When does community consultation make a real – not token – difference to the scheme delivered?

John Burrell will be joining Andrew Simpson, Managing Director of Dominic Lawson Bespoke Planning (DLBP) at the White Paper Conference “How to Operate Skilfully and Advantageously within the Planning System” at the Caledonian Club, London.

Andrew and John will be discussing, using real examples from the work of both practices, “When does community consultation make a real – not token – difference to the scheme delivered?” 

Community Consultation for London Borough of Islington

Burrell Foley Fischer pioneered doing more than just consultation. The granting of funds by the RIBA, under the Community Initiative Awards Scheme, to residents in Brixton enabled them to engage John Burrell and his team to work with the whole community and individuals to evolve the best brief and solutions, all as part of a two-way dialogue. This ethos of grounding and communicating ideas and options has continued and has become one of the hallmarks of the practice. BFF’s work continues to be predominantly for the users of the buildings they design and part of a long-term relationship and engagement.

Helen Grassly to address 2018 Theatres Trust Conference

Helen Grassly will be taking part in the 2018 Theatres Trust Conference entitled “Adapt & Thrive - New Money and New Models for Theatre Buildings” being held at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith on 16 October. The conference will examine how changing artistic, business and operating models in the theatre sector are impacting on how we build, adapt and run our theatres so they are fit for purpose and continue to thrive. Speakers from across the sector, including Michael Ellis MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism and Cameron Mackintosh, Producer and Theatre Owner, will explore how we can ensure our theatres remain viable in challenging economic times and how we can continue to invest in renewal of our theatre infrastructure.

New auditorium for Hall For Cornwall designed by BFF

Together with Julien Boast, CEO and Creative Director of Hall For Cornwall, Helen will be participating in a session “Viability by Design - How are theatres being designed and adapted to increase revenue and reduce running costs?”  They will discuss examples of how theatres are changing their buildings and their operational models in order to develop more sustainable artistic and business models. In particular, they will explore the creative process of designing the current major refurbishment and remodelling of the Truro theatre.

Construction is about to start on an ambitious and much-needed refurbishment of Hall For Cornwall, seeking to safeguard the heritage of the building and transform the venue into a dynamic and high-quality environment that will give the people of Cornwall access to the best performing arts to rival any city in the country. After six years of planning, this exciting project will see the auditorium increase in size, enabling them to attract top West End shows and promote and support creative talent, alongside developing their work with schools and young people. In addition, new cafés and bars, a Heritage Lottery funded project and new digital creative business hub, will combine to create a venue that will continue to inspire, educate and be enjoyed.

New vision of Hall For Cornwall by BFF

Upon the foundations of their existing site, the project, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, will unveil the history and heritage of the Grade II* listed building and create a new theatre within, alongside improved café, bar & public spaces. Their new home will be a vital community asset and one which will continue to inspire, engage, educate, entertain and challenge all audiences, firmly placing them at the heart of Truro’s cultural and economic offering and securing their long-term future. Support has come from the Government, along with Arts Council England, Cornwall Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) and the Cornwall Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Theatres Trust are the national advisory public body for theatres and are a statutory consultee on theatres in the planning system. Set up by the Government thorough an Act of Parliament in 1976 they work to promote the better protection of theatres for the benefit of the nation.

Plans for Arts Hotel on Porthleven Harbourside to be submitted

Porthleven Harbour and Dock Company is preparing to submit a planning application to refurbish and convert the former Fish Warehouse and Lime Kiln (both Listed Grade II) on Porthleven’s harbourside into an ‘Arts Hotel’. The boutique hotel, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, will have 14 bedrooms, a roof level suite, gallery spaces, a restaurant and a public area on the upper level of the lime kiln offering views over the harbour. 

The former Warehouse building will remain relatively unchanged in its external appearance but will provide the entrance to the Hotel with public rooms on the ground floor and bedrooms on two upper floors. A new building, connecting the Warehouse to the restored and adapted Lime Kiln, will contain a restaurant, further bedrooms and a gallery running alongside the cliff face offering exhibition space for local artists to display recent work. The Kiln will include in its restored semi-circular walls under a mono pitch lean-to roof, as once existed, a unique picture hanging space publicly entered from the Quayside.

