New French School, Update

Most recent pictures from the building site:

Microsite Development Mashup

Video presentation of Sidell Gibson Architects' contribution to the Royal Society of the Arts' Day of Ideas: The Resourceful Architect.

More Awards for One New Change

Sidell Gibson with Atelier Jean Nouvel's One New Change has been given the International Green Apple Award 2011 for Built Environment.

One New Change is also shortlisted for the following Awards (results to be announced shortly):

- RIBA Award 2011

- BCO Award 2011

- 2011 International Design Award

- AJ100 Building of the Year Award

Sidell Gibson shortlisted in The Resourceful Architect ideas competition

Fresh from the RSA website:

In February the  RSA and the Architecture Foundation issued an open call for ideas about the future uses of architecture. Responses to this call have raised intriguing questions about architects’ ingenuity, strategic thinking and social role in today’s climate of financial constraint and emphatic localism.

56 entries, including submissions from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, India and Greece, put forward innovative ways for architects to connect social need with spatial opportunity, re-structure conventional processes, increase the productiveness and resilience of communities and turn limitations of time, space and budget into creative advantage. Seven of these ideas were selected by a shortlisting panel chaired by Nabeel Hamdi. The panel were Jennifer Dixon, architect, Austin-Smith: Lord; Edwin Heathcote, architecture & design correspondent, FT; Christine Murray, Editor, Architects’ Journal; Lewis Biggs, Director, Liverpool Biennial; Sarah Ichioka, Director, Architecture Foundation; and Emily Campbell, Director of Design, RSA Projects.

The Resourceful Architect is sponsored by Austin-Smith: Lord and Land Securities.

The seven shortlisted ideas to be presented on 18 May are:

The Redundant Architect Recreation Association (RARA)
East London Design Bureau
A flexible and affordable shared workspace for out-of-work architects to experiment and fabricate.

72-hour Urban Action
Alison Killing, Killing Architects, Amsterdam
A real-time architecture competition defined by an extreme deadline, tight budget and limited space to resolve local needs.

Space for Exchange: A Sustainable Return to Srebrenica
Vernes Causevic, London Metropolitan University
A programme to renew and rebrand war-torn Srebrenica into a sustainable regional centre for vocational education.

School of Architecture for All (SCHARCHA)
Led by Maria Theodoru, Athens
A network of associates re-thinking the relation between architecture and economics by viewing the city as a pool of resources requiring administration.

Pavement for Las Lomas
Bara Safarova, London Metropolitan University
A DIY instruction manual for making and installing paving slabs for the deprived community of Colonias in Texas.

Mashup
Richard Brearley and Uli Kraeling, Sidell Gibson Architects, London
An electronic microsite connecting social and personal needs with derelict pockets of land and buildings in London.

The Architects Adhocracy
Mobile Studio and Yesomi Umolu, London
A competition investigating how much architectural and spatial agency can be achieved for a budget of £40 and within 40 minutes of ideation time. 

No. 1 Kingsway

No. 1 Kinsgway on the lower right.

Sidell Gibson Architects No. 1 Kingsway for UK & European Properties is nearing completion with a new web site and video set up to sing its praises: www.onekingsway.com
Behind the retained listed facade No. 1 Kingsway features 105,00 sq. ft. of BREEAM 'Excellent' sustainable office space, seven exclusive luxury rooftop apartments and a brasserie-style restaurant.

New French School in Camden Journal

Sidell Gibson Architects' New French School, Kentish Town features in a recent article in the Camden Journal newspaper, click on the link to read more:

Property News: Vive la différence! - Multi £m restoration of Grade II-listed former Kingsway adult education college

 

Civic Trust Commendation for Discover Greenwich

Sidell Gibson with John Miller + Partners' Discover Greenwich Project for the Old Royal Naval College received a Civic Trust Commendation award at the official ceremony held at the People's History Museum Manchester on Friday 4th March 2011. Representing Sidell Gibson was partner Richard Brearley (2nd from right) who picked up the certificate and plaque on stage together with Neil Coe (2nd from left) of the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College.

Partner Richard Brearley (2nd from right) with client's representative Neil Coe (2nd from left).

The Civic Trust Award judges said the following about this project:

'The re-planning and refurbishment of the old Pepys building has been beautifully crafted and inserted sensitively into the renovated existing building fabric. The scheme is simply laid out and accessible physically and intellectually at many different levels, targeting all ages and abilities very successfully. Bright, airy spaces and a successful mezzanine level providing an exciting flexible area have been created. Discover Greenwich has delivered a radical improvement to interpretation and visitor access for the Old Royal Naval College and the wider Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.'

