news
Feasibility of fully- acclimatised sports facility
Work starts this month on a feasibility study to turn an indoor five-aside football pitch at Fawkham into Europe’s largest fully-acclimatised sports facility. The study, commissioned by the Billings Group, a Kent-based organisation specialising in construction projects, and conducted by Unigro, will investigate the viability of the proposed design, which if sanctioned, will enable athletes to train in a range of climatic conditions and altitudes. The design will include an integrated building management system to control the programmable temperature, humidity and atmospheric conditions required. This would allow sportsmen and women to gain the benefits of training in varying climatic conditions without the inconvenience of travel and the related physical adjustments. “This new facility has the potential to
revolutionise how UK athletes train for international sporting events,” says Angus Padfield, research & development director at Unigro. He said the acclimatised sports facility was an exciting opportunity to utilise the company’s experience in designing and constructing controlled contained research facilities. Andrew Billings, managing director of The Billings Group says: “The feasibility study represents the next step in sports development.” The feasibility study is expected to be completed by December 2011.
The Hepworth Wakefield is the largest purpose-built exhibition space outside London Hepworth Wakefield opens
Hepworth Wakefield Art Gallery, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, has opened, the largest purpose-built exhibition space outside London. Located on the banks of the River Calder, south of Wakefield city centre, the two storey gallery is formed from a conglomeration of 10 trapezoidal blocks, with water on two sides and visibility from all directions. Slot lights in the gallery roof allow controlled daylight into the galleries and several large windows provide views outside to the river or to the garden. The gallery’s location on the river’s edge
also allows it to apply new forms of renewable energy by sourcing the majority of its heating and cooling from the river’s
flow. The gallery’s façade has been constructed of pigmented concrete which was created in-situ. This gives the building a sculptural appearance, which echoes the shapes and forms in many of Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures. The gallery is at the heart of Wakefield’s
regeneration, and has helped to secure significant private sector funding to restore the listed mills and warehouses in the area. Total development costs for the project, including the footbridge and all infrastructure designed to improve access were £35m with funding secured from Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Yorkshire Forward, the European Union and the Homes and Communities Agency.
The student-run development aims to offer country house hotel standard facilities UK’s first hotel school
Work has begun on the UK’s first hotel school comprising a four star hotel, restaurant and educational academy. Designed by Bond Bryan Architects and
located at the University of Essex in Colchester, the £5.6m Edge Hotel School will be managed and run entirely by students on work-based degree programmes. The 1,275sq m development aims to offer
The fully acclimatised sports facility could be Europe’s largest
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bflmagazine.co.uk
country house hotel standard facilities with a four star hotel with 40 bedrooms and a 100- cover brasserie and fine dining restaurant.
The 1,275sq m project combines aspects
of new-build and refurbishment of the 18th Century Grade II* listed Wivenhoe House within a designated heritage landscape painted by John Constable. The formal landscape surrounding the house will be restored as part of the construction process. The house will be restored to provide the function rooms and executive suites while a new extension will feature further bedrooms, the brasserie and a conference suite.
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