Trevor Osborne, owner of the Harbour & Dock Company, has been keen to develop his vision for a small, boutique hotel at the heart of the village for some years.  He says: “The Arts Hotel will provide a vibrant new addition to the community, attracting year-round visitors, and also build upon Porthleven’s already thriving arts scene. The gallery spaces will be used to display art for guests and the wider public to enjoy and purchase, with no commission taken from the artists.  The offer of an ever-changing display of high quality artwork will appeal to guests, and also provide a platform for aspiring artists to generate income through their work, which can only help the wider economy.”

There will be a public display of the latest plans in The Shipyard, Porthleven on Monday 8th October from 12.00pm to 5.00pm and on Tuesday 9th October from 2.00pm to 8.00pm.
 
Burrell Foley Fischer, have extensive local experience, including the award-winning conversion of an old fish warehouse into The Newlyn Filmhouse, and the practice’s refurbishment and remodelling of the Hall for Cornwall, which has just started on site.

Depot, Lewes nominated as Cinema of the Year at Screen Awards

The Depot in Lewes has been nominated for a prestigious industry award, Cinema of the Year (Company 24 screens or under) at the Screen Awards 2018. Screen International, a film magazine covering the international film business, presents the Screen Awards, to recognise excellence in UK film distribution, exhibition, marketing, publicity and brand partnerships. Celebrating much more than box office results, the Screen Awards acknowledge the wide array of studios, companies, teams and individuals that contribute to the success of the British film industry.

The Depot is a new three-screen community cinema, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, on the site of the modest but much loved existing warehouse of the old Harveys brewery depot in Lewes. The three screens have been discreetly inserted within the saved brick shell, with the major design move being to attach a new glazed extension with the depot structure fully visible as the historic backdrop to the new box office, café bar, restaurant and film education and training facilities. Reflecting the historic site layout of orchards and meadows, the former tarmacked service yard is landscaped to provide a new public realm.

Since opening last year the cinema has proved to be an outstanding success and has already become an important part of the cultural and leisure mix in the town and recognised as a catalyst to regeneration.  Writing about Lewes in the Guardian, Tom Dyckhoff said "Hang out at… Depot, a new community cinema with space to eat, work, meet, chat." The venue hosts a packed programme of events and their recent Thrift Fashion Show was featured on ITV news. 

The Screen Awards will be presented at a ceremony in London on 29 November.

Campbeltown Picture House among the finalists in the 2018 Scottish Heritage Angel Awards

The restoration and remodelling of the Campbelltown Picture House is among the finalists in the 2018 Scottish Heritage Angel Awards in the Best Rescue of a Historic Building or Place (for projects over £2m) category.

The Picture House has the joint accolade of being one of Europe’s few surviving atmospheric cinemas and Scotland’s oldest purpose-built cinema still in operation. The conservation project, led by Burrell Foley Fischer, restored the art nouveau exterior and the historic main auditorium to its 1930s design, and provided a new state of the art second screen, café, education room and other facilities.

Designed by Albert V. Gardner, one of the most celebrated cinema designers in the first half of the 20th century, Campbeltown Picture House opened in 1913. Gardner had studied architecture at The Glasgow School of Art between 1901 and 1905, and the influence of this seminal building is reflected in the Glasgow School Art Nouveau design of the 1913 building. Twenty years later Gardner was invited back to Campbeltown to modernise the interior of the cinema which he did in the ‘atmospheric’ style which was all the rage at the time.

Popular from the late 1920s, atmospheric cinemas transported audiences to exotic places such as European courtyards or gardens. The ceilings were often painted with starry skies or with wispy floating clouds, and other elements such as trellises, balconies and painted trees created the special atmosphere. Few of these cinemas now survive with Campbeltown Picture House being the only extant example in Scotland and one of only a handful in Europe.

For Campbeltown Picture House, Gardner embellished the cinema with a blue sky with moving white clouds projected across it, and two plasterwork buildings (known locally as the ‘wee houses’) on either side of the screen that gave the ambience of a Mediterranean courtyard. These special features have been meticulously restored with other elements of the original design such as the stunning art deco lights, recreated by contemporary craftspeople.

The re-launch of the cinema marked the culmination of more than three decades of work and commitment by Campbeltown Community Business Ltd to bring this historic gem back to its full glory.

Launched in 2014, funded by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, and run by the Scottish Civic Trust in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland and Archaeology Scotland, the Scottish Heritage Angel Awards celebrates both groups and individuals who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to promote, protect and, in many cases, rescue Scotland’s heritage.

This year the awards ceremony will take place in Glasgow for the first time, with the eventual winners to be crowned at Glasgow City Chambers on Monday 22nd October.

