Cambridge Architecture CA82

82 Cambridge Architecture

Autumn/Winter 2021

Celebrations all round

CDCA improved and expanded

Design and Construction Awards become... Greater!

RIBA Awards and Stirling nominees Award-winning buildings from the region showcased

Cambridge design studio NOW OPEN

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82

Contents

15

6

Contents 4-5 News

21-23 Summer showcase

6-7 What level are we on?

25 A safety culture change

Design process announced; Stirling open evening at mosque; new RIBA East chair; FRR completes Clare St Regis

February Phillips looks at how government funding enables developments to be realised

9-10 Facing up to a crisis

Colin Jones discusses the Building Safety Bill and what it might mean for architects

26-27 Fitting out the future

We should all care about the quality of the buildings around us, says Katie Thornburrow

Improving the sustainability of existing houses can be a tricky task, say Archangel Architects’ Nigel Walter and Apostolos Petrakis

12-14 Expanding horizons

Cambridge Architecture Cambridge Architecture is a review produced by the Cambridge Association of Architects, the local branch of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The views in this magazine are those of individual contributors (named and unnamed), and not of the Association.

ISSN 1361-3375 Any comments or for a copy of the magazine, contact editors@cambridgearchitects.org EDITORS David Adams, Tom Foggin, Susie Lober ADVERTISEMENT SALES Marie Luise CritchleyWaring (advertising@cambridgearchitects.org) Published by CPL

29 One size fits all

How the Cambridge Design and Construction Awards have become... Greater

15-20 The best of the best

University of Cambridge architecture students hold their summer exhibition on home soil for the first time

Nick Kendall explains the Partner Authority Scheme with LABC

A look at the seven Cambridgeshire projects that won RIBA East Awards

www.cpl.co.uk

30-31 Work in progress

Spotlight on Chartered Practices in the area

Cover photo © Richard Fraser Cambridge Central Mosque was a community led project designed by Marks Barfield Architects. It was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize 2021 and won both the People’s Vote and Client of the Year.

The CAA thanks the following sponsors AC Architects Cambridge Ltd Archangel Architects Bassett Architects BCR Infinity Architects BFA Architects Borough Architects Cambridge Architectural Research Cowper Griffith Architects EIKON Architecture and Design

Ellis Miller + Partners Emma Adams Architect Fawcett and Haigh George Davidson Architect Graham Handley Architects M Reynolds RIBA Mart Barrass Architect Ltd Mole Architects N J Twitchett Neale Associates

NP Architects Peter Rawlings Architects Ltd R H Partnership Architects Ltd Simon Blackburn RIBA Studio 24 Architects

CA82 was supported by a generous donation from the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry and made possible with funds from the RIBA East Local Initiative Fund

Cambridge Architecture 3

News and events

News

Greater Cambridge Design Review process announced

2021 has not been short of surprises.

Our economic and social recovery continues through a mix of optimism for architectural and construction work, and the very real pressures of material and product availability.

If the last few months (and these articles within) have taught us anything, it is that our readership, their communities, supporters, businesses and families are representative of the true strength and determination to see this pandemic through - and indeed to thrive.

In this edition, February Phillips looks at the challenge of local government support for Cambridge’s future; Councillor Katie Thornburrow examines issues of building quality; we explore the changes to the [now Greater] Cambridge Design and Construction Awards; as well as the RIBA Awards including two Stirling Prize nominees from the region; ARCSOC writes about holding the end of year show in Cambridge this time; Colin Jones looks at the potential impact of the Building Safety Bill; Apostolos Petrakis and Nigel Walter look at the practicalities of sustainable retrofit; Nick Kendall talks about the Partner Authority Scheme at the LABC; and our regular feature Work In Progress rounds off the issue.

As the year ends, we send a huge virtual, socially distanced and carefully controlled clap and cheer of thanks to our sponsors, supporters, readers, contributors and advertisers for their unwavering support. If our Summer Reception was anything to go by, there is even greater determination to make 2022 a success.

The editors

4 Cambridge Architecture

© Martin Bond, A Cambridge Diary

Welcome

Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service (GCSPS) announced a new system for design review at its recent planning conference.

This new panel replaces the Design and Conservation Panel (Cambridge City Council) and the South Cambridgeshire Design Enabling Panel with a single body: the Greater Cambridge Design Review Panel (GCDRP).

The GCDRP will review major or significant planning and pre-planning applications for

sites within the Greater Cambridge area and “support GCSPS’s commitment to high-quality design and placemaking, adding value to the planning process, managing change positively and helping create a lasting legacy”. The new panel will take over from January 2022 under new terms of reference, and a new fee scheme for applicants.

The GCSPS page explaining more can be found here: https://bit.ly/2XEA6tG

The Stirling Prize announcement celebratory event was well attended and enjoyed

Stirling Prize 2021 open evening at mosque The Cambridge Association of Architects, together with Cambridge Central Mosque, jointly hosted an open evening to celebrate the nomination of the mosque (designed by Marks Barfield Architects), and the Key Worker Housing at Eddington (designed by Stanton Williams Architects) to the 2021 Stirling Prize shortlist.

Over an enjoyable evening of discussion, introductions, drinks and fabulous food, the mosque was filled with guests from the local community and construction industry who watched

the event broadcast live from the BBC. Attendees were delighted that the mosque won both the People’s Vote and Client of the Year. The Stirling Prize was won by Grafton Architects’ Town House project at Kingston University London.

The CAA would like to thank Cambridge Central Mosque for hosting the event, to all the volunteers and sponsors, as well as support from advertising and presentation event experts JMPS Ltd, who collectively helped make the evening a spectacular success

© RIBA East

© TEDx

News and events

Margherita Cesca presents to 850 attendees in Padova

Cambridge architect gives sustainability talk at TEDx Padova Local architect Margherita Cesca, Director of Architecture at Lanpro, gave a presentation for TEDx in Padova, Italy, on 9 October 2021 The speech, entitled Sustainable Architecture — Good questions INFORM: Great questions TRANSFORM, took place in front of 850 guests and was recorded for broadcast on YouTube at https://bit.ly/tedxmc

Jerene Irwin, new Chair of RIBA East, pictured with (most of) the RIBA East council members

New Chair for RIBA East announced

FRR completes Clare St Regis

“As RIBA East Chair, I will continue to build on this success by representing the architects and architectural practices of our region, celebrating best practice, excellence in design of the built environment, pushing forward the sustainability agenda and supporting our students and schools of architecture.”

New student housing for Clare College

Freeland Rees Roberts Architects has completed Clare St Regis, a mixed-use regeneration scheme for Clare College Cambridge, featuring new student accommodation and market flats.

