Issuu

Together we can...

GSSArchitecture is a national, award-winning architectural practice with a dynamic and forward-thinking approach. Operating across the whole of the UK with offices located in Kettering, Gloucester, Harrogate, Leeds, London, Milton Keynes and Newcastle, we specialise in projects where a collaborative approach is required.

We design tailored architectural solutions and place sustainability and inclusivity at the heart of our design ethos. Our project experience includes a diverse range of Public and Private sectors covering the entire process from inception through to completion, all of which are supported by in-house specialist divisions including Graphics and Conservation and Heritage.

Together, we can bring your vision to life.

science, research & innovation

Our long-standing relationships and collaboration with industry experts, businesses, education and healthcare institutions have provided us with the opportunity to deliver a range of highly complex award-winning projects within the science, research and innovation sector.

By forming strong partnerships with our clients and key industry organisations, our team has developed diverse and proven design expertise, allowing us to effectively approach complex and bespoke projects, creating highly adaptable new build and live site retrofit and refurbishment schemes. Collaborating with key leading stakeholders on a local and a national level allows us to evolve and develop our own knowledge to deliver robust, functional, and progressive solutions across the diverse sector of science, research, and innovation.

The Catalyst

Client: Newcastle University

The Catalyst is one of the most significant recent developments in the Newcastle region. It provides a range of bespoke facilities to promote innovation, engage with local and national businesses, and support advancements in the fields of ageing sciences and data.

The Catalyst is home to Newcastle University’s teams for the National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) and the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD). It brings together businesses, academics and members of the public to collaborate and support the research and development of new ageing and data products and services.

The internal spaces provide engaging and flexible environments that create a sense of openness and accessibility. Exhibition, event, and meeting spaces have been designed to encourage wider interaction with local businesses, industry partners, and members of the public. The project secured a raft of awards for design, accessibility, collaboration and sustainability, as well as achieving BREEAM Outstanding accreditation, the first of its sector within the North East.

Dame Margaret Barbour Building

Client: Newcastle University

The Dame Margaret Barbour Building forms an important addition to Newcastle University’s campus, and houses a range of cutting-edge teaching and learning facilities. The open access building includes specialist spaces for the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, the School of Psychology, and the School of Medical Education, as well as seminar rooms and lecture theatres. The new facilities were driven by an increasing number of students applying for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and the appeal of an increasingly diverse undergraduate provision.

This innovative building provides functional and flexible facilities, and has been designed to facilitate integrated research by promoting collaboration between disciplines through shared encounter spaces and social breakout areas. Research shows that this approach to design supports the development of cross-disciplinary research and teaching, integrating both the physical and psychological aspects of exercise in relation to health and performance.

Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre

Client: Teeside University

The Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre (NZIIC), designed for Teesside University, supports the ongoing drive for clean energy and positions Teesside at the heart of the UK’s green industrial revolution. It provides a focus for investment and also supports the University’s commitment to becoming a Net Zero Institution by 2030.

The ambitious new development brings together expert insight, resources, and partnerships to grow Net Zero capabilities and opportunities, placing the region at the forefront of the clean energy agenda and helping to create hundreds more jobs within this sector.

A national centre of excellence, the NZIIC draws on our expertise in both the education and commercial sectors and combines this with our sustainable and Net Zero credentials. Not only is the NZIIC an area for Net Zero development, the building itself aligns with RIBA 2025 Net Zero climate targets and has been constructed using suitable techniques and materials to minimise the carbon footprint, together with achieving a BREEAM rating of Outstanding.

Impact & Innovation Centre

Client: DS Smith Packaging

We were appointed as Architects to work alongside the main contractor, SDC, to design a new Impact and Innovation Centre for internationally-renowned packaging company, DS Smith Packaging.

The project consists of a new stand-alone facility, created over 1200m² of floor space, set in newly landscaped grounds. The centre comprises office accommodation, product display areas, a new corporate boardroom, training/seminar room, simulated warehouse space, and welfare facilities for staff members.

Client: University of Sunderland

We were appointed by the University of Sunderland to lead a consultant design team for the provision of a new Enterprise and Innovation Centre in the heart of Sunderland City Centre.

The state-of-the-art building provides bespoke, cutting-edge facilities to support the development of new business ideas and improvements to industrial processes. Small business start-up opportunities have been made available through the provision of adaptable office accommodation, supported by engagement with other local businesses.

The ground floor of the hub was designed to include a combination of social spaces and innovation laboratories, to be used for prototyping workshops and 3D printing, whilst the remainder of the four-storey building includes a mix of conference facilities, meeting rooms, and flexible office space.