Burrell Foley Fischer Appoints New Principals & Associates

Burrell Foley Fischer LLP is delighted to announce the appointment of new Principals and Associates to develop its growing practice and expand its creative ambition in both its London and Birmingham studios. Founded in 1982, Burrell Foley Fischer undertakes an incredible variety of high quality work. The current Partners: Mark Foley, John Burrell and Aidan Ridyard congratulate Faye Davies, Geoff Pyle, Helen Grassly, Ben Aston, Helen Chapman and Ian Munton, recognise their vital role in the development of the practice in recent years, and look forward to their invaluable contribution in the future.

From left: Ian, Faye, Helen C, Geoff, Ben and Helen G.

Principals:

Faye Davies has been with the practice for 13 years and is a dedicated Specialist Conservation Architect and Project Lead, working on sensitive conservation projects through to alterations and creative reuse of historic buildings. She has extensive technical and construction experience, which helps ensure schemes are built to quality, time and budget.

Geoff Pyle is fascinated by all stages of making buildings - the process of designing and constructing collaboratively is an important part of making excellent, enjoyable architecture.  He has been associated with the practice since his early career and has also worked internationally, being responsible for completing buildings in the arts, education, residential and leisure sectors.

Helen Grassly has worked with the practice on institutional, residential, cinema and performing arts projects over several years. Her expertise lies in the delivery of high quality, beautifully detailed projects in sensitive environments.

Associates: 

Ben Aston is based in our Birmingham studio and is a Specialist Conservation Architect. Ben has wide experience of arts, cultural and higher education projects, including museums, libraries, performance and events spaces.

Helen Chapman specialises in gaining successful Planning and Listed Building Consent approvals for particularly challenging schemes across a variety of sectors.  Helen is based In Birmingham, is an accredited RIBA Principal Designer and champions Construction Design Management within the practice.

Ian Munton is an engaging team leader with experience in early years, primary education and a variety of one-off projects. He enjoys working with clients to develop practical solutions that respond to and deliver their aspirations and beyond. A great believer in engaging the wider community in architecture, he recognises the consultation process as vital and important.

Redevelopment of Hall for Cornwall starts on site

The keys to the Hall for Cornwall are being formally handed over to the contractor for the project, Kier Group, as the construction phase of the project starts on site.

The refurbishment and remodelling of the Grade II* listed theatre will increase its audience capacity, conserve and restore its important heritage elements and bring them into better use. The new, three-tiered theatre space will enable the organisation to deliver their artistic vision and provide a new dynamic relationship between performer and audience. Improved access to Arts and Culture for the community of Cornwall will result, together with the facilities required to support a sustainable business model for the organisation. 

The new auditorium, with 1,262 seats and 83 standing positions, will be seen as an open space sitting within the granite box of the original marketplace walls. The back façade of the City Hall and the Back Quay building will be visible from within the theatre space. The auditorium design has open edges allowing views through and across the space. In the daytime, and during set up, these views will allow glimpses into the theatre world. For comedy nights and rock and pop gigs the openness and standing positions will create a lively atmosphere. For drama and classical music the shutters come down and the auditorium can be absolutely focussed on the performance. 

A flexible proscenium will allow the right masking for a range of performances from orchestra to stand-up comedy. Gentle ramps across the site, combined with lifts, will provide universal access into the theatre, whilst better seating will be provided for all members of the audience, including thirteen wheelchair spaces with a variety of positions within the auditorium. Improved dressing room facilities, and proper facilities for performers with disabilities, will be provided for the first time. In the Boscawen Entrance the wonderful, arcaded market place designed by Christopher Eales will be restored and form a new foyer for the theatre. A café restaurant will be created that will be open throughout the day and provide a unique offer in Truro for both the local community and visitors.

Councillor Egerton commenting on the redevelopment said “As a partner, Cornwall Council is working with the team at Hall for Cornwall to realise the exciting vision for its refurbishment which, once reopened, will act as a great economic boost for our growing city. Having a world class cultural building at the heart of Truro offers us a great chance to achieve our growth aspirations in a way that respects local distinctiveness and provides a fantastic resource for the whole of Cornwall.”

New Performing Arts Centre for Hurst achieves Practical Completion

A new Performing Arts Centre for Hurst, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer and constructed by Management and Construction Services, has been handed over to the College, on time and on budget.