The St Regis site extends between Chesterton Road and Hamilton Road to the north of the river Cam. The previous buildings on the site had come to the end of their useful life and have been replaced with three new buildings of contemporary design, using materials that harmonise with the surrounding properties and the residential street context.

A series of pitched roofs, gables and articulation of the façades ensure that the new buildings respond positively to the surrounding architectural language and the site context.

Cambridge’s Tom Foggin was recently elected to the post of Vice-President Membership of the RIBA for a twoyear term. Foggin is a director at rhp in Cambridge and former Chair of RIBA East.

CAA Committee 2021:

£1bn AstraZeneca Discovery Centre opened by HRH Prince Charles HRH Prince Charles has opened the new AstraZeneca Discovery Centre, the £1billion global research headquarters on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. It was designed by Herzog and de Meuron Architects, detailed and delivered

RIBA membership role for Foggin © Freeland Rees Roberts Architects

The CAA is glad to welcome Jerene Irwin, director of Chaplin Farrant architects in Norwich, as the new Chair of RIBA East, taking over from Tom Foggin, director at rhp architects in Cambridge.

Irwin said: “Over the years, RIBA East has developed and diversified including forming special interest groups around sustainability and education.

by BDP, and constructed by Mace. The opening, on 23 November, marks a major milestone for a project that tripled in cost and was more than two years later than envisaged. AstraZeneca was determined to “get it right, rather than get it fast”.

Chair: Mart Barrass (Mart Barrass Architect Ltd) Secretary: Quratulain Hafeez (freelance) Treasurer: Kelly O’Doherty (BCR Infinity Architects) (looking for a volunteer to assist) Communications: Mark Richards (studio24 Architects) Data Champion: Quratulain Hafeez (freelance) Outreach: Ann Bassett (Bassett Architects) Margherita Cesca Nelder-Haynes (Lanpro) Events Coordinator: Eliza Papoutsi-Lentzos (looking for a volunteer to assist) Sustainability Champion: Alice Hamlin (Mole Architects) Fundraising: Marie-Luise Critchley-Waring

Cambridge Architecture 5

Future Cambridge

What level are we on?

It’s sometimes easy to miss the actual changes happening close to home, as opposed to endless government commitments for future change. February Phillips considers the local government strategies and how developments in and around Cambridge are being realised WORDS FEBRUARY PHILLIPS

W

ith an ongoing global health pandemic, rising gas prices, panicbuying of fuel, a shortage of HGV drivers and something to do with fertiliser, carbon dioxide and chickens that I don’t really want to think about, it’s quite difficult to focus on the challenges that face the architecture profession.

We could seek guidance from our political leaders. They recently provided us with some food for thought by renaming the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,

Diagram of the 12 Greenways connecting Cambridge and its surrounding communities

or DLUHC (try saying it out loud, it has a surprising sound and feel).

This is an interesting move, implicitly reducing the importance of local government, while pushing the responsibility onto a single government department to ‘Level Up’ across the country. A quick Google search offers multiple definitions for levelling up, including making standards the same or higher and going to the next level in a computer game. I hope the government isn’t comparing the department to a computer game, where players achieve incremental goals through carrying out tasks, pitted against a digital programme, to achieve a fleeting boost of endorphins with no real-life value, progression or lasting reward. Having described this,

however, I can’t help but think that there is a correlation with the job of a built environment professional. It can sometimes feel like we encounter a whole series of incremental challenges that are sequentially overcome, that seem like success, but in the end failing to deliver any real change or lasting impact.

City fortunes

Over the past 10 years, the government has launched a number of initiatives to support building new homes and to improve infrastructure. Cambridge has been fortunate enough, with hard work and investment in local government, supported by the private sector, to see some of the results of these initiatives begin to come to fruition. Cambridge City Council and Hill Investment Partnership formed the Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP) in 2017, aiming to deliver 500 council-rented homes across the city by March 2022. The two largest sites are nearing completion: Ironworks on Mill Road and Timberworks on Cromwell Road. The CIP website states that these two developments will provide 236 council-rented homes – 45 per cent

© 5th Studio and Maddison Graphic

“In uncertain times, history has shown that there is a tendency to overlook or cut the ‘nonessential’, such as design quality and environmental sustainability goals”

A PASSION Legal expertise to build success FOR PEOPLE 6 Cambridge Architecture

of the total homes being built. This is a positive achievement, but the real success of this partnership can only be judged when people move in and communities and neighbourhoods start to develop.

The focus on local government delivery in Cambridge over the past few years hasn’t only been on housing. In late 2019, a partnership was formed between the city council, Anglian Water and U+I with development partner TOWN, to expand on plans for Cambridge Northern Fringe East (CNFE). The aspiration is to provide 5,000 homes, an expanse of employment space and a new district centre with retail, hotel, community, leisure, and education facilities.

The project follows the completion of Cambridge North station in 2017, funded by the Department for Transport, interchanging with the Guided Busway to the north-west of the city. While the area round the station is currently under construction (through collaboration between Brookgate, Network Rail and DB Cargo UK), CNFE requires the somewhat controversial move of the Water Recycling Centre to Honey Hill, near Fen Ditton, to enable development.

© 5th Studio Architects

Future Cambridge

The City Deal

In 2013, the City Deal programme funded a partnership between the city, county and district councils alongside the University of Cambridge, with the intention of providing vital improvements in infrastructure. The projects currently listed on its website, all in different stages of development, include the Greater Cambridge Greenways (walking, cycling and horseriding routes connecting surrounding villages to the city), the Chisholm Trail, numerous road improvements (mainly to the north and east of the city), and the

An aerial view of the concept masterplan for Cambridge Northern Fringe East

Illustrative view along an improved Cowley Road, Cambridge Northern Fringe East, 5th Studio Architects

south-west and south-east travel hubs. It is evident that Cambridge’s local government, and its partners, have been busy and we should acknowledge and celebrate this.

In this post-Covid transitional period, however, it also feels like a good time to reset and review whether current strategies are joined up and relevant. With potentially fluctuating construction costs and inflation rates, the current public/private partnership model for delivering (primarily) affordable housing feels risky and uncertain, putting pressure on an already stretched mechanism in terms of quality homes and community infrastructure (schools, health centres, and so on) provision. In uncertain times, history has shown that there is a tendency to overlook or cut the ‘non-essential’: design quality, environmental sustainability goals, and providing the facilities and connective infrastructure to support good neighbourhoods.

Level up

© 5th Studio Architects

For local government to build on the momentum it has in this difficult period, to ‘level up’ through providing real, meaningful change, it will need a clear strategic vision, good leadership and a huge amount of support from built environment professionals, the construction industry and the local community.

