Depot a community cinema for the town of Lewes, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, has won the Green Screen Award at the 2022 Big Screen Awards. Sustainability was built into the design and the venue has taken that forward with their “aim to be an exemplar of sustainable business both as a local venue and in the wider cinema industry”. Their achievements have been recognised by the leading British Film Industry magazine at their annual awards.
The new cinema was built on the site of the old Harvey’s Brewery depot. It shows feature and independent art-house films, as well as hosting events, exhibitions and festivals, and provides facilities for film education and community activities. BFF’s design approach was to retain the much-loved existing warehouse building, a popular landmark in a prominent location by the station and insert three new cinema screens. A modern glazed foyer houses the box office, café/bar, meeting and film education facilities: and provides a contemporary setting against the former industrial building.
Reflecting the historic site layout of orchards and meadows, the tarmacked yard has been landscaped to provide a new public realm; a ‘Town Square’ for Lewes. With native plant species, a small orchard and wildflower meadow maintained by volunteers, it is open all day and used for outdoor events and screenings. The café/bar is open throughout the day welcoming all sectors of the community and visitors to Lewes and uses produce grown in the on-site orchard.
Extensive consultation with local access groups ensured a welcoming and accessible facility for people of all abilities. The Depot is now a local landmark, achieving occupancy levels well beyond the original business case and there has been a noticeable increase in other independent businesses opening locally. Sustainability was embedded into the design from the beginning: local building materials; high thermal performance; a Ground Source Heat Pump; solar panels and an extensive green roof. The cinema has developed a green-focussed management strategy with careful control of procurement and waste and consequently the building became carbon-neutral in 2019.
The Depot responds to the unique qualities of the South Downs National Park and is authentic to Lewes. We worked with a local expert flint subcontractor to push the boundaries of flint craftsmanship within the South Downs with the knapped flint entrance portico and the visible roofscape featuring flint paving, as well a green roof planted with chalk loving plants all found in the SDNP.
Sustainability was built into the development project by:
Retention of the existing masonry to form the massive acoustic boxes of the cinema screens;
Use of local materials in construction: chestnut timber, downland flint;
Foundation design to accommodate flooding in the River Ouse risk area;
Incorporation of on-site energy generation: PV cells, ground source heat pumps;
Increase of biodiversity through a green roof planted with local downland species;
Replacement of the tarmac delivery yard with a community garden space incorporating local species planting and food production (fruit trees/bushes).
The cinema is also run to deliver sustainability goals through their operational policies, including:
Localism in procurement;
No non-recyclable waste;
Support for green transport;
Garden training for volunteer network.