Hurst is a thriving, co-educational day and boarding school for pupils from age 4 to 18 years, situated within a 140-acre campus, surrounded by beautiful countryside on the borders of the South Downs National Park, close to the village of Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex. The new Performing Arts Centre provides the College with a flexible, 370-seat, courtyard theatre that responds to a number of different formats to suit drama, dance, music theatre and musical performances. It replaces their existing Bury Theatre, which no longer provides the standard of facility needed.

Theatre buildings are generally characterised by a distinct ‘front’ and ‘back’ (denoting front-of- house and back-of-house) creating a compositional arrangement that is often uneven when approached from different directions. In this case, the new PAC can be viewed from all directions and so the building’s composition is expressed with the central mass of the auditorium rising in the middle, with four columnar roof vents punctuating the roof ridge, and the ancillary spaces wrapped as a secondary layer around the outside.

The glazed foyer areas are designed to face the eastern approach in the direction of the main College Buildings, where the transparent outlook of the foyer spaces presents an inviting aspect across the green space. Currently, the practice room wing of the Music School partly masks this approach but as the College’s masterplan is implemented this aspect will be opened up putting the new PAC in its proper context.

Tring Park featured in new book “100 Projects UK CLT”

Dance Studios at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, are featured in a new publication presenting the case for the use of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) in construction.  The building is among one hundred case studies featured in the book, encompassing a wide range of scales, styles and types.

In the foreword the authors note that “While cross-laminated timber (CLT) appears to be finally entering the mainstream, there is considerable inertia in the construction industry that impedes the greater adoption of this truly innovative material. The benefits are clear - building in timber is quick, clean, and easy. It can be achieved with a measured accuracy and lack of noise, waste, or need for material storage space. It has notable benefits in terms of warmth, acoustics, and structural efficiency. In a world ever more concentrated in urban areas, timber is the basis for safe and healthy cities composed of exceptionally designed and responsibly constructed buildings.”

Dance Studios at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts

Rooted in the site’s natural setting the building takes a holistic approach to the environmental conditions related to dancers’ specific needs. The internal heights of the dance studios reach 6 metres at their curved apex reducing to 4 metres towards the eaves. Externally, the eaves are kept intentionally low to reduce the profile of the building while the curved apex and wild flower meadow roof sensitively soften the building into the landscape.

The timber is exposed internally, painted with a white wash to provide a light internal surface that is warm to the touch. The building is naturally ventilated for a large proportion of the year through opening roof lights and perimeter ventilation, with low velocity mechanical ventilation used at other times.

BFF have designed a number of buildings using CLT, including an academic building with six classrooms and six science laboratories for Kingham Hill School, an Arts Centre featuring a 300-seat Recital Hall at Sherborne Girls and a Performing Arts Centre with a 370-seat theatre at Hurstpierpoint College.

Sherborne Girls Arts Centre under construction

Access a free PDF copy of the book here.

Beijing Design Week - City for Tomorrow Conference 2018: Leisure City

John Burrell is participating in an exchange between the United Kingdom and China as part of Beijing Design Week 2018. He is joining representatives from different British practices and consultancies, in Beijing, to take part in the “City for Tomorrow Conference 2018: Leisure City”, organised by Design Collective London.

His talk entitled “Healthy Mind, Healthy Body.. Healthy City, How people make cities” will focus on the importance of harnessing the initiative, energy, vision and diversity of individuals and communities within the city as an alternative to large scale interventions and isolated mono-functionalised ‘use’ zones, over-scaled buildings, anonymous spaces and wasted land.

John will discuss how, through harnessing local initiatives, we can create cultural, recreational and leisure buildings and spaces that relate to each individual ‘locality’ and its topology.  He will show how, with a range of activities, it is possible to grow a new local identity and community related to good public spaces, such as streets, squares, parks, gardens, markets etc., to make new neighbourhoods, with human scale, individual character and identity.

The talk will make reference to successful places of a scale where everyday work/leisure life style is in itself inherently healthier, e.g. the ‘15 minute city’ alternative; moving towards more balanced energy-efficient liveable places, that are locally structured to give a better use of time for leisure, sporting, recreation and cultural pursuits for all ages on a daily basis.

John will draw upon BFF’s many UK-wide cultural and creative ‘hub’ projects including the site for the New Museum of London in the centre of the city, an alternative for Spitalfields and the Depot Cinema and cultural ‘hub’ in Lewes.

Depot Cinema, Lewes

John Burrell to take part in Lewes FutureScoping Symposium

John Burrell is taking part in FutureScoping, a symposium on the future of Lewes’s cultural infrastructure provision: “What do we want? What does Lewes need?”