With continued and increased effort and a focus on design quality (supported by the new Greater Cambridge Design Review Panel) to deliver sustainable infrastructure, reductions in carbon emissions and good neighbourhoods, this generation of public sector investment in the built environment should be able to leave a legacy that we can all be proud of

01223 581 429 01223 461 155

www.hcrlaw.com Cambridge Architecture 7

Building quality

Facing up to a crisis We should all care about the quality of the buildings around us, whether they are council homes, private developments, schools, offices or civic buildings. Katie Thornburrow, councillor for the Petersfield ward, chaired the Building Quality Crisis Forum, held online. Here, she explains the issues both regionally and nationally WORDS KATIE THORNBURROW, COUNCILLOR (PETERSFIELD)

S

ince the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017, attention has rightly focused on concerns about unsafe cladding, with serious concerns about the safety of people living in affected properties, the cost of replacing potentially dangerous materials, and who should pay.

In addition to cladding issues, there are many questions about other aspects of building quality across the UK – such as poorly fitted insulation leading to cold bridges and mould problems, poor plumbing and electrics, inadequate installation of fire prevention measures – which need to be addressed. Residents of new-build estates have raised these issues with developers many times, but they do not get the attention they need, and remain common.

And finally, many leasehold residents are finding themselves faced with unexpected costs for work done to the properties in which they live, or having ground rents significantly raised.

As an experienced architect with my own practice and more than 30 years’ experience designing and supervising building works, I believe that we need an open, public debate about these complicated issues, so that people can be better informed about the changes we need in building regulations, public policy, and accountability for our homes and the other buildings we use.

Untenable situation

In July, I hosted a forum to learn more about some of the most important issues around the quality of our homes.

It brought together a range of experts in different areas with a panel of elected representatives. I wanted to bring these issues to wider attention and also ensure that councillors and others are properly informed as they make decisions around policies and planning issues that affect building quality, and that they can deal more effectively with issues raised by residents.

Having heard from a range of groups campaigning for change, such as the

“Unless we acknowledge the current problems and take action to deal with them then homes will continue to be sub-standard and blight the lives of those living in them”

Manchester Cladiators and Ipswich CAG, as well as building control, the fire service, and individuals directly affected by these issues, it is very clear that the current situation is untenable.

We heard about the level of snagging found in new homes, and how hard it can be to get these rectified. We heard how groups of leasehold tenants have come together so that their concerns and voices are better heard. We learnt about the loopholes in land ownership that have resulted in the nightmare of leaseholders facing expensive repair bills and homes

Cambridge Architecture 9

Building quality

that are considered unsafe. We also listened to local residents talk about their own struggles – with some encouraging tales of success. We heard from our MP, Daniel Zeichner, about how these concerns are being raised in Westminster, again and again. Finally, we heard from the council’s building control service and the fire service about how they are working to understand the changing regulations and coordinating information about local cases of building safety failure.

I convened this forum to seek evidence about the building quality crisis facing Cambridge and the surrounding area, focused on general build quality issues, the cladding scandal that has been brought into focus since the Grenfell disaster and abuses that leaseholders and freeholders are experiencing.

Put simply, unless we acknowledge the current problems and take action to deal with them then homes will continue to be sub-standard and blight the lives of those living in them.

The necessary action is beyond the scope of the city council or other local bodies, but we can highlight the issue by assembling evidence from those with expertise. That is what I have sought to do here. We can use what influence and authority we must to move towards a longterm solution that takes full account of the available evidence.

For me, that means pushing for an urgent solution, and legislation, to the cladding crisis. I also think that, as architects, we can put pressure on developers to do better and build the high-quality homes we know they are capable of. As for leasehold reform, that is long, long overdue.

Next steps The outcome report of the Forum will be published in late November and we look to the government to ensure that there are amendments to the Building Safety Bill to compel the responsible parties to pick up the remedial costs.

The panel was made up of elected representatives from across the region Local authority

Position

Name

Cambridge constituency

MP

Daniel Zeichner

City councillor Petersfield ward

Katie Thornburrow

City councillor Market ward

Katie Porrer

City councillor Queen Edith's ward

Sam Davies

City councillor Trumpington ward

Philippa Slatter

District councillor Caldecote

Tumi Hawkins

District councillor The Mordens

Heather Williams

County councillor Newnham

Lucy Nethsingha

Cambridge City Council

South Cambridgeshire District Council

Cambridgeshire county

They heard presentations and asked questions of representatives from a range of organisations One building in Cambridge has been reclad, but many external finishes remain problematic (C) Katie Thornburrow

Organisation

Representative

Quality issues – HouseScan

Harry Yates

Cladding – London CAG / Manchester Cladiators

Dave Richards Giles Grover

Cladding – Ipswich CAG

Alex Dickin

Leasehold and freehold abuses – Leasehold Knowledge Partnership

Martin Boyd

Westminster perspective

Daniel Zeichner MP

Building control – 3Cs BC

Heather Jones

Fire authority

Wayne Pringle

© Katie Thornburrow

“We learnt about the loopholes in land ownership that have resulted in the nightmare of leaseholders facing expensive repair bills and homes that are considered unsafe. We also listened to local residents talk about their own struggles – with some encouraging tales of success” 10 Cambridge Architecture

© Daniel Romero, Aukett Swanke

Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards

Bradfield Centre, Cambridge Science Park, by Aukett Swanke. Best New Large Building, 2017

Expanding horizons TEXT PROVIDED BY FEBRUARY PHILLIPS, TRUSTEE, CFCI

C

ambridge Forum for the Construction Industry (CFCI) and Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Services (GCSPS) are inviting applicants for the Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards. CFCI and the local authority have held design awards annually since 1988. Over the past few years, these awards have expanded to include all aspects of construction, celebrating best practice in both the design and construction of our built environment, in addition to celebrating the individuals and crafts people, and the teams who make it happen. Sustainability, engineering, and community are important aspects of the overall industry and we have included additional awards to celebrate best practice in these areas.

The awards are aimed at all sizes and complexities of project ranging from smaller new buildings to larger developments and new neighbourhoods as well as celebrating the best renovation and conservation projects in greater Cambridge.

Award categories

There are eight main categories for entries as listed below. The presentation of all the awards will be made in March 2022.

Building Awards

Best new building (under £2m construction costs) ● Best

new building (over £2m construction costs) ● Best

conservation, alteration, or extension of an existing building (under £2m construction costs) ● Best

conservation, alteration, or extension of an existing building (over £2m construction costs) ●

Contractor Awards

The city council’s Considerate Contractor Scheme Awards continue to be supported and will follow the format for 2021 and are

12 Cambridge Architecture

Changes for 2022

There have been a number of changes to the awards for 2022. Submissions are now welcomed from the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service area, including both Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.