New French School Tops Out

Designed by Sidell Gibson Architects for The French Education Property Trust (FEPT), the New French School in London's Kentish Town, which is due to be completed in July 2011, reached a key milestone on Friday 11th February with its 'topping out' ceremony.

French Ambassador Maurice Gourdault-Montagne (centre) with Jean-Pierre Mustier (left) and Arnaud Vaissié (right), trustees of the FEPT.

The project, which was subject to listed building consent and full planning permission, involves a major conversion and extension of a three-storey, Grade II listed Victorian London Board School building to provide modern infant, primary and secondary school facilities for 700 pupils of the local, French speaking community.

The design entails an imaginative and sensitive reuse of the existing building (a traditional Victorian school construction of architectural and historic interest, first designed in 1874 by E R Robson) to meet essential current legislation for schools, including disabled access, means of escape requirements, environmental standards and sustainability.

New interventions include the expansion of the multi-use hall to accommodate dining for the whole school, self-contained entrance points and outside play areas for infant, primary and secondary pupils, glazed roof corridor link to single-storey playground changing room with toilet facilities and a new classroom block for secondary and infant pupils. The three school tiers will share a number of common facilities, such as the library, dining hall, etc.

A second phase, new build, three-storey teaching wing, due for completion in December 2011, will incorporate sustainably sourced timber cladding over a brick base, pitched roofs in black zinc panels and green roofs to single storey areas. Green roofs to the new classrooms will enhance rainwater retention, bio- diversity and heat and sound insulation. The building will be naturally ventilated with passive cooling utilising the internal thermal mass and is expected to achieve a BREEAM rating of Very Good.

The whole existing building envelope is improved thermally, by introducing window double-glazing, roof insulation, insulation on the inner face of external brickwork and ground floor slab insulation. Long life low energy lighting is provided throughout, switched and dimmed to daylight sensors. High efficiency gas boilers supplying energy saving low surface temperature convector heaters provide the primary heat source with hot water under floor heating coils in larger open plan spaces.

Richard Brearley, project director for Sidell Gibson, said: "The project is an exciting challenge to regenerate an unused Listed Victorian School integrated with imaginative contemporary architecture to serve the needs of the French community in London."

The project team comprises Sidell Gibson Architects, Fairhurst GGA structural consultants, Cundall M&E consultants and Beadmans project management and QS services.

The French Ambassador Maurice Gourdault-Montagne layed a brick as part of the ceremony.

BBC One London Inside Out visits Old Brewery Greenwich

BBC London's Inside Out programme went to Sidell Gibson's Discover Greenwich and had a look behind the scenes of Greenwich Meantime's micro brewery and investigated the history of brewing beer on this site.

Numerous shots of Sidell Gibson's three-storey high brewing tower and the re-furbished, re-waterproofed historic basement vaults including the old well head rediscovered during the project.

Watch it here

New French School building site on a sunny February day

Beaney Museum & Art Gallery, Update

Latest pictures of construction progress at Sidell Gibson Architects' Beaney Institute Museum and Art Gallery, Canterbury. The steel framing for the new entrance, gallery & library extension is well underway as are the in-situ concrete lift shaft and new stair of the future main atrium space.

New steel frame with Canterbury Cathedral in background.

New concrete stair in atrium space.

Visualisation of atrium.

Conservation/refurbishment work in the existing galleries.

New French School, Update

Recent photographs of steelwork and prefabricated concrete lift shaft for the new circulation core inserted into the heart of the existing building and the new entrance colonnade concrete columns which will be clad in brickwork.

 

The classrooms have received new suspended mass-barrier ceilings to protect against impact noise from floors above. Metal studwork has been erected along the old brick walls to support high impact plasterboard with new insulation behind. The single glazing in the existing sash windows is replaced by slim double glazed units to improve thermal and acoustic performance while keeping up the external (listed) appearance.

 

Discover Greenwich nominated for Civic Trust Award

John Miller + Partners with Sidell Gibson's Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre has been shortlisted for a Civic Trust Award. Click here to read the press release on the Civic Trust's website.

One New Change Geothermal

 
An article on Sidell Gibson's One New Change focusing on the ground source system for heating & cooling in the Architects' Journal's Footprint sustainability blog.

An article on the same topic in the Guardian's Sustainable Business Section: 
One New Change shoppers warm to geothermal heat

Bartholomew Lane

After other architects had fought unsucessfully for over 4 years to achieve planning consent, the clients held a design competition which Sidell Gibson won - and consent was duly achieved.