John is a founding Principal at Burrell Foley Fischer, the architects for the award-winning Depot Cinema. The venue was recently described as having “reused and extended a redundant semi-derelict warehouse to create a new townscape and a community amenity performing functions far beyond the cinematic experience. This is an outstanding mixed use cultural building and an exemplary piece of placemaking.” 

Other participants at the symposium include: Alison Grant, founder and director of Fitzroy House – Lewes’s latest cultural hub; Frances Hollis WorkHome advocate and researcher on this new ‘beyond LiveWork’ housing approach: Piers Taylor, Invisible Studio experimental architect, most recently on the participatory artists and makers Watchett Arts Hub; and Jess Steele, director Jericho Road, social and community development, led Hastings Pier community organisation

The event is taking place at the Depot in Lewes on Sunday September 30th between 1.30 and 5.30pm.

FutureScoping is part of Make Lewes Festival 2018, a community organisation that promotes the exchange of knowledge in the fields of Making, Architecture, Design & Sustainability. They organise and run live projects, workshops, talks, seminars, exhibitions, film screenings and further events, with the aim of creating a dialogue between our local community and the wider national and international community of designers, makers and thinkers.

More details of the symposium can be found here.

Original Kiosk at Brighton West Pier to be Restored

Burrell Foley Fischer are leading a design team for the restoration and reconstruction of a kiosk at Brighton West Pier.

Image courtesy West Pier Trust

The West Pier kiosk is the sole surviving complete element from the original pier and is the world’s oldest surviving pleasure pier building. The kiosk was recovered from the pier in the 1990s and West Pier Trust wishes to restore and reconstruct this exquisite cast iron building on the newly landscaped lower promenade and close to the BAi360, West Pier site and West Pier Centre. Although the kiosk is the single surviving building from the 1866 pier, originally it was one of six identical buildings sited in pairs along the deck of the pier. At the time, they were the largest pier buildings to have been constructed.

When rebuilt the octagonal kiosk will be over 8m in diameter and, including its ornate cupola, nearly 10m high. The kiosks were the first specifically designed pier buildings to be constructed of decorative cast iron. Nothing like them had been seen before. Contemporary commentators struggled to describe them. ‘Ornamental houses’ was the best they came up with; and it was some time before they became known as kiosks - a new exotic word in the 1860s from the Persian meaning palace or pavilion. From its West Pier origins, Seaside Orientalism appeared around Britain’s coasts and across the seas to other countries.

Image courtesy West Pier Trust

The dismantled kiosk has been moved to a secure space where the preliminary work necessary to understand the challenges of restoration and the most appropriate methods to use, is taking place. All the components have been identified and tagged and expert engineering consultants are undertaking initial assessment of the cast-iron sections. An architectural paint investigation has been commissioned. The report has revealed that beneath twenty layers of paint applied to the kiosk since 1866, its original livery was light cream with details picked out in red-brown.

A precise site for the location of the restored kiosk has been identified. Brighton & Hove City Council has given planning approval for the restored kiosk to form the eastern element of the recently landscaped piazza on the lower promenade east of BAi360. The kiosk will be adjacent to the West Pier Centre, sited in one of the rebuilt seafront arch units, in view of the ruined skeleton of the pier-head theatre and next to the recently installed golden spiral made of reclaimed West Pier columns.

Proposed East Elevation, courtesy John Burrell

The restored kiosk will have remarkable architectural and historical significance. However, in renewing the kiosk WPT does not simply wish to celebrate the past but also intends to use this exceptional architectural survival to enrich the present and the future. The Trust plans to use the kiosk as the home for Britain’s first Seaside Learning Centre, building on and expanding our long-established programme of activities, talks, lectures, guided tours and exhibitions for both adults and children.

Internally the kiosk will be a flexible space suitable for workshops, lectures and exhibitions and provide an innovative learning space designed to increase peoples’ enjoyment, understanding and knowledge of the seaside and coastal environment. For example, the programme might on the one hand include an historical look at the ‘invention’ of the idea of The Seaside in the nineteenth century; while on the other it might investigate the value of off-shore wind-farms and the impact of rising sea levels in the twenty-first century. It would also respond to the seasonal requirements of the city: offering gallery and performance space during the Brighton Festival, Punch and Judy workshops during the summer, a base for photographic studies of the pier head ruin and the starling murmuration in the winter.