We have added two new awards to celebrate the performance of contractors during construction with a special focus on contractor innovation during the construction process, sustainability measures taken by the contractor throughout construction and the approach the contractor has undertaken to engage with the local community to address concerns and improve outcomes during construction.

Due to the pandemic, we have reluctantly had to defer the new neighbourhood and landscape awards that are run every three years and should have been part of the 2022 Awards. We hope to run these categories in 2023 and 2024.

being presented at a virtual awards event at the end of the summer in 2022.

Visit: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ considerate-contractor-scheme We have introduced a new category of award as part of the Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards to specifically recognise the contractor’s contribution to the built environment during the construction phase of the project. It aims to celebrate the major contribution contractors make to the built environment in respect of innovation, sustainability, and community engagement.

If successful, further awards will be considered in the future.

There are two new awards: ● Best

project demonstrating innovation, sustainability, and community engagement during construction

(under £2m construction costs) Best project demonstrating innovation, sustainability, and community engagement during construction (over £2m construction costs)

●

Engineering, Sustainability and Craftsmanship Awards

Engineering and sustainability project of the year award ● Craftsmanship

award ●

Deferred awards

The following categories have been deferred from 2022 ● New

neighbourhoods – awarded once every three years, next to be awarded in 2023 ● Best

new landscape – awarded once every three years, next to be awarded in 2024

People Awards

Other categories will be presented by the CFCI and GCSPS at the same time as the Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards. These categories are judged by experts in their field appointed by the CFCI, alongside representatives of the GCSPS. Applications are to be made through the shared planning authority as per the main awards. ● Young

Professional of the Year ● Apprentice

of the Year Award ● Site

Manager of the Year

Criteria for judging Building Awards

The criteria for the Building Awards are: ● Design

excellence – a building of overall architectural merit ● Inclusive

and accessible design ● Design

appropriate to the context ● Good

quality of workmanship ● Good

quality materials – including durability ● Sustainability

– carbon performance, environmental design, creative approach to site constraints, future adaptability ● Performance

– the submitted schemes should also include any performance data where it is available Any completed schemes within the Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Council areas can be entered.

Contractor Awards

The new Contractor Awards will be assessed on the project team’s performance during construction (rather than on design quality), with scores split equally between the elements listed below: ● Innovation

– at least one example of an innovative construction technique, process or product (e.g. modern methods of construction), or new way of working (e.g. innovative contract arrangements or programming or procurement approaches). ● Sustainability

– at least one example of the use of sustainable construction methods or products, or sustainable approaches to procurement, employment, etc. or improved sustainability during the whole life of the asset. ● Community

– at least one example where the project has addressed the concerns/needs of the local community, or where it has given a benefit back to that community during the construction period, in terms of charitable work, engagement with local people,

contribution to local employment and/or education, etc.

© Richard Chivers

Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards

Swirles Court, rhp, Joint Best New Neighbourhood, 2017

Any schemes currently on site or completed within the Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Council areas can be entered.

Engineering and Sustainability Award

This award is for projects which demonstrate engineering excellence in civil, structural, mechanical and electrical, or construction engineering. Detailed submission requirements including data from the completed building are set out in the requirements in the ‘how to enter’ section on the following page.

Any completed schemes within the Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Council areas can be entered.

Craftsmanship Award

Specialist elements of construction exhibiting exceptional quality of workmanship, design, fabrication, and installation. The craftsmanship should demonstrate detailed knowledge of materials and show a high level of expertise applied with skill to deliver both precision and beauty in the work being submitted for this award.

Any completed schemes within Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Council areas can be entered.

People Awards

The People Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals working in the construction industry, and related fields, in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire. The awards are judged on a nominee biography, a statement from a nominator and a referee – details are set out in the ‘How to Enter’ section. The three award categories have different judging criteria, set out below: Young Professional of the Year This award is to celebrate the achievements of professionals, under the age of 35 on 1 January 2022, who have excelled in their professional field.

Nominations can come from all built environment industry sectors including property, law, planning, construction, surveying and design. The submissions will be judged against the following criteria: ● Inspiring

others: Being a positive role model and representing the future of the profession ● Collaboration and leadership: Excelling at working with others and showing leadership potential

The judging panels

Our panel of judges include representatives from the sponsors as well as experts with knowledge of buildings in Cambridge and SCDC and their design and construction.

The judging process for the building awards will include an initial selection of a shortlist of projects from the electronic submissions followed by a site visit by the judges to the shortlisted projects early in the new year and a final selection of winners and commendations to be announced at an awards evening in March 2022. ● Chair

of Judges, Dame Fiona Reynolds, former Master of Emmanuel College Cambridge and former DirectorGeneral of the National Trust. ● Chair

of the new Greater Cambridge Design Review Panel (to be confirmed) ● Cllr

Katie Thornburrow, Cambridge City Executive Councillor for Planning Policy and Transport ● Cllr

Dr Tumi Hawkins, South Cambridgeshire District Council Lead Cabinet Member for Planning Policy and Delivery ● Meredith

Bowles (architect) Chair of CFCI trustees ● February

Phillips (architect) CFCI trustee ● Tom

Foggin (architect) CFCI trustee ● Joel

Gustaffson (engineer) CFCI trustee The engineering and sustainability awards and the new contractor awards will be judged by a separate panel using the electronic submissions only. ● Joel

Gustaffson (engineer) CFCI trustee ● Simon

Smith (engineer) CFCI trustee ● Bob

Ensch (construction consultant) CFCI trustee ● Nick

Milne – 3C Building Control Construction Monitoring Officer ● Emma

Davies – Principal Environmental sustainability Officer, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning service The People Awards will be judged by a panel selected by the trustees of the CFCI. ● Emma

Fletcher – CFCI Trustee ● Tom

Foggin – CFCI Trustee ● Alison

Wring – CFCI Trustee ● Isabel

McTiffin – CFCI Trustee ● Bob

Ensch – CFCI Trustee ● Heather

Jones – Strategic Lead 3C Shared Services Building Control – GCSPS ● Jane

Green – Built and Natural Environment Manager – GCSPS

WE’RE HERE

Within the eastern region, our specialist Planning & Development team includes:

To find out more about our simply better advice, visit: carterjonas.co.uk/planning-and-development

Experienced Partners

WHEN YOU NEED GUIDANCE

8

24

Dedicated professionals

Cambridge Architecture 13

Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards

Anything else that makes this individual stand out as an exceptional apprentice.