The project is situated adjacent to the Bank of England in the heart of the City of London. The facade of a former bank built around 1930 is retained in the two principal frontages up to the 6th floor. Behind this, and extending above it in four further floors is a highly efficient modern office, offering multi-tenanted lettable space for twelve floors.  New facades at high level are faced in Portland Stone. A striking Reception room with a new spiral stair rising three floors forms part of the design. BREEAM rating: Excellent.

Photographs by Paul Riddle.

Location: Bartholomew Lane, City of London, EC2

Client: F&C Asset Management

Size: 10,800m² gross, 7,400m² net

Contract Value: £32m

Click on image for animation. E-card by knuk

Spot the difference!

Two images of Sidell Gibson Architects' with Atelier Jean Nouvel's One New Change: One is the computer generated visualisation from planning stage, the other was taken this week. Can you spot which one is which?

First Look: One New Change

Sidell Gibson Architects with Ateliers Jean Nouvel's One New Change opened to the public last week and architectural photographer Billie Yao sent us his first impressions form the opening night.

Sidell Gibson in Top 10 for Built London Office Space

The Top 10 Architects for office space built over the last 10 years have created about 3.3m sq m (36m sq ft) of new buildings according to City Offices - a web-based construction news, analysis and tender opportunities service.
 

Top Architects (London) 2000 - 2010 (Built Office Space)

1 Foster + Partners (24%)
2 Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) (14%)
3 Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) (11%)
4 Sheppard Robson (11%)
5 Pelli Clarke Pelli (10%)
6 HOK (8%)
7 Sidell Gibson (6%)
8 Rolfe Judd (6%)
9 EPR (5%)
10 Fletcher Priest (5%)

The Map above shows Sidell Gibson Architects' built office projects in the City of London.

One New Change Opening

Sidell Gibson Architects with Atelier Jean Nouvel's One New Change project officially opens this week 12 noon, 28th October 2010.

In October 2009 the RIBA Journal published the following article on the delivery of One New Change by Pamela Buxton:

Ways of Seeing

Paternoster Square seemed to have set the ‘classical’ tone for buildings around the City’s most significant structure – St Paul’s Cathedral. But Jean Nouvel has reinterpreted how to approach the area with his design for One New Change, and Sidell Gibson has the job of making it happen

There’s no false modesty at One New Change, the approximately £168m building taking shape just across the road from St Paul’s Cathedral on surely the choicest development site in the City of London. Developer Land Securities claims the office and retail building will be ‘a breathtaking monument to modernism’ created by someone with ‘extraordinary brilliance, shining talent and rare vision’. It’s some claim to live up to, not only for architect Jean Nouvel, who won a design competition for the project back in 2003, but for Sidell Gibson, the executive architect charged with delivering the 52,000m2 build.

Prince Charles reportedly sought to have Nouvel replaced with an architect he’d consider more suitable for such a sensitive site. But with the French architect’s building due to be topped out this month, such matters now seem rather academic. Nicknamed the ‘Stealth building’ after Nouvel revealed that the design was influenced by the form of a Stealth Bomber, the scheme is fast taking shape on site as its distinctive multi-coloured glass cladding is hoisted into place.

And what a site it is. Situated on Cheapside and New Change, it was formerly occupied by the post-war Bank of England annexe and is bounded on the south by Watling Street and on the East by Bread Street. It’s not the only new kid on the block; just opposite is 150 Cheapside by Michael Aukett Architects. St Paul’s may stay the same but the City keeps changing around it, as it always has done.

Ron Sidell, who co-founded Sidell Gibson 36 years ago, is leading the executive architect team. He’s an old hand at building in the City of London, and as executive architect on two of the Paternoster Square buildings has first hand experience of ultra-sensitive locations. One New Change’s enormous scale makes this extra challenging – Sidell has never before been involved in such a huge single building, which accommodates 31,662m2 of offices above three floors of retail on lower ground, ground and first floor.

It was Sidell Gibson’s solid City experience that appealed to Land Securities when the developer first contemplated what to do with the site. ‘I hate the phrase, but we’re seen as a safe pair of hands,’ says Sidell.

Back in 2003, the developer asked the architects to come up with options to refurbish or redevelop the site but the practice concluded that to successfully deliver the desired significant retail component of the scheme, a new building was needed. Sidell advised the client during the design competition and was the natural choice for executive architect when Nouvel was declared winner. Using two architects gave Land Securities a design team with both creative flair and practical, technical expertise, according to Neil Paterson, head of project management at Land Securities’ London Portfolio. ‘We set out to appoint two architects from the outset: one to deliver the concept for the scheme; and the other to deliver the construction and steer the project through the London planning and regulatory process,’ he says, adding that this approach was made possible by clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

Sidell didn’t know Nouvel previously, but was impressed by his convincing and scholarly arguments for a building that was both ‘powerful and robust’ yet appropriate for the exceptional surroundings.