BFF’s team includes John Burrell, whose association with the Pier goes back to his student days when he prepared measured drawings of the kiosks and the entire pier which are now deposited with the Royal Commission for Historic Monuments, and Faye Davies, whose Conservation Architecture Diploma was on the life and works of Eugenius Birch, the designer of Brighton West Pier.

Learn more about West Pier here.

Cranfield University reveals designs for their new Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre

Cranfield University have today revealed Burrell Foley Fischer’s designs for their new Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre (DARTeC) facility, at the Farnborough International Airshow.

The DARTeC facility is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2019 and will be formally opened in early 2020. The facility will provide a research environment which is protected from, and yet accessible to, a live aerodrome that allows research at a variety of technology readiness levels. The facility consists of a central building containing a suite of digital aviation research laboratories, a partially covered ‘hangar laboratory’, a 737-400 aircraft, an intelligent movement area, and a remote air traffic control centre with conventional and advanced holographic radar systems capable of monitoring and controlling the airspace around Cranfield’s aerodrome.

Located adjacent to the DARTeC central building, the hangar laboratory will house Cranfield’s 737-400 aircraft which will be connected through an airport-style air-bridge. The hangar laboratory will include aircraft sensing equipment, visual, thermal and load distribution, for digital maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) studies and markings for an airport gate. The laboratory will house airport ground handling vehicles where assistive digital technologies will be researched and integrated to improve ground operation efficiency and safety. In addition, the facility will enable research into the development of fully-autonomous ground handling vehicles and the application of UAVs for remote inspection concepts.

The Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre is a unique opportunity to bring together sector leads from across the aviation industry (airspace management, airport, airline and aircraft) within a collaborative research environment to create, experiment and challenge the digital status quo through accelerating digital systems integration.

Depot Lewes wins South East LABC Building Excellence Award

The Depot Lewes has been awarded Best Public Service Building in the 2018 South East LABC Building Excellence Awards. The Local Authority Building Control awards celebrate achievements in the construction industry. They reward excellent buildings, outstanding companies, and partnerships and individuals that go that extra mile. 

The Depot is a new three-screen community cinema on the site of the modest but much loved existing warehouse of the old Harveys brewery depot in Lewes. The three screens have been discreetly inserted within the saved brick shell, with the major design move being to attach a new glazed extension with the depot structure fully visible as the historic backdrop to the new box office, café bar, restaurant and film education and training facilities. Reflecting the historic site layout of orchards and meadows, the former tarmacked service yard is landscaped to provide a new public realm. 

The project will now go forward to the National Awards later this year, where it will compete against the award winners in other regions across the country. 

Carmen Slijpen (centre), Director & Programmer at Lewes Depot with the other winners

Helen Grassly participates in the Sibiu International Theatre Festival 2018

Helen Grassly has addressed the Theatre & Architecture conference at Sibiu International Theatre Festival 2018. The most important annual festival of performing arts in Romania, it brings participants from 70 countries into Sibiu and caters for 62,000 spectators a day. The theme of the conference was “Looking Ahead at the Way Architectural Design, Programming, Technology and the Evolution of Our Communities Will Shape the Theatres and Theatrical Experience of the Future”.

Sibiu, Romania

Considering the fact that the city of Sibiu wants to build a new theatre, a congress centre and a research institute for the performing arts and cultural management, this event will contribute to the formulation of aspirations and objectives related to this platform for "Radu Stanca" National Theatre of Sibiu and for the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in order to fulfil the community requirements and those of the architectural and urban environment as best as it can. The participants analysed the relationship between the act of creation and the theatre buildings in a multi-layered discussion, as well as the way in which this relationship is affected by and - in its turn - affects the community, the financial and social durability, but also the evolution of the arts.

Hall For Cornwall, one of the projects highlighted at the conference

Helen participated in the session “Performing Arts Spaces We Have Built” outlining how venues Burrell Foley Fischer have designed have stood the test of time, have been effective in meeting their original aspirations and how they have met evolving business models and artistic requirements. She explained how our experience demonstrates the possibility for performing art spaces to endure, to be sustainable as well as sustaining and indeed to be a driver for renewal.  Helen outlined our philosophy that successful venues are tied to their regional, urban and cultural roots, engage with their city and community by being visible, widely accessible and supporting the next generation of talent and providing performance spaces that the wider artistic community wants to work, play and experiment in.