●

Apprentice of the Year This award recognises apprentices who have made a significant contribution to their workplaces, and who are enrolled on a formal apprenticeship, traineeship programme or vocational degree course on 1 January 2022. The submissions will be judged against the following criteria: ● Achievement: Carrying out work of an exceptional quality, showing determination, personal development, contribution to a particular project, overcoming challenges ● Teamwork: Making an exceptional contribution to the workplace, and

Site Manager of the Year This award recognises outstanding contribution by site managers, appreciating the pivotal role that they play in the success of a project. The submission will be judged against the following criteria: ● Attention to detail: Achieving consistently high standards of workmanship, resolving technical issues, applying working methods to reduce carbon emissions during construction ● Collaboration: Leadership skills, subcontractor management and developing good relationships with clients and the community ● Health and Safety: Considering efficient controls and evidencing that the welfare of everyone is a priority, and ● Anything else that makes this individual stand out as an exceptional site manager.

How to enter

The awards will be presented in March 2022.

Entries must be received by 7 January 2022.

Building Awards submission requirements For the Building Awards, entrants must submit an application form to state for which category the scheme is being entered and the following photographs and documents: ● A single PDF sheet giving the project brief and the clients and contractors involved ● A minimum of five and up to 10 JPEG images, with a minimum width or height of 1000px (maximum file size is 10MB) ● Include external and internal photographs showing specific details that you wish to highlight. In terms of accessibility, entrances, routes, and spaces should be clearly shown ● Each photograph should be uploaded as a single image file unless you wish to show before and after images of a refurbishment project ● Convey how the project relates to its context as these will be the main way the scheme will be judged ● Include both wide shots and close-ups. If possible show the building in use too ● Include the photographer’s name for copyright. Please note that submitted photographs will be used for promotion of the awards by the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service and the CFCI

14 Cambridge Architecture

© Michele Rossi

Innovation: Displaying original thinking, problem-solving abilities, the capacity to overcome challenges, taking positive action to reduce carbon emissions, and ● Anything else that makes this individual stand out as an exceptional young professional. ●

The Garage, Ashworth Parkes. Winner, Best New Small Building, 2017

on their websites, and to inform visitors which entries won. ● Alongside the photographs and project brief, please submit a minimum of one and a maximum of six drawing files in JPEG format (maximum file size 2MB) ● Include a location plan (1:1250) ● Site plan ● Floor plans, ensuring that the main access is clearly shown ● Two sections through the building.

Contractor Awards submission requirements For the Contractor Awards, entrants must submit an application form to state for which category the scheme is being entered along with the following: ● A maximum of three A4 pages of text (font size 11 minimum) describing the project, the team involved and the examples of innovation, sustainability, and community ● Any supporting photographs and plans would also be welcomed, up to a maximum of 12 images (maximum file size is 10MB).

Engineering, Sustainability and Craftsmanship Awards submission requirements For the Engineering and Sustainability awards and the Craftsmanship Awards ensure that drawings or photographs are submitted as for the main awards above. They need to show

how these matters have been addressed to a high standard in the submitted scheme. For the Engineering and Sustainability entries, please include two sides of an A4 PDF (a maximum of 400 words) giving the project brief, companies or individuals involved, and a summary of the engineering excellence and primary sustainability details delivered as part of the project.

People Awards submission requirements Entrants must submit an application form including the following information, for all categories: ● Contact details for the nominee and nominator ● Contact details for a referee (this could be a senior manager, client, consultant, or contractor). This person will be contacted and asked to provide a statement of support if the nominee is shortlisted ● Nominee biography (maximum 400 words) ● Nominator response to the criteria (maximum 800 words).

Application Forms

All entries should be submitted using the entry forms here: https://bit.ly/GCDCA21.

Any queries should be directed to Susan Smith, principal conservation officer via historicenvironment@ greatercambridgeplanning.org or 07514 924164. We look forward to receiving your entries. Thank you.

RIBA Awards

The best of the best In an unusual year, in which the RIBA East Regional Awards process was adapted to be Covid safe, judges benefited from the postponement of last year’s awards with more time for the buildings to be used and a greater level of post-occupancy feedback. Here, we look at the seven winning projects in Cambridgeshire

© Matthew Smith

WRITTEN BY LUKE TOZER, RIBA EAST REGIONAL AWARDS JURY CHAIR

© Matthew Smith

Private house, Cambridge

Architect: NRAP Architects (now Owers Warwick Architects) Client: Private client Contractor: Adams and Newman A delightful two-storey extension and renewal of an existing elegant and simple L-shaped single-storey courtyard house.

The project is an excellent example of where good design adds significant value, and creates a wonderful house with relatively modest means. It is an accomplished piece of architecture and a sensitive renewal of an original building, providing it with a longterm sustainable future. ● RIBA Regional Award ● RIBA East Small Project of the Year

Cambridge Architecture 15

© Morley von Sternberg

RIBA Awards

© Morley von Sternberg

Cambridge Central Mosque Architect: Marks Barfield Architects Client: Cambridge Mosque Trust Contractor: Gilbert Ash

Cambridge Central Mosque is a demonstration of how architecture can embody religious and cultural philosophy and traditions while utilising sustainable and contemporary materials. It is a building of evident programmatic clarity and function, where one of those essential functions is religious contemplation and delight. It has created a new, 21st century, non-denominational British mosque that is both specific to its place and time and that resonates with wider Islamic and religious buildings. To have achieved this in Cambridge, with its world-famous tradition of structural expression in religious architecture, yet without contrivance, is a remarkable achievement. ● RIBA Regional Award ● Regional Project Architect of the Year ● Regional Client of the Year ● Regional Building of the Year ● Stirling Prize Shortlist ● Stirling Prize People’s Choice Award

Allen Pyke Associates

Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning based in Cambridge www.allenpyke.co.uk 01223 358 055 v.friedlander@allenpyke.co.uk 16 Cambridge Architecture

© Richard Ash

RIBA Awards

Imperial War Museums Paper Store Architect: Architype Client: Imperial War Museums Contractor: Fabrite Engineering

The plan is simple, but flexible, allowing for future expansion. Its minimal form, which creates a sculptural object in itself, is also in line with its sustainability credentials, ensuring that heat losses are minimised from additional corners and junctions.

Cladding panels represent each year since 1914, and are punched to represent the volume of storage of a particular year.

Because of a low requirement for services, minimal penetrations in the façade made this possible.

© Jack Hobhouse

© Richard Ash

● RIBA Regional Award ● RIBA East Sustainability Award

Key Worker Housing, Eddington, Cambridge

Architect: Stanton Williams Client: University of Cambridge, North West Cambridge Development Contractor: Wates Construction The urban approach of ‘loose’ interconnected courtyards is very successful and creates a delightful series of spaces. The walk from Market Square through four interwoven courts to reach Landscape Court is a pleasure, and easily accessible by all. The landscaping, both hard and soft, is particularly successful in integrating the buildings within a holistic and rigorous external environment.