Mathematical & Computer Sciences Building

Client: Sir Robert McAlpine

We were appointed to deliver Durham University’s Mathematical and Computer Sciences Building, which forms part of the masterplan to provide improved infrastructure and additional teaching and research spaces.

This cutting-edge building provides office space for both professors and PhD students, in addition to having a number of specialist laboratories, including a heavy-duty lab and an open IT lab with a designated server room. The building houses a 120-seat tiered lecture theatre, tutorial rooms, a café, a flexible event space, an enterprise hub, meeting rooms, and breakout spaces.

We have worked with the University for over 20 years and have an in-depth understanding of their key requirements and long-term strategies, which was a great benefit throughout the delivery of this key building. The sustainable focus of the project encouraged a “fabric first” approach to design, with the aim of achieving a BREEAM Excellent rating.

Westcott Innovation Centre

Client: Parkway Construction MK Ltd

The Westcott Innovation Centre aims to attract a broad range of high-tech companies and start-ups, helping Westcott Venture Park to become a vital future space hub for the UK.

It offers businesses the opportunity to hire specialist equipment for light mechanical engineering and rapid prototyping within its 600m² flexible facility. The building itself provides a technical workshop space supported by shared open plan office facilities, including meeting rooms, kitchen, and showers, together with outdoor amenity space.

Located at the heart of the Park’s newly formed “Space Cluster”, the Westcott Innovation Centre complements the existing portfolio of buildings at this 650-acre business park.

Silbury House

Client: RO Real Estate

GSS led the designs for the refurbishment of what is now the most sustainable office building in Milton Keynes. Designed to meet Fitwel and BREEAM standards, works to Silbury House have improved the energy efficiency of the building through thermal upgrades and the introduction of renewable energy solutions.

Silbury House has an EPC “A” rating, which is obtained by only 2% of non-domestic buildings in England and Wales. The refurbishment also saw the installation of 116 solar panels on the roof, underscoring a commitment to renewable energy, providing up to 20% of the building’s energy requirements. Features such as advanced air quality monitors, a new courtyard garden, and ergonomic sustainable furniture have created a workspace that promotes employee wellbeing.

Other features include a new ground floor business lounge, modern shower facilities, and secure bicycle storage, as well as eight EV charging points. The flooring was substantially completed through the recovery and reuse of the original floor, and the furniture has been sourced sustainably and presented in a modern and attractive way.

Catesby Innovation Centre

Client: Aero Research Partners

The Innovation Centre for the Catesby Aero Research Facility (CARF) is a unique facility associated with the Catesby Tunnel, a 2.76km long disused railway tunnel. Catesby Tunnel was converted into a controlled environment for the measurement of vehicles moving at speed, ranging from bicycles and racing teams to large commercial vehicles.

The facility can be hired to any customer wishing to evaluate the aerodynamic characteristics of their vehicles. A research and technology park is also associated with the tunnel.

GSS were appointed to advance the innovation centre and submit a design for planning. The centre comprises circa 1500sqm GIA of offices, seminar space, workshops, and a cafe.

Yorkshire House, Research Centre for Social Sciences

Client: University of York

We were involved in the refurbishment of Yorkshire House, the Research Centre for Social Sciences for The University of York.

GSS were appointed to lead the designs for the refurbishment. This included a new reception, office spaces and meeting rooms to create an inclusive and accessible workplace that incorporated modern methods of working, including hot desking and virtual collaboration pods.

WELMEC Medical and Biological Engineering Centre

Client: Miller Construction

Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the University of Leeds commissioned this refurbishment and extension project to expand the Centre of Excellence in Medical Engineering.

The Centre develops new ways to extend human joint and cardiovascular health, and is one of the world’s top 10 bioengineering research institutes. Using a Design and Build procurement route, we were appointed by Miller Construction to design the project from Stage D to completion.

The new steel frame extension was designed using a structural insulated panel external wall system, clad with Portland stone. This helped to enhance the image and profile of the WELMEC Centre within the University Campus, a key requirement of the brief. The construction process was challenging, given the restricted access to the site, and required careful planning and sequencing.

School of Dental Sciences

Client: Robertson Group / Newcastle University

Designed to be an exemplar institution of its kind, this project consisted of the significant remodelling of a live medical building, occupied by the University and shared with the NHS Trust.

The project focuses on Level 07 of the Royal Victoria Infirmary, where the School of Dental Sciences is based. It had become both mechanically unreliable and unable to meet school’s needs. The aspirations of the project were to design a space which could offer students world-leading skills training, equipping them with the knowledge needed to enter an increasingly digital workplace.

