.
A-S:L’s team managed to take on board the design challenge and inputs from a number of stakeholders to bring together a thoughtfully designed scheme meeting our new older persons housing standards. We are delighted with the result and have decided to continue to work with A-S:L to ensure the high quality of the scheme continues across to the construction of the building.
Joseph Thomas – Programme Manager, Housing Development, Cardiff Council
CLIENT: CARDIFF COUNCIL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
COMPLETION: ONGOING
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE
SECTOR: RESIDENTIAL
CONTRACTOR: TBC
LANDSCAPE: WHITE YOUNG GREEN
STRUCTURES: CAMBRIA
SERVICES: DRAC CONSULTING
PLANNING CONSULTANT: LRM
Pioneering project combining one stop shop council facilities and health facilities with the existing grade II* listed Library
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- ECCLES GATEWAY CENTRE, SALFORD
Eccles Gateway Centre Salford
Austin-Smith:Lord were appointed as architects and Design Team Leaders to implement the pioneering Eccles Gateway Centre, combining one-stop shop council facilities and health facilities with the existing grade II* listed Carnegie Library in Salford.
The Centre enabled the vision of Salford Primary Care Trust to improve local health and social care by improving access, creating additional library space and improved management, operation and control in a new multi-functional building which forms a new civic and health facility for the local community.
This new state-of-the-art health and social care centre will enable us to improve and develop health and social care services for the local community.
Clive Pitt – Chief Executive, MaST LIFTCo
CLIENT: NHS MAST LIFT PARTNERSHIP
COMPLETION: 2008
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE
SECTOR: HEALTHCARE
CONTRACTOR: LAING O’ROURKE
LANDSCAPE: AUSTIN-SMITH:LORD
STRUCTURES: SKM PLANNING AND DESIGN
SERVICES: HOARE LEA LTD
One stop shop for a wide variety of NHS primary care and local authority services
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- NORTH WEST KILMARNOCK AREA CENTRE
North West Kilmarnock Area Centre
Designed by Austin-Smith:Lord, the Centre is an ambitious partnership development between East Ayrshire Council and NHS Ayrshire and Arran. Completed in April 2007, the Centre is a £7m one stop shop for a wide variety of NHS primary care and local authority services and combines primary care clinical services from around Kilmarnock into a single identifiable building with modern infrastructure.
The North West Kilmarnock Primary Care Neighbourhood Services Centre was officially opened on 15th May 07 by First Minister Jack McConnell MSP.
This facility is an excellent example of how shared services and partnership working can ensure the delivery of world class services for local communities, in buildings of the highest quality. It is also evidence of the thirst which exists in Ayrshire to reform and improve vital services for local people.
Jack McConnell – First Minister
CLIENT: NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN
COMPLETION: 2007
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE
SECTOR: HEALTHCARE
CONTRACTOR: BARR
STRUCTURES: CURTINS
SERVICES: HULLEY & KIRKWOOD
COST CONSULTANT: RLF
Town centre site, creating a new landmark within the town
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- ST CUTHBERTS STREET, MAYBOLE
St Cuthberts Street, Maybole
Two storey terraced houses with 3 storey flats each with own entrance. All houses have level access to back and front doors. This Town Centre site demanded a higher than standard approach to security with curtiledge parking. The development created a new landmark within the town juxtaposed with the 16th Century Castle on the opposite site.
Low energy well insulated houses using natural materials Secure by Design Certified.
We first commissioned A:S-L for 2000 and since then they have designed 11 schemes for Ayrshire Housing – several award winning. We have always been delighted with the quality of their work which combines innovation and an attention to detail with a real understanding of the cost constraints and risk factors that housing associations face. More importantly, our tenants have been invariably delighted with their new homes.
Another difficult site this time in terms of topography and a sensitive planning context. A-S:L worked well to maximise the potential of the site and to ensure that Ayrshire Housing received a bespoke design within the context of a negotiated deal with the contractor who had prior control of the site. Delivered on time and to budget
Jim Whiston – Ayrshire Housing
COMPLETION: 2008
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE
SECTOR: RESIDENTIAL
AWARDS:
SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARD COMMENDATION FOR BEST RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT; SPECIAL MENTION FROM SALTIRE HOUSING DESIGN AWARDS
49 ‘very sustainable’ homes on a riverside setting overlooking the Clyde and Glasgow Green
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- MCNEIL STREET RIVERSIDE, GLASGOW
McNeil Street Riverside, Glasgow
NGHA commissioned Austin-Smith:Lord to design 49 ‘very sustainable homes’ setting the challenge of developing an approach to energy efficient housing that was transferable and the housing association could apply in the future. Designs for the derelict brownfield site were developed in close consultation with the client and their tenant-led design committees and sought to reduce energy consumption and provide adaptable housing.
Working in collaboration with Gaia Architects, A-S:L’s in-house sustainability accredited architects developed an ‘eco-minimalist’ design ethos in line with our long-standing, pragmatic approach to sustainable housing.
High quality, genuinely sustainable design with innovative, workable, energy efficient features, excellent documentation and good contract management.
Simon Metcalfe – Head of Development, New Gorbals Housing Association
CLIENT: NEW GORBALS HOUSING ASSOCIATION
COMPLETION: 2012
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE
SECTOR: RESIDENTIAL
CONTRACTOR: CCG SCOTLAND
SERVICES: URS SCOTT WILSON
COST CONSULTANT: ARMOUR CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANTS
SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT: GAIA ARCHITECTS
New build mixed tenure housing development in a prominent waterside location in Cardiff Bay
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- SCHOONER WHARF, CARDIFF BAY
Schooner Wharf, Cardiff Bay
In response to affordable housing priority needs, Austin-Smith:Lord were commissioned by Cardiff Community Housing Association to design a new build mixed tenure housing development in a prominent waterside location in Cardiff Bay.