The scheme manages to feel as though it is part Cambridge college and part new piece of city. ● RIBA Regional Award ● Stirling Prize Shortlist

Cambridge Architecture 17

NATIONAL INFLUENCE LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Based in Cambridge, the Heritage Team at Barton Willmore offers a fully integrated and collaborative approach to the historic environment within the planning system.

We pride ourselves on providing robust and realistic advice; helping clients realise their commercial objectives whilst successfully negotiating positive planning outcomes and delivering high-quality, sustainable development.

CAMBRIDGE

Acting nationally, we can advise on proposals affecting a variety of heritage assets and project types, including urban and town centre regeneration, strategic land promotion, feasibility assessments, new development within conservation areas, Green Belt land and proposals affecting listed buildings or their setting.

Our Cambridge office can also provide Town Planning, Economic and Environmental Assessment services across the eastern region.

For more information please contact

Lorraine King – Head of Heritage T: 01223 345556 E: lorraine.king@bartonwillmore.co.uk

RIBA Awards

© Andrew Meredith

Royal Papworth Hospital Architect: HOK International Client: Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Contractor: Skanska

If a hospital is a machine for healing people, it appears all too often that hospitals seem to prioritise functional requirements of treating the body, rather than the mind and soul, in the design of their physical environments. With notable recent exceptions such as Maggie’s Centres, the design of many hospitals is often reminiscent of a spreadsheet in physical form, making them a depressing experience to work in or visit, even when in good health. Thankfully, at the Royal Papworth that is demonstrably not the case.

The curved form of the ‘doughnut’ plan is an unusual and distinctive presence within the Addenbrooke’s campus.

© Peter Cook

© Andrew Meredith

● RIBA Regional Award

© Peter Cook

Student Services Centre Architect: Bennetts Associates Client: University of Cambridge Contractor: Kier Eastern

The Student Services Centre consolidates seven university facilities to provide a new centralised location within the city. Incorporating an Edwardian Art School, the Old Cavendish Laboratory, and a new building, the site has been optimised while still offering high-quality landscape between the three buildings and the centre of the city. The project transforms the local street structure, connecting previously divided areas together.

The architects have navigated a complex process of briefing with numerous stakeholders, listed and existing fabric, constrained access and archaeological finds, and arrived with an exemplary addition to the city’s urban realm. ● RIBA Regional Award

Cambridge Architecture 19

Simple House

Architect: Haysom Ward Miller Architects Client: Private client Contractor: Croucher Combined Services Simple House is an extraordinary piece of inventive design.

The two-bedroom house is completely hidden behind a garden wall. The owner didn’t want to impose on the already settled neighbourhood and decided to opt for a discreet design and construction.

Set in a very small plot, originally a simple garden plot, the house embraces nature in all directions. The client’s aim was to reinstate what they took away from nature. And they have achieved just that! ● RIBA Regional Award

20 Cambridge Architecture

© Richard Fraser

© Richard Fraser

RIBA Awards

Student exhibition

Summer showcase As summer races around the corner each year, the University of Cambridge’s architecture students unveil their Exhibition Showcase, celebrating the design work produced across the department. Yet their most recent show tackled an unusual set of circumstances and unexpectedly found itself on home ground WRITTEN BY ELEANOR LEE, 2020/21 EXHIBITION TEAM, CURRENTLY PART II ARCHITECTURAL APPRENTICE PHOTOS BY DANIËL SARS, 2020/21 EXHIBITION TEAM, CURRENTLY PART I ARCHITECTURAL ASSISTANT

B

ringing the team together at the start of the academic year, our Zoom call from bedrooms, kitchens, gardens and a canal boat spanned several countries and set the tone for a fairly unusual exhibition.

It seemed to us then to be an impossible task: achieving an in-person exhibition with a venue, models, and people to visit. We managed it, albeit not following the typical template.

One of our biggest questions was where to achieve an exhibition in-person?

Because of Covid-19, many of our usual

London venue considerations were unfeasible and we risked everything being impossible to organise with rules changing almost monthly. Instead, we opted for hosting our exhibition in Cambridge at the Department of Architecture: home turf.

Creative control

Having spent so much of the year seeing our desks as soon as we woke up, either staying with family or in student accommodation, we were delighted to be able to return to the familiar studio and department spaces at Scroope Terrace.

Whilst it lacked the polished, momentous feel of a London show, it enabled us

“We were very proud of having collaboratively designed, built, and successfully presented an architectural showcase of the stunning work produced by students across the department”

Cambridge Architecture 21

Student exhibition

to have more creative control on how, and in what spaces, we presented our work. Knowing the rooms, from having sat in some of them for day-long crits or late-night model-making put us in a great position to edit spaces and design structures to suit the scope and style of our work.

Coordination between each group, academic year, and the team looking after the overall exhibition effect was critical.

Achieving permissions from the university, gaining sponsorship, and publishing work ourselves also fed into this collaboration. Each year group got authorship over the design of their space; from first years constructing a snaking pathway of detailed hand drawings and textural material experiments, to second years immersing themselves in the open, light atmosphere of the studio, through third years’ contrast of lightweight scrolls and speaking multi-faceted boxes reflecting the dual studios, right up to MAUD’s technicolour blanket of design theses, and webbed connections linking through the work of the first ever year of the Part II Apprenticeship course.

We wanted to celebrate the department across each of its courses in the spaces where we create.

Along the way, we became inventive

22 Cambridge Architecture

team workers and nimble material seekers, having to adapt to everyone’s changing circumstances. It was a rewarding process as we designed and built it all by hand, giving the exhibition a crafted feel. We wanted to explore the potential of designing with a small material range, allowing us to reduce cost by ordering in bulk, maintaining a similarity across spaces through a material language of timber.

Devising innovative uses of the timber to create modular structures, rotations of restricted small groups could come into the department to build a copied module, which could then be utilised to framework differently in each space.

Seeking to have minimal impact and keep the exhibition sustainable, we were successfully able to dismantle the entire show after display, giving the department back to the students for the following year of teaching, and store the majority of materials for future reuse.

Crowd appeal

Hosting the exhibition in Cambridge made it more accessible to personal contacts such as university friends and students’ families, especially lining up with undergraduate graduation week. We were very pleased with the overwhelming

Student exhibition

“We became inventive team workers and nimble material seekers, having to adapt to everyone’s changing circumstances” positive feedback we received from visiting family, friends, and wider university members, who might never have seen the exhibition otherwise. Perhaps the professional turnout was less than typical years; however, this was mostly because of restrictions prohibiting the usual opening evening event. Unlike typical years, Covid-19 unexpectedly opened up possibilities of virtual interaction with the exhibition, which was an exciting platform for us to expand our reach. We used a

360-degree camera to create a streetview-like walk-around VR experience of our exhibition, which visitors could access online from anywhere.