Fellow panellists included Joe Melillo, Executive Producer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, USA; Jason Flanagan, Flanagan Lawrence Architects, UK; and Andrzej Kosendiak, Director of the National Forum of Music, Poland.

Read more on the festival's website.

Sunday School Stories Launch Party at Union Chapel

Union Chapel is a Grade I listed architectural treasure that's home to a working church, an award-winning venue, a unique organ and The Margins Project for those homeless and in crisis in London. Burrell Foley Fischer has developed a masterplan for the conservation and ongoing development of the Chapel. There is now an exclusive opportunity to learn more about the next exciting phase of conservation and community activity at Union Chapel, transforming their Sunday School Hall.

From the Union Chapel Archive

Sunday School Stories – a tale of dissent and social change, will take place in the Sunday School Hall on Thursday 14th June. There will be the opportunity to learn about plans to reveal the hidden history of Union Chapel’s Sunday School and create a beautiful space for contemporary community use. Sunday School Stories will uncover the social impact of the nonconformists, dissenters and early liberals who founded the Chapel.

The programme of works will carry out urgent repairs to the Sunday School Hall and tell the story of a space used by pop stars, play schools and the homeless. The project will transform an underused space rarely open to the public. It will create an accessible, 200 capacity, community space for the arts, learning, heritage activities, ideas sharing and participative events. It will also create an important permanent home for the Chapel’s nonconformist collection so it can become a resource for study and research.  To do this they need to raise £1.6 million by summer 2019.

From the Union Chapel Archive

This money will allow them to:

• Repair the failing roof and brickwork;
• Make the room accessible;
• Conserve the original Akron plan interior, library and study booths;
• Introduce discreet modern services such as electrics and drainage;
• Create a dedicated and public home for their historic collection of nonconformist materials and ephemera;
• Create new, free and engaging programmes for community participation.

Everybody is welcome to join them and be the first to hear all about the plans, what they need to do and how to become involved. Places are free but are strictly limited as it will be held in the Sunday School itself, so advance booking via their website is essential.

Ibrahim Buhari joining the RIBA Architects for Change Advisory Group

We are delighted that Ibrahim Buhari is joining the RIBA Architects for Change (AfC) Advisory Group. Members of the RIBA Expert Advisory Groups use their expertise to inform RIBA responses to consultations, proactive campaigns as well as products and guidance to support the profession. Group remits range from representing a member constituency to providing technical expertise and advising the RIBA on client relationships.

Architects for Change is the RIBA’s advisory group for equality, diversity and inclusion. AfC strives to promote equality and diversity in the education and practice of architecture. It supports the RIBA in developing policies and activities aimed at promoting diversity and equal opportunities in the architectural profession.

Ibrahim Buhari

Ibrahim joined Burrell Foley Fischer in 2013 where he completed his Part III studies, qualifying as an Architect in 2016. He has a particular interest in promoting diversity within the profession and acts a mentor with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, working with young people wishing to pursue a career in architecture or the built environment. He said “I fully support the RIBA’s commitment to diversity and believe that employment diversity will contribute positively to the effectiveness and influence of the architectural profession. The RIBA is as strong as its members and the richness of the profession lies with holding a diverse community which taps into the range of skills and experience that this can bring to the table. I’m looking forward to making a positive contribution to this through the Architects for Change group.”

Depot, Lewes Community Screen is recognised with prestigious planning industry award

Depot, Lewes Community Screen has been highly commended for Excellence in Planning in Heritage and Culture at the national Royal Town Planning Institute’s (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence 2018. The RTPI Awards are the longest running and most high-profile awards in the UK planning industry. For over 40 years, they have rewarded the brightest talent in the profession; the teams, projects and individuals that transform economies, environments, and their communities all over the UK and internationally.

The transformation of the former Harvey’s brewery depot in Lewes, a prominent location close to the railway station, into a major arts venue - with a cinema, restaurant and education facilities known as ‘Depot, Lewes Community Screen’ - had already been crowned the overall winner at the RTPI South East Awards for Planning Excellence and has now been recognised nationally.

The previously vacant site is in a prominent, sensitive location within Lewes Conservation Area, the South Downs National Park, and surrounded by numerous listed buildings, which has been sensitively redeveloped to provide a new community 3-screen cinema with a café/bar, restaurant and film education and training facilities. The redevelopment, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, also includes new green infrastructure including an orchard, wild flower garden and landscaping.