As Lead Consultant and Architect, we led designs for an exceptional suite of multifunctional, digitally capable specialist teaching spaces with VR facilities that will allow the next generation of Newcastle University students to develop, enhance and excel in their clinical dental training, taking those skills into workplaces around the world.

This project has given us new opportunities for delivery and innovation in clinical teaching and learning.

ICM Immunology Laboratory

Client: Newcastle University

We were appointed to lead a consultant design team to deliver an Inflammation and Immunology Research Laboratory for the Institute of Cellular Medicine for Newcastle University.

The project involved a significant level of complex refurbishment and remodelling within a live medical building which, in part, was occupied by both the University and the NHS Trust. The development has provided a range of new, high-end, bio-containment laboratories, tissue culture rooms, write-up rooms, and seminar spaces.

The new open plan laboratory is of the highest quality required to deliver outstanding research. The new facility has brought together, in a single lab, key researchers, who previously worked across the building and city. This is already creating new opportunities to share techniques and build stronger collaborations.

INTERIORS

Client: University of York

We were appointed as Lead Consultant, Architect and Principal Designer to deliver a new Interdisciplinary Facility for Indoor Air Quality and Health Research, also referred to as INTERIORS, for the University of York.

The research facility comprises two identical, three-bedroom residential properties, one of which will be built to Passivhaus standards and the other to 1990’s UK Building Regulations standards. Both properties are to be linked by a central single-storey laboratory facility which will offer space for scientists to measure how everyday activities such as cooking, cleaning, and DIY affect the quality of the air we breathe at home.

The laboratory will therefore be able to gain a better understanding of the impact ventilation has on different properties for indoor air quality research.

School of Geography and Faculty of Biological Sciences

Client: University of Leeds

This scheme centred on the complex refurbishment and remodelling of an existing 1960’s building of significant architectural merit (Grade II Listed), using design and build procurement.

This involved remodelling and extending five floors across five connected buildings to accommodate and link three separate schools and academic departments at the University of Leeds: the Faculty of Biological Sciences, the School of Geography, and the School of Earth and Environment - a total building area of 7,500m².

The interior redevelopment included flexible and collaborative spaces, including laboratories and ‘traditional’ teaching space all designed to be ‘future-proofed’ to adapt to future demands. Opening up the buildings helped to create a ‘bright and welcoming’ space with professional and sophisticated facilities, and maximised the use of the building footprint – a concept referred to as the ‘Third Space’. The use of glass and large open plan areas also increased flexibility and visibility.

Health Innovation Neighbourhood

Client: Newcastle University

The £500 million Health Innovation Neighbourhood masterplan will transform a former 29-acre general hospital site into a new neighbourhood, combining high-quality housing alongside the public realm, integrated with modern healthcare, education and community facilities that will foster research, innovation and enterprise. The masterplan will feature advanced infrastructure to support housing solutions that promote longer, healthier lives.

The development includes research and innovation facilities, business, employment and education space, NHS and other healthrelated facilities, alongside 1,250 new homes. These will offer multigenerational dwellings in various tenures, including co-living units, market rent, supported living, and specialist housing.

We are working with Newcastle University and their partners, Newcastle City Council and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to develop plans that will establish this site as the world’s premier centre for healthy ageing and living.

CIRS Scientific Research Centre

Client: Confidential

We obtained planning permission for an innovative, scientific research centre at a leading University. The primary objective was to enable the University to carry out advanced research in convergent medical systems to reduce both the time to market and the costs associated with the creation and commercialisation of innovative health technologies, medical devices and therapeutics.

The aim of the centre is to rely on the relationship and locations of different space types and the routes that users will take to get from one space to the next.

The design of the scheme aimed to form a sense of community by creating a flexible working environment. By combining a highly specialist scientific space with office and break-out areas, hot desk spaces, meeting rooms, presentation areas and social spaces, the design enabled integrated research and promoted collaboration between scientists, engineers, clinicians and MedTech entrepreneurs.

Blyth Energy Central Campus Institute

Client: WSP

Working with Advance Northumberland and WSP, we are leading the design for the Energy Central Campus Institute (ECCI). This will be a transformational and business-led education and innovation development that supports growth in the clean energy sector in Blyth and the wider North East.

The project will equip young people and adults with the skills needed to start their careers in this sector. The ECCI will, therefore, keep the region at the forefront of energy sector growth and will include facilities such as state-of-the-art research labs and a lecture theatre to support different kinds of learning. The ECCI benefits from extensive stakeholder engagement and a collaborative approach from the client, working with both Newcastle and Durham Universities, as well as public and private organisations. These groups will, in the future, utilise the building to train and upskill their teams, along with academic students and researchers.