Looking ahead

We were very proud of having collaboratively designed, built, and successfully presented an architectural showcase of the stunning work produced by students across the department.

It will be interesting to see how

this coming year will challenge the new ArcSoc committee, and whether they’ll choose to revive London exhibitions – or whether this will set a new precedent for hosting the festivities in Cambridge.

With a record number of undergraduate students, new architectural courses being introduced, and a 100-year anniversary to celebrate, it’s certainly shaping up to be an exciting year full of innovation. We can’t wait to see – and be a part of – the next ArcSoc Summer Exhibition.

Cambridge Architecture 23

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Building safety

A safety culture change The passage of the Building Safety Bill through parliament in 2022 suggests significant changes in store for architects and other built environment professionals. Colin Jones, a partner at HCR Hewitsons, who specialises in construction and engineering, offers his thoughts WRITTEN BY COLIN JONES

The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, with the loss of 72 lives, generated considerable public concern about safety in all buildings in occupation. The high-profile public inquiries that followed concluded that the systems for the management of building safety were not fit for purpose.

In July 2021, the Building Safety Bill was published. It includes proposed measures with the aim of creating a more effective regulatory and accountability framework for greater oversight of the building sector. There is an emphasis on what are defined as ‘higher-risk buildings’ – those more than 18 metres in height or with at least seven storeys, and including residential units.

However, much of the bill has wider application with proposals for new standards and guidance for the undertaking of all forms of construction; greater powers for residents in regard to the management of risk in the buildings they occupy; and new remedies in regard to inadequate construction.

There will be a new regime of construction product categorisation and a new homes ombudsman scheme. An all-powerful Building Safety Regulator will be established as part of the Health and Safety Executive including to determine the planning and development stages of higher-risk buildings with a new three-tier Gateway system.

The aim is to instigate an essential safety culture change in the sector and a more responsible approach by the construction industry, from the design stage though to the construction, ongoing management and refurbishment of buildings.

The bill includes proposals specific to architects.

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) will have new powers to monitor registered architects, including to assess competence and

to increase transparency as to service standards.

The Architects Act 1997 will be amended to bring these new provisions into effect, with the revisions timetabled to come into force within 12 months of the bill being enacted. Under the changes, architects will be required to undergo continuing professional development throughout their career.

The ARB will have powers to set expected criteria for competence, to determine which practical experience or training should be assessed and how that assessment should take place. If an architect does not meet the new

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requirements, or is found to be guilty of professional misconduct, or serious professional incompetence, the ARB will have the power to remove them from the register. The provisions will apply to all registered architects – seen as essential given the need to provide wider public confidence in regard to building design and construction.

The Building Safety Bill is working its way through the parliamentary system, but architects need to be braced for the new changes applying to them and which are timetabled to take effect very soon after the bill becomes law.

“Architects need to be braced for the new changes applying to them”

Quantity surveying Project management Consultancy

Cambridge Architecture 25

Domestic retrofit

© Lina and Tom Ltd

Upgrading the fabric and services to a Victorian farmhouse

Fitting out the future Improving the sustainability of existing houses can be a tricky task, write Apostolos Petrakis and Nigel Walter of Archangel Architects. It needs careful consideration of multiple factors, and needs to work in conjunction with the existing building WRITTEN BY APOSTOLOS PETRAKIS AND NIGEL WALTER, ARCHANGEL ARCHITECTS

T

he government’s unveiling of its Net Zero Strategy on the eve of COP26 included measures to stimulate the move away from burning fossil fuels to heat our homes – some 13 per cent of UK carbon emissions relate to heating domestic buildings. While 40 per cent of dwellings now have an Energy Efficiency Rating rating of bands A to C (up from 12 per cent in 2009), there is a mountain still to climb. Piecemeal measures will prove inadequate; just as the country needs a clear strategy,

so each project we address needs an effective retrofit strategy if we are sufficiently to reduce energy demand and carbon emissions.

The energy required to provide thermal comfort in any building is determined by the interplay of thermal gains and losses. The most commonly used tool to model and assess this is the heat balance equation, which considers all thermal gains – solar, lighting, hot water systems, appliances and, of course, people – against all thermal losses – including the building envelope, ventilation (intentional and uncontrolled), and hot water discharge. From these,

Read our latest Cambridgeshire insight here

26 Cambridge Architecture

the energy deficit or surplus – in other words, the heating or cooling demand – can be determined.

Fabric first

While new buildings provide opportunities to optimise for orientation and site positioning, with retrofit projects the priority is to minimise energy demand by reducing heat losses – commonly known as the ‘fabric first’ approach promoted, for example, by the AECB Retrofit and the Passivhaus EnerPHit standards. Alongside improving the insulation of walls, roofs and floors, the replacement of windows and doors offers a great opportunity to reduce infiltration and to check solar gains during the warmer months – overheating risk is becoming a significant design issue. Any fabric improvements require careful consideration of breathability and water vapour diffusion to avoid interstitial condensation, particularly in conservation settings.

Only once the performance of the

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Domestic retrofit

© Lina and Tom Ltd

A biomass boiler and PV panels were added

© Lina and Tom Ltd

The thermal performance of the windows, doors and ceiling were sensitively improved to suit the buildings

Post-occupancy monitoring

A 1960s bungalow was extended to include PV panels as well as fabric improvements.

Albeit a new house, it demonstrates the thermal performance opportunities to the windows and doors as well as including subtle PV tiles

© Lina and Tom Ltd

Occupant behaviour is another essential consideration in retrofit projects.

Building automation – for example, smart thermostats and programmers – can bring substantial benefits, but will be

“Only once the performance of the basic components and materials of the building fabric have been optimised should the size and type of building services systems be considered”

useless if they’re not comprehensible.

Post-occupancy monitoring is invaluable for users and designers to understand how the system beds down in reality, and to improve our practice.

There are, therefore, multiple factors to consider when designing a retrofit project, which is why a comprehensive and costed retrofit strategy should be developed from the outset. The recent Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) 2035 and 2030 (2019) offer a comprehensive framework for domestic energy retrofit, including the necessary standards to be met. Widespread adoption of such tools will be essential if our domestic building stock is to meet our climate goals.

© Lina and Tom Ltd

basic components and materials of the building fabric have been optimised should the size and type of building services systems be considered. A building with a lower heating demand is, of course, easier to heat, making renewable sources like air- or groundsource heat pumps more viable. These operate at lower water temperatures than do conventional boilers, potentially requiring a new heat delivery system – for example, larger radiators or underfloor heating. Hence the need to consider the building holistically as a system, with the initial focus on ‘fabric first’.