The judges’s comments were “A desire to reuse existing buildings to create The Depot rather than simply redevelop the site demonstrates proactive planning at its best. The planners undertook useful, ongoing engagement with the local community, including very strong pre application consultation – a key to this project’s success. The project team worked closely with key stakeholders to deliver a community arts centre that is universally supported and of genuine community value.” 

RTPI commented “Depot is a new community cinema in the town of Lewes. The design is an excellent example of the creative re-imagination and re-use of an originally utilitarian building within a conservation area and surrounded by listed buildings. The design acknowledges the significance of the building in its wider context and re-purposes it sympathetically using modern and sustainable additions. Through good planning practice and early community engagement the resulting development is a triumph and an amazing community facility.” 

The Depot Community Cinema featured in online magazines

The Depot Lewes, has been featured in two recent online magazine articles. The new community cinema designed by Burrell Foley Fischer was created on the site of the former Harvey's Brewery depot, with the screens inserted within the saved brick shell. A new glazed extension houses the box office, café bar/restaurant and film education and training facilities.

The article published on placemakingresource.com is written by Michael Doyle, from Doyle Town Planning and Urban Design.

“The building forms a new landmark in the conservation area and begins to complete the setting of the adjacent railway station. The former brewery warehouse was part of the historic Harvey’s Brewery that still dominates the town's river wharves today. The site adjoins former railway yards, which were later given over to station parking. This was a classic gap site between the core of the town and the station that needed to be stitched back into the urban fabric.

The Depot Cinema has reused and extended a redundant semi-derelict warehouse to create a new townscape and a community amenity performing functions far beyond the cinematic experience. This is an outstanding mixed use cultural building and an exemplary piece of placemaking.”

The article published on unstructured.com by Ian McKay, from BBM Sustainable Design, is entitled “A Cinema in the Park”, and discusses the new ‘public realm’ created by landscaping the former tarmacked service yard.

“One of the more successful moves carried off by the architects was to create one continuous 'L'- shaped volume to serve as the circulation to the screen rooms and double up as the social space which can open out onto the courtyard. Like many English towns, Lewes never really acquired that convivial continental formula of a public space with cafés lining the periphery of a town square. There is a bit of a pedestrianised high street but you could not describe it as an 'urban living room'. Whereas at the Depot, the north and east wings are continued around on the west side with enough landscaped topography and the viaduct beyond to create a horseshoe-shaped courtyard. Thus the whole space is wind protected from three sides of the compass and only open to the south where even winter sun angles can be enjoyed. It undoubtedly will bring cosmopolitan outdoor urban life to East Sussex, essentially a new cultural idiom for local people to get used to.

Another enjoyable result of the project is the sense of well being the building affords to those who use it. It seems to be imbued inside and out with that rare architectural formula of making one feel good. In simple terms it is just providing good environmental conditions for human comfort but its actually a bit more than that. It is an optimised place for convivial social interaction.”

Planning Permission granted for New Housing for the London Borough of Islington on the Wedmore Estate

Planning Permission has been granted for 19 new dwellings on the Wedmore Estate in Islington, London. The scheme is the latest in a succession of new build housing projects designed by BFF for the London Borough of Islington on areas of social housing identified as capable of being significantly improved as better places to live, with new homes and landscaping.  

The main entrance to the estate, with the existing Weatherbury House on the right and the proposed new block on the left.

BFF's designs have created 19 new build dwellings on existing Council land on the Wedmore Estate, as a result of rationalising the layout of former car park areas. Twelve (63%) are for Social Housing and 7 for market sale. BFF's scheme was praised as an excellent, high-quality, proposal that includes benefits for the whole of the existing estate. No demolition is involved and 16 new trees will be planted, increasing the overall number of trees on the site. The existing, predominately hard tarmac surface will include much more varied planting, structured around entrances and play areas, with improved and more attractive lighting.

The rear of the proposed new block, with the enlarged resident’s garden and new play area in the foreground.

No additional parking is provided but the existing provision is laid out more economically, with some spaces located closer to existing building entrances. Clearly marked, safer pedestrian routes using lighter coloured paved surfaces and lighting will be added. The existing, well looked after and well-loved, residents’ garden will be added to and integrated with a relocated landscaped play area. The landscape and planting of this existing garden will for the first time be continuous with the two elongated open spaces to be enhanced and greened between the existing five-storey buildings.

It is the third BFF/LBI scheme to achieve planning consent in the past few months; 41 new homes on the Parkview Estate last October and a further 41 new homes at Dixon Clark Court in March this year.