South Central Institute of Technology

Client: Milton Keynes College Group / Ashe Construction

We were appointed by Milton Keynes College to undertake Architect and Lead Consultant Services for The Bletchley South Central Institute of Technology (SCIoT) scheme, which is one of three projects delivered by GSS to improve Milton Keynes College’s technical and digital education offering, located in Bletchley, Reading and Oxford.

The challenging remodelling and refurbishment works have created welcoming and inspirational learning environments in the form of high tech facilities, such as immersive learning and robotic labs, a pitching room, and inviting breakout and collaboration spaces that support the curriculum delivery model.

The SCIoT was born of a unique partnership between Milton Keynes College Group and a number of anchor partners, including global brands like Microsoft and KPMG.

services, specialist teams & procurement

Our work includes the full range of services covering architectural design, feasibilities, 3D graphics and animation, interior design, estate strategies, heritage and conservation, principal designer and one-stop-shop.

Our specialist in-house teams are collaborating with industry leaders to research and develop the latest technologies and processes that can be incorporated into our designs.

Professional services frameworks have become increasingly important over recent years as a method to engage construction professionals in a way that ensures compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and that promotes a more streamlined way of partnering in the longer term.

As a practice, we have secured positions on a range of established, UK-compliant frameworks, which enables easier, quicker and cheaper procurement routes for our clients.

Architectural Services Feasibilities Masterplanning

As experienced Chartered Architects we can work with you to explore your options, bringing a wide range of experience, innovations and best practice to realise your vision.

We can bring a wide range of innovations and best practice from our different sectors to meet your specific needs and aspirations. This experience includes masterplanning, new builds, remodelling and extensions and specialist heritage advice.

We will work with you in a collaborative way to develop a workable brief to explore design concepts and options, to manage your project through the planning process, the development of detailed design proposals, details and specifications, together with all necessary statutory approval processes.

Feasibility studies are an extremely important part of the development process. By carefully mapping out your options, risks, constraints, and opportunities we can present creative proposals and scheme appraisals that are deliverable, viable and fit for purpose. Developing your brief is fundamental to this process.

Our highly experienced teams work on a wide variety of projects, ranging in both sector and size. This means that the knowledge, experience and ‘lessons learnt’ can be brought to benefit your feasibility brief, and our experience allows your dedicated project team to explore all the options quickly and effectively to arrive at an appropriate project delivery strategy.

A good masterplan is not just about the distribution of land use, it should provide a sound starting point to create healthy communities and well-planned development strategies. A masterplan should give a carefully considered and well thought out long-term planning document that serves as a conceptual plan to guide future growth and development.

Masterplanning is all about setting the standard that creates an appropriate sense of place, connecting buildings with social, public and cultural spaces to create environments that help communities to thrive.

3D Graphics & Animation

As a streamlined part of our service offering, 3DLABS is our in-house digital design studio that specialises in CGI visualisations, 3D printing and marketing support services. They offer these services to communicate our clients designs, concepts, products or services to a wider audience, allowing them to be represented in the most visually appealing medium.

3DLABS have been offering these services for nearly a decade, gathering a diverse client base with their own unique needs and requirements.

The studio is made of a highly skilled team, led by their Studio Manager who has over 15 years of industry experience. He is supported by a team who each bring their own passions and specialisms, with photorealistic renders, interior design, graphic design to name a few.

Interior Design

recent years, there has been an increased awareness of how the built environment can impact health and productivity, and its added benefits to help institutions flourish. Organisations are now focusing their efforts on how to use the built environment for mental health and wellbeing by encouraging choice, movement and relaxation, controlling temperature, noise levels and air quality, ergonomic furniture, plants, and adding breakout areas. These are all fundamental components of good interior design.

Our interior design services include interior layouts and drawings, internal elevations, room data sheets, space planning and interior architecture, furniture selection and accessories, custom furniture and textile design and colour palette consultation.

Estates Strategies

Estate Strategies are critically important documents to have in place to provide a framework and direction for how an estate needs to grow and evolve to support you in delivering your strategic objectives. Estate strategies are important to a number of our higher education clients for example, and we have worked with a number of UK based universities to help them define their strategies.

Good strategies can add value to other large estates such as landed estates or multi-academy trusts. Our teams have the depth of skills and experience in-house to work with you and your estates teams to consider whole estate strategies and how individual projects might fit into the ‘bigger picture.’

Heritage

If you are an owner or custodian of buildings with historical significance, we can help to understand your properties, advise on the best techniques to care for them and make sensitive changes that will mean your heritage assets are both successful and sustainable.