The site layout is based upon the continuation of taller, linear waterside
development with 85 apartments for private sale along the water’s edge, forming an eastern boundary, and 32 high quality affordable family homes in the form of two and three storey houses and townhouses to the west towards the other, existing residential developments which also drop in height and scale away from the waterside. The affordable homes are designed to meet Welsh DQR, Lifetime Homes and RNIB Standards.
CLIENT: CARDIFF COMMUNITY HOUSING ASSOCIATION
COMPLETION: 2018
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE
SECTOR: RESIDENTIAL
CONTRACTOR: MORGANSTONE
LANDSCAPE: AUSTIN-SMITH: LORD
STRUCTURES: BLACKBURN GRIFFITHS, METSEC
SERVICES: SABA, ISTL ENGINEERING
COST CONSULTANT: RPA
AWARDS:
2018 FIS AWARD, STEEL FRAMED SYSTEMS GOLD AWARD
Integrating Wellness into the design of this sustainable, mixed-use development
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- SUNNYSIDE WELLNESS VILLAGE
Sunnyside Wellness Village
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 the exciting proposals for the Bridgend Wellness Village project.
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 sustainable mixed use development.
The project includes a new Health Centre, general needs housing and potential future phase will include a new Register Office in addition to further homes. The positive impact of good design on health and wellbeing is actively integrated into the masterplan with the project forming part of a wider network of innovative Wellness facilities in South Wales. The scheme is designed using fabric first principles with MVHR to all housing units and connection to the Bridgend Local District Heating Network to achieve high levels of energy efficiency.
COMPLETION: 2020-2021
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE, MASTERPLANNING
SECTOR: RESIDENTIAL, HEALTHCARE
CONTRACTOR: TBC
LANDSCAPE: AUSTIN-SMITH:LORD
STRUCTURES: JUBB
SERVICES: HYDROCK
COST CONSULTANT: EXPEDITE PROJECT SERVICES
Pioneering new Collection and Research Centre in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Austin-Smith:Lord
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- V&A EAST COLLECTION & RESEARCH CENTRE
V&A East Collection & Research Centre
The new V&A Collection and Research Centre seeks to reinvent the idea of a museum store. With a design led by New York-based practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro (and supported by Austin-Smith:Lord), the Collection and Research Centre will bring treasures out of storage and into public view for the first time in generations.
The Collections and Research Centre will be located within the Here East building in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London’s East End and will open in 2023. It will be a purpose-built home for 250,000 objects and an additional 917 archives from the V&A’s collection of fashion, textiles, furniture, theatre and performance, metalwork, ceramics, glass, sculpture, architecture, paintings and product design.
A central public collection hall will turn the storage inside out. A rich array of objects will be on display for visitors to explore – from some of the smallest curiosities in the collection to the largest and most significant rooms and building fragments.
Further spaces within the Centre will host pop-up displays, workshops, performances and screenings alongside live encounters with the museum’s work – from conservation and research to exhibition preparation.
Images © Diller Scofidio + Renfro
V&A East is timely and ambitious, allowing everyone to discover the national collections we look after in entirely new ways. With a 360-degree view of the V&A’s work – from collecting and conservation to experimental research and development – this future-facing project will bring art, design and performance into dialogue with current affairs, and will inspire the next generation of creative thinkers and the makers of the future.
Whether in Stratford, South Kensington, Scotland or Shenzhen, we are continuing to open up the vast collection that the V&A holds on the nation’s behalf, and we hope the V&A East becomes a place that sparks the imagination for generations to come.
Tristram Hunt – V&A Director
COMPLETION: 2023
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE, INTERIORS
SECTOR: ARTS & CULTURE
LEAD ARCHITECT: DILLER SCOFIDIO + RENFRO
EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT: AUSTIN-SMITH:LORD
STRUCTURES: ARUP
SERVICES: ARUP
COST CONSULTANT: GARDINER & THEOBALD
PROJECT MANAGER: ARTELIA
PRINCIPAL DESIGN ADVISERS: ORSA
RIBA Award-winning arts centre
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- THE BLUECOAT, LIVERPOOL
The Bluecoat is the earliest surviving building in Liverpool city centre and the oldest arts space of its kind in the United Kingdom. Built in 1717 as a school for poor children, it became an arts centre in 1911, and hosted the first ever UK exhibition outside of London featuring works by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne and Van Gogh.
Austin-Smith:Lord’s brief was to reposition the arts centre as the city’s new creative hub, restoring the historic fabric of the Grade I listed building, improving access and adding a new wing for an art gallery and multi-purpose performance space in time for the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008.
The new garden at the Bluecoat has opened the area up and is now used by all who visit. It is a social space, full of life.
Alastair Upton – Chief Executive, The Bluecoat
My god, but this is good
Opening words of the first review of the redevelopment of The Bluecoat, RIBA Journal, Editor
COMPLETION: 2008
SERVICE: ARCHITECTURE, INTERIORS, MASTERPLANNING, URBAN DESIGN, LANDSCAPE
SECTOR: ARTS & CULTURE
CONTRACTOR: KIER NORTH WEST
LANDSCAPE: AUSTIN-SMITH:LORD
STRUCTURES: TECHNIKER
SERVICES: ERNEST GRIFFITHS
COST CONSULTANT: GLEEDS
AWARDS:
2008 RIBA AWARD
2008 LIVERPOOL ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY AWARDS: SPORT, LEISURE, CULTURAL AND BEST LIVERPOOL BUILDING