Case Studies

Worcestershire County Council -  Refurbishment of Council Chamber

Location: County Hall, Worcester

Client: Worcestershire County Council

Start Date: January 2008

Completion: May 2008

The Council Chamber provides a spectacular venue for a whole range of events from formal board style meetings, to conferences, lectures as well as private parties.  It is a modern and flexible space at the centre of county hall.

The Council Chamber remains at the heart of the democratic function and provides a much improved facility. It is now more accessible to all, and includes a fully integrated wireless audio visual system, infrared hearing loop, portable plasma, electronic voting system, and other new facilities.

The refurbishment of the Council Chamber was designed and project managed in-house.

Malvern, The Chase School - New Science Block

 Location: Worcestershire, Malvern

Client: Worcestershire County Council, Children's Services

Completion: August 2008   

Value: £4 million

A new 14 laboratory science building has allowed The Chase School to bring together into purpose designed accommodation, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, which were previously spread around the school.

Three floors are linked by atria that bring light and ventilation to central corridors, while shafts rising from the back of laboratories allow all these rooms to be naturally ventilated.

Heavyweight construction provides not only robustness and good acoustic separation but also 'thermal mass' to prevent internal overheating. Monitoring carried out for University College London during a particularly hot week in summer 2009 has demonstrated the effectiveness of the design approach.

A sedum covered roof, as well as contributing to solar control for the top floor, also reduces rainwater discharge after heavy rain. Water which is not absorbed is slowed down, and then fed via channels and swales through a planted biology teaching garden into a nature pond.

The environmental features are exploited for design effect. The ventilation shafts are merged with the atria roof lights as mounds on the roof echoing shapes of the adjacent Malvern Hills. External sunshades are mounted to give a horizontal emphasis. Ventilation panels on the façade are coloured to evoke chemical spectroscopy patterns.

The new building has boosted the number of pupils choosing to take science GCSE.

Hagley Catholic High School - New Sports Hall

Location: Hagley, Worcestershire

Client: Children's Services,                Worcestershire County Council

Start Date: May 2007

Completion: May 2008

Value: £1.5million

The construction of a new four court sports hall including changing facilities and showers, male & female toilets, disabled changing areas and toilets, reception areas, office, cleaners store, together with mat & equipment stores.

Spectator areas and vision panels will be built into the Corridor side of the Sports Hall. 

Indoor cricket, tennis, volleyball, five-a-side football, badminton, netball and trampolining are among the sports that will take place in the new venue.

All entrances and exits will be designed for Wheelchair accessibility, as indeed will all the Changing Areas. All internal doorways will also be suitable for Disabled use.

New car parking areas and footpaths were constructed.

Worcester Green Hill Lodge - New Children's Home

Location: Worcester, Worcestershire

Client: Children's Services,             Worcestershire County Council

Start Date: Feb 2006

Completion: April 2007

Value: £1.8m

 The design challenge was to create a secure, safe and homely place for children with the most challenging behaviour. It is a medium stay home for children aged from eleven to sixteen and makes provision for staff and housing for eight children.

The project acknowledges that children need space to relax, let off steam, play games, learn and have a place of retreat and reflection in those quieter moments.

The intention was to create as near as possible the characteristics of a family home in scale and design, therefore the selection of domestic finishes and fittings were considered very important in creating that homely environment, whilst at the same time needing to be robust and fit for purpose.

The central area provides a link between the two houses and consists of a main entrance, staff and communal rooms. These rooms include Admin offices, and a communal kitchen.

The garden includes area for barbecues and seating, a mini football pitch including a wall for ball games. The garden includes inter-planting between herbaceous plants and shrubs for variety, colour and low maintenance.
For privacy, warmth, and a homely ambience the children's home has South facing enclosed rear garden. Boundaries are user friendly using smooth curved lines with no corners.