His own French still isn’t up to much, he says, despite the initially weekly, then monthly design/executive architect meetings throughout the long project. But thanks to the linguistic talents of colleagues in both practice’s offices, the partnership hasn’t suffered.

‘We’ve had a fantastically good relationship,’ says Sidell of his collaboration with Nouvel.

He draws an analogy with film-making – Nouvel writes the script, but Sidell Gibson is the production team making it happen, illuminating and helping solve any problems along the way. After a while, the executive architect ‘engine room’ inevitably takes over from the design architect as the project moves towards construction. Sidell Gibson has had a team of 20 on the project but this is still, Sidell stresses, very much Nouvel’s building.

‘Land Securities expects us to interpret Jean’s building exactly. If there are changes, we have debates,’ says Sidell.

He thinks that the key to being a good executive architect is being a good partner, which sometimes means ‘sitting on your ego’. Experience, common sense and a sense of humour are also essential. And when there is debate, it’s important to make sure that both parties are satisfied they’ve ‘got a yes’ from the outcome, he says.

Sidell’s team was responsible for the production drawings and the specification and he is pleased with the quality of materials they’ve selected. York stone will be prominent in public areas – it will be used extensively on retail floors and on the roof terrace. One of the biggest technical challenges has been the glass, not only because of the need to reduce glare but also due to the complex roof geometries in Nouvel’s design. Sidell Gibson brought in its own glass technologist to deal with the intricacies of working with such irregular shapes.

Another challenge was the variety of shades and fritting on the building skin, each chosen to respond to the specific facade context. Working with artist Hiroshi Maeda, Nouvel’s scheme initially involved 250 different ceramic frit patterns that ranged from clear to opaque. In addition to this, a palette of 22 colours from light stone to dark grey and dark red was devised. On New Change, for example, the panels will be beige while on Cheapside, they will be light grey to red to beige. Sidell Gibson was able to find ways of duplicating glass effects on different parts of the building to greatly simplify the process by reducing the number of unique pieces. On the most exposed elevations on the west, there will be triple glazing with fritting and fritted double-glazing on less exposed elevations.

After two years on site, construction of the concrete and steel framed building is close to completion. Walking around it, it is now possible to get a sense of the massive scale of the new development, and also the way that the design pays homage to both the cathedral and the traditional narrow City street pattern.

Nouvel’s design slices into the heart of the plan to create a route from New Change into the centre of the building. This not only admits light into the deep plan, but frames views out towards St Paul’s, ensuring that the building retains a sense of place inside as well as out.

On the ground floor, this slice forms part of a new pedestrian route through the retail-lined ground floor from New Change to Bread Street. A second route crosses from Cheapside to Watling Street, giving greater permeability to the site than the previous Bank of England building. ‘You have a connectivity that didn’t exist before,’ says Sidell.

The two routes meet in the centre, where the general public will be able to take a panoramic lift up to the new rooftop plaza. Here, views of St Paul’s and the rest of the City promise to be spectacular – and the space will surely become a popular lunch spot.

Sidell is looking forward to what he hopes will be a splendid outcome when the building completes at the end of next year to the satisfaction of both design and executive architect.  Land Securities asked the executive architect to ensure One New Change met a BREEAM standard of Very Good, but Sidell says they should be closer to getting Excellent. This was helped by the huge investment in the building services infrastructure, which has included installing 219 pipes, 150m deep to facilitate groundwater heat exchange.

Commercially, the development is off to a good start with a third of the space pre-let to American law firm K & L Gates. Each floor plate can easily accommodate four separate tenants, or even eight if necessary, says Sidell. There will be a separate office entrance leading to a second floor reception giving more views of the cathedral. Below the six floors of office accommodation, the 70 retail units will greatly increase the shopping offer in the City, and will, it is hoped, give greater life to the area outside office hours and at weekends. Already these are 30% pre-let.

For Nouvel, One New Change will be his first City of London building. Sidell Gibson already has a portfolio full of them but from this one, says Sidell, the practice will gain a confidence that it can build a 1 million ft2 building in one of the most complex sites in the world. ‘It’s a real pleasure to know that we can achieve that,’ he says.

One New Change is scheduled to open in time for Christmas 2010. Whether it can live up to its own considerable hype will become clearer as the glass goes on and the all-important effect of the variations in colour and opacity so crucial to the success of the design becomes evident. Its uncompromising, robust approach in such a sensitive location will inevitably divide opinion. But setting aside the style debate, one thing that everyone can agree on is the quality of the views towards St Paul’s. Even within One New Change itself, the cathedral remains the star of the show.

(c) RIBA Journal 2009