Whether a Grade II listed house or a complex World Heritage Site, all heritage assets have their own story and unique value and getting the right advice from a wellqualified, specialist team can really make the difference.

Principal Designer - CDM

The importance of the Principal Designer - Construction Design and Management (CDM) role should not be underestimated and the skills that make a good Principal Designer should never be omitted from a development project. Fundamentally, a good Principal Designer helps to ensure that everyone involved in construction stays safe during the course of their work and complies with the statutory duties, and we often provide this service on schemes where we have also been appointed as Architect and/or Lead Consultant.

GSS can give you the confidence of knowing that our organisational approach to Health and Safety is led from partner level, ensuring that all our teams receive regular training, making certain that processes are in place to plan and manage health and safety throughout the project and helping to protect everyone’s health and safety.

Principal Designer - BR

The appointment of a Principal Designer – Building Regulations (BR) is required for all construction projects, from small domestic extensions to complex multimillion-pound developments. If your project is classed as a ‘Higher-Risk Building’ under the Building Safety Act 2022, then additional requirements apply.

Our Principal Designers have undergone competency assessments in line with PAS 8671 requirements and will be able to assist and guide you in navigating your legal duties under the Building Safety Act 2022. They will ensure that you fully understand your duties before any design work commences.

One Stop Shop

Successful construction projects rely on the right balance between design and project control. We can offer you a streamlined consulting service, bringing together all of the design team partners that you need from across our network of supply chain partners.

Using a one stop shop service is not right for everyone, but it can mean that you benefit from a single point of contact for your integrated design team. Our teams will use their construction knowledge and cost planning experience to offer expert advice on construction approaches and procurement options. This begins from the initial feasibility testing of a project right through until the handover of the completed building.

All successful partnerships are founded on taking a truly collaborative approach to achieving common aims and objectives. Clear communication is therefore an essential part of collaboration, alongside developing and nurturing a culture of working together as one team. GSS has a successful track record of achieving excellent outcomes through working collaboratively and we can draw on our experience and lessons learnt over the years to encourage and drive collaboration.

Sustainability

With climate change being one of the biggest challenges we face in our lifetime, we are committed to ensuring our projects are designed to incorporate innovative, sustainable solutions that not only benefit the building user, but the wider environment.

Our in-house Sustainability Innovation Group is collaborating with industry leaders to research and develop the latest technologies and sustainable processes that can be incorporated into our designs. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimise waste, and create healthy, productive environments.

Artificial Intelligence

GSS’s in-house Artificial Intelligence (AI) Innovation Group is responsible for providing comprehensive guidance and assistance, ensuring the safe and appropriate utilisation of AI within our work.

Our dedicated team from across the UK actively explores both the limitations and opportunities of AI, striving to enhance quality and efficiency. We have implemented a structured plan that is aimed at identifying opportunities through harnessing the latest advancements in AI technology, and the team will research and assess these to ensure that they align with our moral and ethical standards.

Fostering a collaborative environment, the group encourages innovation and integration of AI technologies that can add value for our clients. Their efforts include developing customised AI solutions, training for wider GSS team members, and overseeing a robust framework for AI governance.

Our in-house AI Innovation Group plays a crucial role in driving GSS’s commitment to leveraging the benefits of AI and maintaining our competitive edge in the industry.

Net Zero Carbon

Many of our clients have set Net Zero Carbon or Carbon Neutral targets for their buildings and estates through either decarbonisation of their current estate, or through targeting Net Zero Carbon in new buildings or investments.

We are also on our own route to becoming Carbon Neutral by 2030, a target which, although complex and challenging, we believe to be realistic and genuine.

Health and Wellbeing

There is an increasing awareness of how our environment can affect our physical and mental health and the impact that this has on our productivity and wellbeing. The Covid pandemic has reinforced the importance of good mental and physical health for everyone in society and there is an increased focus on the need for more human-centred, sustainable environments that support the people who work and live in them.

We understand that good design is at the centre of this and has real power to improve people’s lives and support organisations, delivering projects that support health, comfort, and happiness. The quality of environment can help to reduce staff turnover, improve outputs, and attract new people to an organisation.

Our designers are trained to look at how new and existing buildings, and external spaces, can deliver high quality places that are not only functional, adaptable, and efficient but also welcoming, inclusive and supportive.

Procurement

As a practice, we have secured positions on a range of established, UK-compliant frameworks, which enables easier, quicker and cheaper procurement routes for our clients. In addition to our national and regional frameworks, GSS has also secured places on a number of university frameworks across the country.

For more information on our frameworks and how you can appoint GSSArchitecture for your project, please visit our website via the below QR code:

Scan for more information on our frameworks.