Cambridge Architecture 27

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Building regulations

One size fits all Here at Cambridge Architecture, we are diligent sleuths sometimes. When we heard about the Partner Authority Scheme run by LABC, it sounded intriguing. It is described as ‘your gateway to local expertise within a national public sector building control network’. We asked Nick Kendall, who has recently joined LABC, to explain

The Building Safety Regulator, within the scope of the new Building Safety Bill, will select a local authority team for ‘relevant buildings’.

But to local communities, every building is relevant: to their inclusivity, their growth, and their security.

Your local authority building control team not only understands that – it is part of a 3,600-strong national network of expertise.

This way, it can deal with a huge variety and scale of projects. It fosters a team approach to design and is on hand for early advice and project support while always assuming the position of a ‘critical friend’, who will have honest conversations about compliance and collaborate on effective solutions.

Our Partner Authority Scheme gives you a single point of contact with whom you’ll develop a relationship. This surveyor will understand your practice’s needs and help you to comply with the ever-changing maze of technical and legislative standards. You essentially get one person supported by 3,599 others!

So why not look at your local relationship differently? Take it nationwide. When your next project is outside your locality, by joining our Partner Authority Scheme, you can continue to work with your local team for plan checking and it collaborates with the local authority at the site to carry out the inspections. You retain continuity and your relationship with the team local to you, which sees the project through, finding solutions to design issues with you as they arise.

Local authorities offer stability and will always be around. The faces you work with might change, but your local authority will always be there to help you whatever the circumstances in the industry.

Nationally, LABC has a team of regulatory and learning specialists, which supports and educates its network of local teams. LABC has created accredited learning pathways to help it build a new generation of professionals while its competency validation assessments enable building control surveyors to validate their competence for regulating all types of work.

Your local authority building control team offers a perfect mix of local community-focused ethos and knowledge combined with national

© AzmanJaka, iStock

WRITTEN BY NICK KENDALL, LABC

“The faces you work with might change, but your local authority will always be there to help you whatever the circumstances in the industry”

strength and resources. It is non-profit making, enabling it to focus on what the Building Act was intended to do: secure the health, safety, welfare, and convenience of persons in or about buildings. That is achieved through modern thinking, national standards, passion and cooperation.

The world is increasingly turning to a more local agenda and to building sustainable communities: you can’t get much more local than your local authority.

Sign up for our Building Bulletin (at https:// www.labc.co.uk/professionals/buildingbulletin-email-newsletter) and find out more about our Partner Authority Scheme here: https://www.labc.co.uk/professionals/ registration-schemes/partner-authorityscheme-pas

Cambridge Architecture 29

Work in progress Residential development in Chesterton Graham Handley Architects

© Graham Handley Architects

Graham Handley Architects has achieved planning approval for five family homes in Chesterton. The existing inter-war detached house on the site has a generous plot of approximately 0.18ha set almost entirely to lawn. Consideration of the existing garden character of the site was a key aspect of the proposals, which offer a variety of communal and semi-private spaces. The plans maximise the site, providing five modest and genuinely adaptable homes of high-quality design, with form and massing to reflect the houses in the vicinity.

RASE Ely Skatepark and BMX proposals Lanpro

Donald Insall Associates is working with Cambridgeshire County Council on the repair and restoration of the former library building, Mill Road – a high-profile Grade II listed building at risk. Works include alterations to address damp issues arising from a failing rainwater system and lack of ventilation and maintenance in the building, renewal of damaged finishes, and the repair and release of the boarded-up clerestory windows to be fully operational for natural ventilation. The repair works secure the former library for future use and restore this landmark for the local community. The property is to be put on the market.

30 Cambridge Architecture

© Lanpro

Donald Insall Associates

© Donald Insall Associates

Former library building saved

Lanpro is working on the design of Ely Skatepark and BMX Track alongside not-for-profit Riding and Skating Ely (RASE). The proposed low-impact skatepark will incorporate specialist landscaping showcasing alternative products to conventional concrete, reducing CO2 emissions by 80 per cent. The proposal will also include seating areas and a separate pump track specially designed to complement the landscape. The team is currently in the process of meeting East Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning department and consulting closely with City of Ely Council about a suitable site for this exciting new scheme.

Spotlight on projects by Chartered Practices

Mass CLT at Science Park MCW

© Harvey Norman

© Mole Architects

© MCW

MCW architects are tackling the challenge of taking concrete and steel out of design with a mass timber CLT office/R&D building for Camprop, at Cambridge Science Park. With almost 70k sq ft of highly flexible office and research space, this scheme could be the largest 100 per cent mass timber commercial building in the UK. The scheme has been developed with Smith and Wallwork, which has extensive experience of timber structural design, and Scotch Partners’ experts in low-carbon environmental thinking. The use of CLT means the total embodied carbon for the building structure will be a negative value as a result of the sequestered CO2.

Zinc-clad extension and retrofit

Manor Farm House starts on site

Harvey Norman Architects

Mole Architects

Harvey Norman is working to extend and sustainably refurbish a Victorian terrace in a Cambridge conservation area. Aiming to be on site by spring 2022, the design response is centred on natural light and will be built from high-quality, hand-crafted materials. Responding particularly sensitively to its context, the dark anthracite zinc cladding on the exterior draws reference to the tone and richness of the surrounding area. Proposals include a modern open-plan kitchen into the side return and new living area overlooking the garden through a projecting frameless glass oriel window. A new garage will house an 'endless' pool.

Mole Architects has designed a new home that weaves into a collection of existing barns to form a walled garden adjacent to a 16th century Suffolk farmhouse. The project, designed to Passivhaus standards, is due to start on site this month. An open living, dining and kitchen space runs the length of the first floor, with panoramic views to the landscape. Internally, the home is full of warm textures – stone floors, cherry timber lined kitchen and stairs, terrazzo tiles and panelled walls. Externally, the patchwork brick pattern, flint, pantile roof and steel cladding are grounded in the site context and make a contemporary piece of architecture rooted in tradition.

King’s Knoll construction

© Cowper Griffith Architects

Cowper Griffith Architects Cowper Griffith Architects has recently started on site with alterations and extensions to a Grade II listed property in Suffolk; the unique house sits on a promontory on the north side of Martlesham Creek. The house was built in 1933 and remained in the ownership of the architect, Hilda Mason, and her sister for their own use until her death in 1955.

Hilda Mason is noteworthy as one of only seven women architects who designed Listed buildings between the two world wars. Permission was obtained for replacement extensions, replacement of the existing windows, external insulation and the installation of underfloor heating.

Cambridge Architecture 31

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